The blankets we call “Hudson’s Bay blankets” are actually point blankets. They have threads sewn in from one selvage to indicate size (more about that later). Their rich history predates the fur trade — they were used in Europe and by English colonists in America. U.S. colonial militiamen were issued four-point blankets. (One from that era is displayed at the Museum of the Fur Trade in Chadron, Nebraska!) 

Point blankets are the trade good that, by and large, represents the fur trade. HBC formally adopted point blankets as trade staples by the 1780s — mostly to compete with the successful North West Co. and other fur companies. But within 40 years, the HBC blanket was synonymous with point blankets. (By that time it was the only remaining fur trade company.)

Not just for sleeping

While called blankets, they were mainly used as clothing by Indigenous people and draped in ways to define their style. Why might they prefer a wool point blanket over fur?

  1. insulating qualities,
  2. lighter in weight than leather,
  3. variety of colors, which had particular meaning to different tribes,
  4. dried faster than wet leather,
  5. supple and easy to shape to one’s body. image of beaver fur and blanket

FUN FACT: Though we call them Hudson’s Bay blankets, HBC never manufactured their own (nor pots nor iron tools nor guns nor beads nor any goods. They were the store, not the makers!). They chose weavers in Witney (Oxfordshire, England) — the Empson, Marriot and Early families — which produced very high quality woolen blankets. In 1779 HBC ordered 500 pairs of “pointed” blankets to compete with the North West Co.

Originally point blankets came as a “double-wide,” and were TORN apart by the trader! (What a dramatic business demo!) If buyers only wanted a smaller blanket, traders cut a small hole in the selvage at the halfway point and tore it, separating along a line of the weave so the ends wouldn’t ravel.

Making a blanket

Indigenous men trapped beavers, which could weigh as much as 60 pounds! The women of the tribe processed the hides by scraping away fat and tanning them, using the brains. The women also butchered the meat for food and used the castoreum (the scent gland) as a medicine. Once the pelts were transported to the fur trader, their jobs were done. They brought the pelts to a trader and could take, as pay, a blanket, metal trade goods or whatever else they wanted.

Thought to ponder: While this work is extensive, possibly weavers labored longer to create blankets and received less. Here’s what they had to do:

To produce a blanket required about 20 steps — starting with raising sheep and shearing them. Once wool is at the shop, steps include storing wool and matching grades and types, blending wools, washing, beating, DYEING*, combing, carding, spinning, winding, warping, weaving. When it looked like a blanket, workers still needed to pick out knots and flaws, shave loose ends, scouring (removing oils), soaked in water and fuller’s earth, pounded to shrink the cloth milling (shrinking to close up spaces and give it density), and finally raising the pile.

Blankets intended to be 6 feet long were woven as loose cloth almost 9 feet long. Fulling caused blankets to shrink and felt slightly, which made it dense with high insulating characteristics.

Many patterns were offered to Indigenous people at Fort William Historical Park in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

While we now see point blankets with standard band or stripe widths and colors, that wasn’t always true. Because fur trade companies contracted separately with English weavers, each of those companies manufactured their own designs so the designs varied widely. 

HBC point blankets were dyed in the wool. [That language now describesan individual who is set in their ways and unwilling to change their beliefs and/or habits.”] * Wool can be dyed at three different times during blanket production:

  1. prior to being spun into yarn (“dyed in the wool”), The color is strong and least likely to fade.
  2. after the wool has been spun into yarn (“dyed in the yarn”) or
  3. after a blanket is woven (“dyed in the piece”). Dyeing at this stage was the least colorfast.

Once the blanket was its finished size, short lengths of wool (at first, indigo or scarlet) were woven or sewn into the edge.
We mistakenly correlate the number of lines (‘points’) on a blanket with its value. Actually, points relate to the size and weight of the blanket. Larger and heavier blankets have more value. One to four points are most common, but at one time blankets were reported with up to 12 points.
But it was never a simple ratio of 1 point =1 beaver (though that’s an easy way to remember it). Values of beaver pelts varied considerably, depending on the location and time. Because each weaver originally used his own style, the lengths differed. When indigo became too expensive, it was replaced by dyes made of logwood.

Fun fact: A modern blanket has about 20 weft threads to the inch.
Fun fact #2: Hudson’s Bay Company offered many different patterns and colors.

HBC ups the style

Over the years, HBC has introduced colors: khaki and gray during World War I; pastels (rose, sky blue, gold, helio and reseda); deep tones (like pine green, caramel, coraline, wild cranberry); brights (Tango orange, and Sunshine yellow); and a multistripe in natural browns and grays. 

Hudson’s Bay Co chose imperial tones to create Coronation blankets — royal blue with red headings (stripes) and points to commemorate King Edward VIII (previously George VI in 1937). This was revised in 1953 with royal purple with white bars and points for Queen Elizabeth 2 who ascended in 1952. The Coronation blankets are some of the rarest.

Point blankets travel the world

  • Point blankets accompanied thousands of men on the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897;
  • Charles Lindbergh on his transatlantic flight in 1927;
  • Richard Byrd to Antarctica in 1928-30; and
  • on the 1953 conquest of Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Image of Byrd’s postage stamp

All this and more comes from the book “The Blanket: An Illustrated History of the Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket,” by Harold Tichenor, (A Quantum Book, for Hudson’s Bay Company, 2002).

Final Thoughts

 

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