Named for its initials (XY) that were put on the goods belonging to them, the
XY was a small fur trade company that grew out of the larger North West Company.
As competition grew in the fur trade, new trade posts were built throughout
Alberta. The Hudson’s Bay and North West Companies matched each other post for
post along major rivers such as the Peace, Athabasca and Saskatchewan Rivers.
Other firms such as the XY Company and independent traders also tried to rival
the major firms. This competition encouraged fur trade explorers and map-makers,
including Alexander Mackenzie David Thompson, Simon Fraser and Peter Fidler, to
push the trade north and westwards to the Arctic Ocean and beyond the Rocky
Mountains to the Pacific coast.
