During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the North West and Hudson's Bay companies extended their operations to the Pacific Ocean, where, with the aid of Native traders, they branched out into farming, fishing, logging, and mining. Mackie shows how the well-capitalized Hudson's Bay Company created a regional economy on the Pacific coast and documents how the Native people played a part in the emerging economy and how, in myriad ways, they paid for contact with British commerce.