Engraved walrus tusk
Canadian Museum of History, 2008.112.11, IMG2009-0166-0018-Dm
Decades of rivalry between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company culminated in the Battle of Seven Oaks (present-day Winnipeg) on June 19, 1816, when European settlers clashed with Métis. This walrus tusk — engraved with the year of the battle — bears the inscription: “Success to the Hudson’s Bay Company.”