This medallion is one of several original Beaver Club medallions still in existence.
  

The Beaver Club
    The Beaver Club was the social organization of the NWC partners at Montreal. It was formed in 1785 with a membership of 19 tried wintering partners, each of whom had spent at least one winter in the interior. Its first members included 8 French-Canadians, 6 Scots, 2 Americans and 3 Englishmen. No one could be admitted who had not passed the test of a winter in the Northwest beyond the Height of Land west of Grand Portage and received the unanimous vote of the members.  Although Simon McTavish had never wintered beyond this point, he was made a member in 1792 in recognition of his role in the formation and the success of the NWC.
    The table of the Beaver Club was always open to strangers of distinction and to partners of the interior. It entertained in a brilliant, expensive and noisy manner. Its motto, "Fortitude in Distress", appeared on the large gold medals which the members wore on special occasions. Medal holders were compelled to wear their decoration at all 
meetings. The club had no permanent quarters, but met at various taverns or elite locations in Montreal.

    One of the main objects of the club was to bring together, at stated periods during the winter season, a set of men highly respectable in society who had spent their days in the interior. The club also intended to bring into society the traders who wanted to retire from the fur trade.

    The regular meetings would begin in the first week of December and were held once a fortnight until the second week of April. Great dinners were held twice monthly, and no member who happened to be in Montreal at the time was allowed to be absent. The only excuse was poor health. At every dinner, the members would proudly pronounce five toasts:

To the fur trade and all its branches
To the Mother of all Saints
To the King
To Voyageurs, Wives and Children
To absent members

    The dinners began at 4pm and lasted until the final guest was able to sit in his chair. At the meetings, the members often re-staged "le grand voyage", sitting on the floor, using whatever came to their hands as paddles, stroking and singing the songs of the voyageurs. Their imaginary canoes faces imaginary rapids and they had to traverse across the tables and chairs as they paddled on to their imaginary destinations. The members were hardy eaters and drinkers and the dinners often continued well into the next morning. At one dinner attended by Alexander Mackenzie and William McGillivray, guests were still singing and dancing at 4am. Close to 120 bottles of wine were either drunk, broken or spilled that evening. There were 20 people present.

    Beaver Club meals began with pipers ushering in a flaming boar's head on a dais of red velvet. Before the grand entrance a piece of camphor was lit and placed in the mouth of the Boar's Head. The food served included:

-Braised venison and bread sauce
-"Chevreuil des Guides"
-Venison sausages with wild rice and quail
-Partridge "du Vieux Trappeur"
-Pickled turnips
-"Sweet Peace" Applesauce
-Bag pudding
-Highland Scotch, Old Madeira, Mahogany liquor & High Wine
-Athol Brose

    The Beaver Club remained active from 1785 to 1804. It was revived again in 1807 and immediately passed out of existence except for a brief return in 1827, when it held its last dinner at the old Masonic Hall in Montreal. The Club declined as Montreal lost its preeminence in the Northwest fur trade. Over its 40 years of existence, the Beaver Club hosted 32 dinners and voted the membership of over 100 fur traders.