January 30: Sir Sam Steele; Elinor Black; HBC leaves the fur trade.

Image: U of M Library, Tribune Photo Collection

January 30, 1991 - After more than 300 years, the Hudson's Bay Company announces that it is getting out of the fur trade.

January 30, 1919 - Sir Samuel Steele dies in London of influenza.
The military man and North West Mounted Police officer became a legend during his own lifetime with his involvement in the Boer War, Red River Rebellion, Northwest Rebellion and Klondike Gold Rush. His Dictionary of Canadian Biography entry refers to him as “...the quintessential Canadian man of action in the Victorian era”.
Steele is buried in St. John’s cemetery in Winnipeg. His fonds are at the University of Alberta.
January 30, 1982 - Pioneering doctor Elinor Black dies at her home, 30 Spence Street, Winnipeg.
Black came to Winnipeg with her family from B.C. when she was 12. She graduated from the U of M's faculty of medicine and went to the U.K. to continue her studies, finishing her post-grad work in 1930.

In 1951 Black was appointed Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the U of M in 1951, the first woman in Canada to head a medical department. In 1960 she became the first woman president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada.