the business was extended in 1792, when the firm of McTavish, Fraser and Company was established in London itself, to procure the trade goods at source and sell the furs. From his headquarters in Montreal, over the next sixteen years McTavish built a business empire that stretched from the Labrador coast to the Rocky Mountains and in the process made himself a wealthy man. As the fur trade expanded across Rupert's Land, the HBC's financial dominance allowed them to take the advantage. The HBC had rejected the Nor’Westers’ request for the right to bring in goods via Hudson Bay, so at a great cost of £45,000 McTavish sent two expeditions to establish footholds for the NWC. These actions did not bring the desired effect and the NWC also failed in receiving a charter from the British government, leaving just one alternative — an attempt to purchase a majority of the shares in the HBC. During his time in Britain, Simon McTavish had befriended the chief of Clan MacTavish, and on the chief's death, Simon brought one of the sons into the North West Company. In 1799, McTavish did something that gave him great personal satisfaction: the acquisition of the Dunardary estate in North Knapdale, Argyll, which had been the ancestral home for the heads of the McTavish (MacTavish) clan for several hundred years. Although Simon's own family had been closely associated with clan Fraser, it is believed that his ancestors were a branch of the McTavish clan of Dunardary, who had settled in Stratherrick some generations before. As an astute businessman with great vision, McTavish recognized the need for industrialization of Montreal and that need presented opportunities to make more money. In 1802 he purchased the seigneury of Terrebonne where he built two modern flour-mills and a bakery and established a sawmill, encouraging other entrepreneurs to begin the manufacturing of wooden barrels. Dunardry and the Chiefs of Clan MacTavish In 1782, Simon's father's friend and the guardian of Simon's two elder brothers, Dugald MacTavish, former Lieutenant in the 3rd Foot Guards and the 18th Laird of Dunardry, died. In 1785, Dugald's son and heir, Lachlan, was forced to sell the Dunardry estate, which had for many centuries been the ancestral home of the Chiefs of Clan MacTavish. As mentioned, Lachlan had grown up with Simon's brothers and he and Simon had become good friends over the course of Simon's many