Cumberland House
There is little mention of the York Factory Express and Saskatchewan Brigades passing through Cumberland House in the post journals in the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives. Nevertheless, there is lots…
Read moreAurora Borealis
The Aurora Borealis was a familiar sight to all the Hudson’s Bay men, but no York Factory Express man, other than Aemilius Simpson, ever wrote about it. Where did he…
Read morePemmican
Pemmican was not eaten west of the Rocky Mountains, and it was not part of our experience. As a matter of fact, when the men of the York Factory Express,…
Read moreRivière des Roches to Great Slave Lake
The river that flowed north from Athabasca Lake was not the Mackenzie, but the Rivière des Roches, which led boats into the Slave. Somewhere north of Athabasca Lake was the…
Read moreTwo Canoes: Peace River Canyon
In 1828, Governor George Simpson and Chief Trader Archibald McDonald made their way from Hudson Bay to the Peace River, on their way west to Fort Langley. McDonald had been…
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