Finan McDonald
Finan McDonald was one of David Thompson’s men, but unlike most of his men he also worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company as a clerk at Spokane House, and later…
Read moreBirchbark Canoes
From a book titled Canoe Crossings, I learned that what made birchbark canoes so special was that the grain of the bark that covered them was transverse rather than longitudinal.…
Read moreTwo Canoes: the Athabasca River
I am really allergic today (and have been all week) — so much so that I can hardly write at all, and will post something that does not involve a…
Read moreUp the Athabasca River to Jasper’s House
This is the eighteenth leg of the York Factory Express stream, and today we are travelling up the Athabasca River to Jasper’s House, west of Fort Assiniboine. Interestingly, in some…
Read moreThe Athabasca Portage North from Edmonton House
In this York Factory Express post (the Seventeenth in this series) I am going to comment on Edward Ermatinger’s 1827 incoming Express (called the Columbia Express), as they cross over…
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