Fort Pitt
Fort Pitt was a provisioning post, constructed in 1829-31, 217 miles downriver from Edmonton House. Before this post was built, the men of the outgoing Saskatchewan Brigades (which included…
Read moreJames Birnie Retires
James Birnie was a big man; a broad-shouldered and deep-chested man who stood six feet tall, according to Irene Martin, who wrote the book Beach of Heaven. He spoke in…
Read moreSaskatchewan River
As the York Factory Express men rushed down the flooding Saskatchewan River in their boats and canoes, they passed historic posts almost without noticing them. On their way upriver, they…
Read moreThe men in the 1826 York Factory Express
Many of the men who travelled in the York Factory Express worked west of the Rocky Mountains for many years — some worked here for just a year or so.…
Read moreCheese
Yes. Cheese. An odd subject, perhaps, for a fur trade blogpost, but I have found cheese mentioned at times in the list of provisions the HBC men carried across the…
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