Ottawa River
The rapids-filled Ottawa River led the North West Company voyageurs, and the later HBC Lachine Brigades, northward from the Lake of the Two Mountains to the mouth of the Mattawa…
Read moreLeaving Lachine
All of the North West Company men, and many of the HBC men, entered Rupertsland via the system of rivers that led from Lachine, on the St. Lawrence River, to…
Read moreWicked River
The Rivière Maligne, otherwise known as the Wicked River, earned its ferocious nick-name over the years. The Maligne was, of course, the Sturgeon-Weir River that led the early free-traders, the…
Read moreJohn Stuart’s Notes
This is a lovely little document I discovered a few years ago, and want to look at it again. It was written in 1840 by John Stuart, and I suspect…
Read moreA Look-Back at James Birnie’s life
So, in 1846, James Birnie retired, a disappointed man, after 28 years of working in the fur trade of the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company. How did…
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