york factory

In an earlier posting I had given a brief history of the Hudson's Bay company. Since then I've been thinking more and more about Hudson Bay and just what has been going on up there since Henry Hudson first "discovered" it. Henry Hudson himself, as you may know, was the victim of a ship's mutiny on June 23, 1611. The crew set him adrift in that cold sea for which he was named and then sailed on back to England. Henry didn't want to leave so soon, and his position was intolerable.

After Hudson, the voyageurs approached the shores of the Bay while travelling inland by canoe, not much later the Hudson's Bay company itself returned to the area by the route chatered by Henry and established trading posts all along the eastern and western shores of the Bay. One of the largest posts was established at a place called York Factory at the mouth of the Hayes River, now located within the boundaries of the province of Ontario. York factory was operative from 1684 to 1957. A handful of Europeans and Indians lived in and managed the post for almost 300 years. In its heyday during the19th nineteeth century, the post was the permanent home for over fifty labourers and clerks of both Indian and European descent. Below is a picture of York factory taken in 1925. While the folks living on the ground likely saw it differently, viewed from the air, I don't know if a bleaker town has ever existed.