In 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company was chartered, mostly through the work of the French traders Groseilliers and Radisson. Its first inland explorer was Henry Kelsey.
Henry Kelsey entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1684, at the age of seventeen, and worked together with Groseilliers and Radisson. He liked and respected the Indian life, and was, as the Company's committee described "...delighting much in Indians company, never better pleased than when he is travelling among them." He spoke Cree, and possibly Assiniboin as well.
From 1688 to 1690, with an Indian companion, he travelled north to the lands north of the Churchill River, but did not contact the Indians he had hoped to find.
The Hudson's Bay Company wanted to contact the Indians that lived more inland, hoping to convince them to start trading with the Company. This way the Company's own trade would be extended, and it was prevented that this whole trading area would fall in hands of the French. He reached the north coast of Lake Winnipeg, and spent two years in the country around the Saskatchewan River. He succeeded in his order to convince the Indians to come to the Hudson's Bay to trade, despite the objections of the well-armed Cree Indians, tried to make peace between the Cree and the Gros Ventres, and lived among the various native peoples of the region for two years.
After a short voyage back to London, where he was praised for his work by the government, he served the Company for another forty years. His reports were regarded a trade secret, and his exploits had been almost forgotten when his journal was rediscovered in the early twentieth century.
The Hudson's Bay Company did not follow up to Kelsey's explorations. They remained based only in their posts on the shores of Hudson Bay until the journeys of Samuel Hearne in the 1770s.
Reference
Richard E. Bohlander (editor): World Explorers and Discoverers. New York et al.: Macmillan publishing co. (1992).
Eric Newby: The Rand Mc.Nally World Atlas of Exploration. Chicago et al.: Rand Mc.Nally & Company (1975).
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Last updated: 10-14-2005 04:18:59
