Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 18, 1967, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free february 1967 Leisure Magazine after 275 years of history is York factory facing oblivion York factory was established in 1682 on the 18milewide Tongue of land that separates the Hayes and Nelson Rivers where they empty Side by Side into the West Side of Hudson Canada has few landmarks As important to its treeless and Bleak though it May it is still More deeply saturated in drama and Conquest than any other site in excepting Tavvo years after the fort was 14yearold Henry a Hudson Bay company arrived and Brgan a career packed with Only half the men survived this Winter when Spring came they were carried off to France after several months in Kelsey was ransomed by the Hudson Bay company and re turned to in 1696 he sailed into Hudson Bay with two English ships and recaptured York the following sum Mer a Strong French Force arrived and Kelsey was once again taken it want until the treaty of utrecht gave the whole Region to the British in 1733 that Kelsey returned to York by Nan Shipley enough adventure to satisfy a dozen in at the age of Kelsey travelled with indians into the unknown West and became the first White Man to see the Prairies and vast herds of he was Back at York factory in when the French commander Pierre Diberville sailed into the Bay with two after three weeks of bitter fight Ilie French demanded Kelsey there was Snow on the ground and Kelsey builders and carpenters were no match for the trained French in when Kelsey he and his men were made but Only four officers were permitted to remain within the shelter of the the Leader and 53 others were driven into the Bush to perish or survive by their own there was no danger of the mens for there was nowhere to run for Aid or these sea Bailies in Hudson Bay Are among the most dramatic and the least known chapters in Canadian hundreds of men drowned More than 400 in one encounter hundreds More captured and sold into years during the revolutionary War when France and the United states were at War with Admiral de la Perouse glided into Hudson Bay to the Mouth of the Churchill River with four and the recently built great Stone Prince of Wales fort was bombarded and left in the French then sailed 100 Miles to the South and burned York factory to the rebuilt by the Hudson Bay company in York factory remained in prominence As the chief Supply depot and port of Call of the whole Northwest for another 150 from such explorers As Simpson and sir John Frank Lin started their history making sex this building is the main Hudson Bay office of the York factory the first White settlers in the West arrived Here july missionaries and physicians came by sailing vessel and travelled into the Interior by York boat and canoes built at York fac abroad thousands of furs wore shipped annually to England from this hundreds of kegs of whale Oil and tallow for bushels of Goose quills for writing pounds of Beaver Castor used in perfume and Parchment leather All these and Many More items were shipped imported were tons of Staples such As Armuni and Trade goods which were repacked and tied in Waterproof cloth for distribution South to the red River settlement and into the North West to dozens of scattered trading for governor George Simp son held annual Council at York where Hudson Bay policy was decided under the near life size portrait of lord Nelson in the Large mess when trouble flared in Oregon in 400 soldiers from Many with had to be provided with boats and tents and provisions at York factory for their arduous journey up the Nel son River into Lake Winnipeg and along the red River to fort with the Advent of the Steamboat and railway in Southern the freighting business to and from York factory there was Hope of a revival when plans for a Volt from a drawing by a Murray in photo Courtesy Manitoba Railroad into Hudson Bay materialized and construction actually began in but the Northwest rebellion of 1885 killed the project for a the original route was to stretch from Winnipeg Between Lake Mani Toba and Lake and track was Laid As far As Oak Lake on the East Side of Lake port Nelson was selected As the most Likely terminus after the Cana Dian Northern railway reached the Pas in and work was begun at port Nelson on development of port and steel tracks Laid As far As Kettle the first world War forced All construction to a by the Early political controversy arose regarding the superiority of port Churchill Over port Nelson As the Hudson Bay rail Way when an English Engineer named Frederick Palmer reported it would require million More to develop port Nelson than port the Federal government chose the latter site and the railway went due North 100 Miles from Kettle sound ing the death Knell for York in 1957 the Hudson Bay com Pany abandoned the historic Post after 275 years of virtually continuous opera i the irreplaceable old log the Church established in 1857 and its have now been vandalized and valuable relics Are rapidly most of the Indian Graves in the cemetery were marked at four Corners with old Cannon items which have become favored Lodge there was a gleam of Promise in 1959 when it was suggested that York factory be reopened As a Lodge for wealthy sportsmen flying in and out of the a Northern airline once voiced interest in leasing York factory for this very but the dream appears to have the most recent and practical suggestion was made last year when a Seaway to the North was again envisaged by Way of the Nelson a system of similar to those on the Lawrence would bring about the vision held by Early explorers and surveyors that Lake and River vessels would one Day ply Between Winnipeg or Selkirk and port with modern transportation methods and the vast Hydro develop ments in this the excuse that York factory remains inaccessible can no longer be taken whatever grandiose schemes the future May hold for Northern de the most pressing matter to be found now is swell the preservation of York ;