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 H 
 
 HISTORICAL AND 
 
 -I 
 
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 TRANSACTION NO, F, SEASON 1883-4. 
 
 I fiiksii 
 
 JL.ISriD STI^.ikITS, 
 
 »' 
 
 -BY- 
 
 gia^'o diaries ||i< 
 
 A paper read tiBfarE the Saciety nn the Evenina, 
 • Df IDth May, 1BB3, 
 
 ''^ 
 
 W 1 N N 1 !• E »1 : 
 
 MANITOHA DAILY KUKK TUKSH. 
 
 I88.S. 
 
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 ir..H' 
 
 .">». 
 
 HUDSON'S BAY 
 
 The Feasibility of tke Proposed Route Discussed. DateN and Facts From 
 Actual Navlsators. 9Ir. Bell's Paper Read Before the 
 ,r -.iffr Historical Society. . ,. . ■ ■ i 
 
 'v'. A' ':■ 
 
 ^ • 
 
 The regular meeting of the Historical 
 and Scientific Society was held Thursday 
 evening, with a good attendance. Rev. 
 Professor Hart presided. At the usual 
 meeting of the Executive Committee, Mr. 
 J. M. MacGregor was proposed as a mem- 
 Der, and afterwards duly elected. Mr. 
 Chas. N. Bell was then called upon to read 
 his paper upon the 
 
 NAVIGATION 
 
 OF HUDSON8 
 STRAITS. 
 
 BAY AND 
 
 This paper is a sequel to Mr. Bell's letter 
 which appeared in the Free Press last 
 Monday, and is as follows : 
 
 Until a year or two ago, the general 
 
 Sublic were under the impression that the 
 [udson's Bay and Strait were navigated 
 only by one or two vessels belonging to 
 the Hudson's Bay Company, which carried 
 the trading goods for their annual business 
 from London to York Factory and other 
 posts about the Bay, and returned with 
 the previous year's yield of furs. Even 
 the accounts of the voyages of these ves- 
 sels were wrapped in an envelope of misty 
 vagueness. Little or no information vas 
 obtained through the medium of thepress, 
 and the old books of Robson, Ellis, Dobbs, 
 Hearne, Chappelle, Black and others, who 
 had sailed in those waters, or written out 
 the accounts of those who had from 173:^ 
 to 1838, are too costly and rare to be found 
 in ordinary libraries. 
 
 The records of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 p"4ny could only be Inspected in London, 
 and even the existence of those records 
 was unknown, except to a very few, and 
 that few seem to have kept their contents 
 to themselves. 
 
 Prof. Bell was readily and cheerfully 
 supplied with valuable information by the 
 Hudson's Bay Company's people, both in 
 London and at the posts about the Bay, 
 and he has presented it in his annual geo- 
 logical reports. 
 
 That a large number of whalingvessels 
 seek the waters of the Hudson's Bay an- 
 nually, and take out oil, whalebone, etc., 
 to the ruling market value of $124,000 as 
 an average season's "catch" (as we find by 
 the U. S. Government fisheries returns for 
 the past eleven years), seems to have 
 passed unnoticed. 
 
 An examination of the works of the old- 
 time navigators, and a comparison of their 
 statements on the subject of the naviga- 
 tion of these seas with the statements of 
 
 whalers who now pass each season there, 
 may prove both interesting and instruc- 
 tive. 
 
 The extracts given in this letter are 
 taken directly from the works quoted, 
 and from manuscript copies of the original 
 log-books of whaling vessels sailing from 
 New Bedford, Mass., and New London, 
 Conn. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that all the 
 vessels mentioned in this paperare sailing 
 ships. 
 
 More and more satisfactory evidence is 
 being produced every year to prove that 
 the navigation of the Hudson's Bay and 
 Strait is not as formidable as we have been 
 led to suppose. 
 
 It is now almost considered as a fact 
 that not only does the Bay itself not freeze 
 over, but that the Strait, with its high 
 tides and strong currents, remains open 
 all winter as well. 
 
 That vessels can leave York Factory un- 
 til at least the first of November, is a fact 
 that is proved bv whalers, whose state- 
 ments are found herewith : 
 
 Joseph Robson, in his book published 
 1752, and who lived at York Factory and 
 Churchill from 1733 to 1736, and from 1744 
 to 1747, says : 
 
 " As the Straits, then, are never frozen 
 over, nor always unnavigable, even when 
 there Is much ice in the Bay, I Imagine that 
 a safe passage may be often found in the 
 beginning or.June. The beginning of June 
 seems to be the likeliest time in which to 
 expect a free passage. I know that but a 
 few years ago this voyage was thought 
 very difficult and tedious ; that the Com- 
 pany's ships almost always wintered In 
 the Bay, and they allowed the captain. If 
 he wintered safely, a gi'atuity of fifty 
 guineas. But of late this gratuity is with- 
 held from him and given only to those who 
 go out and return tne same year, so that 
 what was once represented as absolutely 
 Impracticable is now very easily and speed- 
 ily performed." 
 
 Bylot, in 1615, entered the Hudson Strait 
 on tne 27th May, according to Captain El- 
 lis. 
 
 To give some evidence from a people 
 who certainly would not be prejudlcea In 
 
 favor of a '^'Hudson's Bay route,' being 
 practically utilised, but who would, most 
 likely, dislike the Idea of a steamship 
 Bay and Europe, It U 
 
 the 
 service between the 
 
 i 
 
■H')- VJ 
 
 well to give some extracts from the log- 
 books of whaling vessels sailing from 
 New England ports. The evidence which 
 I believe has not yet been published, was 
 obtained bv a gentleman interested in the 
 future of the Northwest, who sent a per- 
 son last summer to New Bedford and 
 New London, to inspect personally the 
 logbooks of such whalesmen as he could 
 find, who had an intimate knowledge of, 
 and experience in, the Hudson's Bay and 
 straits. 
 
 By telegraphic advices received yester- 
 day from Ottawa to the city press, it 
 would appear that this, or similar evid- 
 ence, is being presented to the House, 
 embodied in a report. 
 
 Capt. J. Tabor, of the ship Northern 
 Light, sighted Resolution Island, at the 
 extreme east of the straits, on the 14th 
 July, 1882, meeting float-ice, which the 
 ship passed through, and on the 31st July 
 was m the Hudson's Bay and chased their 
 first whale. The ship left the bay on the 
 10th Sept., and was through the straits 
 into the Atlantic Ocean on the 18th. 
 
 This ship again went to the bay in 1863, 
 wintered there, and on the 15th May, 1864, 
 the Log-Book says they began to get 
 ready for whaling and cut loose from the 
 shore ice in the harbor. They left the bay 
 on the 20th Sept., 1864, thus showing over 
 five months' work in the bay that sum- 
 mer, and then leaving at an early date. 
 
 The bark Andrews, from New Bedford, 
 sighted the entrance to the strait 25th 
 June, 1863, and had a good deal of work 
 sailing through ice in the strait, wintered 
 in the bay, and passed out 24th Sept., 
 
 The ship Ansel Gibbs sighted Resolu- 
 tion Island, bound in, 2l8t June, 
 1866, and with little trouble from ice 
 was in the Bay 10th July. They prepared 
 for wintering 24th September, and had 
 cold weather soon after. They passed out 
 of the Bay 11th February, 1867. 
 
 The same vessel sighted Resolution 
 Island on 28th July, 18^, and on 5th Au- 
 gust was proceeding up the Bay, having 
 seen little or no ice. They went into 
 winter quarters 25th September, and 
 went out next year in September without 
 trouble from ice. 
 
 The bark George and Mary, 
 from New Bedford, sighted Resolution 
 Island 15th July, 1879, and on the 19th 
 Julj', four days after, was sailing up Hud- 
 son 8 Bay, having seen no ice to speak of. 
 They did not begin to prepare for winter 
 until 15th September, and the log-book 
 shows that on the 1st October the ther- 
 mometer registered 20 degrees above zero, 
 and on the Ist November 8 degrees below 
 zero. On May 18th next they sawed the 
 ship out of harbor ice, and on the 29th 
 were sailing north. They went out in 
 August. 
 
 The Abbie Bradford, from New 
 Bedford, was working through the 
 Strait on the Slst June, 1878. Log- 
 book says, no ice of any consequence m 
 sight. On July 20th they spoke the Bark 
 Nile, boiling their third whale of the trea- 
 son. 
 
 On October 27th log-book sayii, ther- 
 mometer below zero, for the first time. 
 
 No ice is mentioned on the outward voy- 
 age, August 10th, 1879. 
 
 In a conversation, Capt. Tabor, above 
 mentioned, who made two whaling voya- 
 ges to Hudson's Bay, said : 
 
 "The entrance to the Bay can be made 
 from the 1st to the 15th July, and steam- 
 ers would have great advantages over sail- 
 ing vessels, as they could steam inside of 
 all obstructions from ice, water being bold 
 close to shore, tides strong, say 6 to 7 
 miles, but quite regular." 
 
 "There is no trouble about coming out, 
 up to November 1st, and some seasons 
 later. Hudson's Bay is open all winter, 
 and what little ice makes on the shore 
 breaks up with every gale of wind." 
 
 Capt. St. Clair, or the ship A. Horton. 
 New Bedford, said: ''I entered the Bay 
 13th June, 1877, and came out 25th Sep- 
 tember, 1878. Ice did not appear until 12tn 
 November, 1878," 
 
 Capt. E. B. Fisher, who made eight voy- 
 ages, covering some sixteen years, into 
 Hudson's Bay, said :— 'A steamer can en- 
 ter and go through the straits sooner than 
 a sailing vessel. Whalers have never had 
 any trouble in coming out. They leave 
 just as soon as the summer whaling is 
 over, and are always out, therefore, by the 
 first of November. ' 
 
 "Ships do come from Cumberland Inlet 
 later than that, and it is farther north." 
 
 "The only trouble is in the Hudson's 
 Strait, and that is caused by the ice com- 
 ing down from Fox's channel and lodging 
 among the islands in the Strait, blocking 
 up the narrowest part, which is midway 
 of its length." 
 
 "A steamer could crawl out by keeping 
 close to the rocks inside of the ice, as there 
 is always open water, more or less, be- 
 tween the rocks and the great body of the 
 ice. The tide runs six to seven miles an 
 hour, and at every turn of the same, more 
 or less breaking-up occurs, and a steamer 
 could take advantage of all such chances, 
 when a sailing vessel would be at a stand- 
 still if the wind was ahead and blew any 
 way fresh." 
 
 "The Bay is open all winter, except a 
 little ice makes near the shore, and that 
 breaks up in every ^ale of wind." 
 
 Many other captains of great experience 
 in Hudson's Bay navigation, gave similar 
 information and opinions to the above, 
 and, without doubt, this testimony is the 
 most valuable yet obtained. 
 
 The evidence of the captains of the Hud- 
 son's Bay vessels only covers the state of 
 navigation in August, September and Oc- 
 tober, and therefor* is not nearly as valu- 
 able as the above. 
 
 CaptainMcPherson, oftheOceanNymph, 
 owned by the Hudson's Bay Company, 
 told Prof. Bell, in 1880, when on the voya«e 
 from York Factory to London, that tn« 
 drift ice they passed on the 23rd 
 September was much worse than any he 
 saw on the outward voyage, that he had 
 never seen ice on that part of the track 
 before, and that he thought a steamer 
 would be sure of a passage at any time, by 
 going in close to the shore. 
 
 Prof. Bell's words are : " This greatlr 
 surprised me, as it did not appear at all 
 formidable, compared with the continuous 
 
t 
 
 ice I have passed through in a steamer go- 
 ing from St. John's, Newfoundland.to Hal- 
 ifax, when it covered the sea completely 
 for the greater part of the distance. 
 
 Charles Horetzky who lived at Moose 
 Factory and is well known in Canada, in 
 a letter to Col. Dennis dated 4th Nov. 
 1878, says that in 1875 the bark "Lady- 
 Head" arrived at Moose Factory,in .Tames' 
 Baj[, on the 20th September, and left 
 again on the 13th October of the same 
 year, and after meeting with an accident 
 in the Bay, reached London in safety, af- 
 ter a 29 days' voyage. 
 
 He also saya: "By the way, reference 
 has been made to the losses sustained by 
 the Hudson's Bay Co. in the shipwreck of 
 several of their ships. 
 
 " They never, to the best of my knowl- 
 edge, lost a ship of their own, excepting 
 the "Prince Arthur" and the "Prince of 
 Wales," in 1864, upon the Mansfield Is- 
 land, at the entrance of Hudson's Bay. 
 Both of these really fine vessels went 
 ashore one lovely moonlight night at 10 
 o'clock. The weather was beautiful at the 
 time and the ships were carrying stud- 
 ding sails alow and aloft on both sides. A 
 few hours previous to the accident the 
 captains of the respective vessels had been 
 interchanging visits, the sea being quiti. 
 calm, sufficiently so at any rate for snip's 
 boats. They were close to the island, 
 consequently should have known danger. 
 No lives were lost and a great noT-tion of 
 the cargoes was saved. In ' umn 
 
 of the same year (1864) the 8c> . ..mar- 
 
 tin arrived at Moose Factory from Ifork, 
 about the end of October, just in time to 
 be hauled up out of the fast forming ice." 
 
 All authorities agree in stating that the 
 ice forms in James' Bay rather earlier 
 than in the portions farther north on ac- 
 count of the sh{|^lowness of the water 
 there, and the ice remains fast for a 
 greater length of time for the same reason. 
 
 Capt. Ellis, when in search of a north- 
 west passage in 1746, writes in his book 
 that he wintered in the Hayes river at 
 Fort Nelson (now York Factory,) the 
 river freezing on the Slst October. It was 
 quite clear and open, their ships floating 
 on the 16th May of the next spring. 
 
 Prof. Bell points out the fact that a 
 harbor such as that of Churchill, on Hud- 
 son's Bay, would have the advantage over 
 Quebec or Montreal of connecting directly 
 with the open sea, and hence in the 
 autumn vessels would not be liable to be 
 frozen in, as occasionally happens in the 
 St. Lawrence. 
 
 It seems to be the universal belief of 
 sailors, who have a knowledge of the 
 Hudson's Strait, that in May and June 
 there is little or no ice there, but that 
 towards the end of June and in July the 
 ice from the far north comes down Fox's 
 Channel, and as the general prevailing 
 winds in those montns are from the 
 northwest it makes it most difficult 
 for sailing vessels to work up 
 against both the head winds and 
 ice. They become helpless as soon as 
 they meet the ice and drift about with it, 
 but steamers could run close into the 
 shores, which show water in plenty, and 
 
 be in no danger from tides or current. At 
 every rush of the tide, which in the strait 
 is fully thirty feet, the ice coming down 
 Fox's Channel becomes broken up and 
 separated, and steamers could pass 
 through it and the islands which streten 
 across the entrance to the Hudson s 
 
 Eliis says: "If I have to give any di- 
 rections for avoiding the thickest of the 
 ice in these straits. It would be to keep 
 near the north shore, for we always ob- 
 served that side much the clearest, as not 
 only the winds blow mostly from thence, 
 but currents, too, come out of most of 
 those large openings which are on that 
 side." , ^ 
 
 Lieut. Chappell, R. N., in command of 
 H, M. S. Rosamond, visited the bay in 
 1814, and writes: "It is not to be expect- 
 ed that ships, during their return to Eu- 
 rope, will ever meet with loose ice; there- 
 fore, as soon as our ship anchored on 
 York Flats we undid all the preparatwns 
 which had been made for manoeuvenng 
 whilst among the ice." 
 
 Prof. Hind refers to this same state 
 raent of Chappell's and comments on it as 
 follows: 
 
 "This is a most important consideration 
 in relation to the navigation of the Hud- 
 son's Strait in the fall of the year. In fact 
 it reduces ice precautions to the early or 
 summer voyages only, and besides con- 
 ferring unexpected safety upon the home- 
 ward voyage it prolongs the season of 
 navigation, so that steamers may remain 
 at York Factory until the new ice begins 
 to be formed about the harbor or mouth 
 of Nelson River. The use of the magneto 
 electric light on approaching either en- 
 trance to the Straits, or the establishment 
 of land signal stations there, provided 
 with powerful electric lights, would 
 greatly assist in promoting safe and 
 speedy navigation during the long nights 
 of the fall of the year, in June and part 
 of July there is little or no night." 
 
 Out of all the vessels belonging to the 
 Hudson's Bay Company arriving at Yoi^ 
 Factory between the years 1789 and 1880, 
 a list of which was procured by Prof. Bell 
 in London in 1880, not one arrived there 
 before the 2nd August, and in many 
 cases it was as late as the 28th of Sep- 
 tember. ^ , 
 
 The dates of sailing for England range, 
 I find, all the way from the 25th August to 
 the 7th October. , , ^. 
 
 The list shows 133 visits of vessels <^the 
 Hudson's Bay Co. from England to York 
 Factory within the years 1789 and 1880. 
 
 To show that the ships did not sulTer 
 greatly as the result of the passages 
 through the ice, it is well worth noticing 
 that the names of some of the vessels ap- 
 pear in the list over a score of times, and 
 are presumably of the same vessels. Out 
 of these 133 vessels, only the two men- 
 tioned above were lost, and they through 
 gross carelessness. 
 
 By this accurate statement of the dates 
 of arrivals and departures of the H.B.Co.'s 
 vessels, we have a means of comparing 
 the value of the evidence of their captains, 
 regarding the length of the open seswon of 
 
 1 
 
navigation with that of the whalesmen 
 who nave pushed through the Strait at all 
 dates between May and November. The 
 ships of the Company appear only in Aug- 
 ust, September and October. Those of 
 others during parts of May, June, July, 
 August, September, October and Novem- 
 ber. 
 
 Prof. Hind saj^s: "We do not know 
 how many British whalers have been 
 through the Strait into the Bay." 
 
 The United States Government returns 
 show that from 1861 to 1874 forty-nine voy- 
 ages direct to Hudson's Bay were made by 
 American whalers, and four vessels were 
 lost. None of thfese four were lost in the 
 Strait; all were lost in the northern part 
 of the Bay. When it is remembered that 
 by all sailors the scene of danger in 
 tne whole passage from England to York 
 is placed in the Strait, it is rather peculiar 
 that no vessels have been lost there, and 
 would lead one to conclude that the ice 
 may delay sailing vessels, but is not ac- 
 tually so dangerous as to destroy them. 
 That some 730 vessels recorded as passing 
 through the Strait into Hudson's Bay 
 should get there without any serious 
 damage is a point that is well worth 
 considering. 
 
 Prof. Hind in speaking of navigating the 
 strait later than the 1st of October, says : 
 " No ice interferes to prevent a passage. 
 The only trouble is the passage bemg com- 
 paratively narrow, the late season of the 
 year renders it dangerous to a certain ex- 
 tent on account of storms, but by means 
 of the magneto-electric light and light- 
 houses on two or three points in Hudson's 
 Strait you would effectually provide 
 against any mischance. 
 
 "It appears certain that some of the 
 popular impressions respecting the icy 
 character of Hudson's Strait and Bay 
 have arisen from the accounts 
 which have been published from time 
 to time of the climate and coast line of the 
 Northern Labrador, which is not unfre- 
 quently neared in entering the strait. But 
 tne coast line of Northern Labrador is Ihe 
 unfortunate recipient of the combined 
 effects of no less than three separate Artie 
 or sub- Artie ice streams." 
 
 "These are the East Greenland ice 
 stream, the Baffin's Bay and Davis' Strait 
 ice streams, and the Hudson's Strait ice 
 stream. All of these ice-encumbered cur- 
 rents meet in the summer on the coast of 
 Northern Labrador, and are the cause of 
 its exceptionally cold climate." 
 
 An objection to Hudson's Bay naviga- 
 tion often advanced is that as the harbors 
 at Ghui'chill and York are closed so early 
 
 in the autumn, it makes the season of 
 navigation extremely short in conse- 
 quence. , 
 
 To disprove this statement, it is only 
 necessary to turn to the table showing the 
 dates of the opening of Hayes River, at 
 York Factory, for a term of 53 years end- 
 ing 1880, given in Prof. Bell's geological 
 report of 1880, and which was obtained at 
 York by him from the records of the Fac- 
 tory. 
 
 Only once in 53 years did the river re- 
 main closed until the end of May or first of 
 June and in the winter of 1880-81 it did not 
 freeze over at all. The average opening 
 for 53 years is the I5th May. 
 
 Once (in 1878) the river closed as early as 
 the 3rd November, but the average closing 
 is about the 20th November. 
 
 About the Nelson Harbor, I will give the 
 authority of Prof. Bell, that most of its 
 estuary becomes dry at low tide, but a 
 channel runs through its centre, as far as 
 the head of tide water. Soundings made 
 showed two fathoms. In continuation of 
 the channel running down the estuary, a 
 " lead" of deeper water extends out into 
 the bay, forming the " York Roads," with 
 excellent anchorage. 
 
 The Churchill, unlike alUhe other rivers, 
 has a deep, rocky and comparatively nar- 
 row mouth, which can be entered wi^h 
 ease and safety by the largest ships at all 
 stages of the tide. 
 
 It is a common belief apparently that 
 the passage through the Strait is extreme- 
 ly dangerous, and that few vessels ever 
 find their way through, but where this 
 report arises it is impossible to say, and 
 those who credit the truth of such a 
 statement are unable, I believe, to give 
 any authority for making it. So far as I 
 can find, from lists of vessels entering the 
 Bay, works on the subject, and other 
 sources, only one vessel ever tried the 
 passage and failed to make it, and the 
 captain of that ship was frightened by the 
 
 iC6a 
 
 When a Hudson's Bay Company's ship- 
 captain says directly that he believes 
 there is always plenty of open water 
 along the shores of the Strait, it would 
 S3em as if opponents of the "Hudson's 
 Bay route" must look to other sources 
 than the Hudson's Bay Company for their 
 arguments, and it is difficult to say where 
 they can get support for their statements. 
 
 The substance of this paper, compiled 
 as it is from the best authorities and most 
 credible sources which are open to the 
 writer, is laid before you, so that you may 
 draw your own conclusions and inferences 
 from the facts and statements submitted. 
 
 
 
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 Ibubsoii's :fi5a^ Country. 
 
 « ]••> jI ■ tf^iM 
 
 ItH Climate, 8oll« Timber, Minerals find Flsherlei^. 
 
 To tlie Editor of the Frcss Press. 
 
 I believe it to be the opinion of most 
 people, even of those in ourown Dominion 
 of Canada, that the territory in the neigh- 
 borhood of the Hudson Bay is an arctic, 
 sterile, unproductive, unorofltable coun- 
 try, and entirely useless for any purpose 
 but that of supplying a few furs for the 
 trade of the Hudson Bay Company. Our 
 ideas on this subject have generally been 
 formed from fur traders' reports and cas- 
 ual views of maps, which show us, only, 
 bare stretches of paper crossed here arid 
 there by a network of lines of latitude and 
 longitude, occasional rivers and lake 
 shores, and having a scattering of old Eng- 
 lish and Indian names at irregular inter- 
 vals. Hence we are apt to lose sight of the 
 fact that the Hudson Bay itself extends 
 between the olst and f53rd degrees of north 
 latitude, is about 1,000 miles m length by 
 (iOO in width, and has an area nearly equal 
 to two-thirds the size of the Mediterran- 
 ean Sea. The north of Scotland is as high 
 as the 58th degrae, showing that 7 degrees 
 length, at least of the Bay is in the same 
 latitude as from the English Channel to 
 the north of Scotland. 
 
 If your readers only kept in their minds 
 the very vague ideas they entertained of 
 what this Province of Manitoba was like 
 as short a distance of time back as ten 
 years ago, I think most of them will re- 
 member that Manitoba was then classed 
 witb the Hudson Bay itself in being only 
 fit for habitation by the Eskimo, Northern 
 Indians and fur traders. We inhabitants 
 of the Northwest are particularly interest- 
 ed in the climate and resources of the 
 Hudson Bay country. It is very clear to 
 intelligent "men at this date that the em- 
 ployes of the Hudson Bay Company arc 
 the last people to whom we must look for 
 practical information of the navigation of 
 tho Hudson Bay and Strait, and the re- 
 sources of its waters and surrounding ter- 
 ritories, and it must be borne in mind that 
 their forts or posts are nearly all, in that 
 part of the country, close down to the bay, 
 on the marshy ground that is generally to 
 be found at tne outlets of the rivers on 
 which they are built, and I will give evi- 
 dence further on to show that these spots, 
 as a ruie, are the coldest and bleakest in 
 the territory. 
 
 Joseph Robson, in his book nublished in 
 1752, shows conclusively that the Hudson's 
 Bay Company people did not attempt to 
 .lavigate except in very limited portions 
 of the summer season, and that they even 
 n those early (lays frowned upon every 
 
 attempt made to open up trade in the vi- 
 cinity of the bay, and as he was at Church- 
 ill and York for several years dating from 
 1733, and made a number of private explor- 
 ations (on account of which he fell under 
 the great displeasure of the Governor), he 
 knows well whereof he speaks. He writes 
 of "gooseberries and black and red cur- 
 rants growing near the sea, and marshes 
 and low grounds full of good grass, and a 
 patch of ground which, though exposed to 
 the north and northeast winds, produces 
 good radishes, coleworts, turnips, small 
 carrots and lettuces and other salading. 
 Blackberries also grow upon the beach. 
 The cattle here would live and do well, if 
 the same care was taken of them a? is gen- 
 erally taken in England.'' Robson also 
 states: "In summer when the wind is 
 about west-south-west, it becomes sultry, 
 and if it happens to blow fresh, it comes 
 in hot gusts as if it blew from a fire, and 
 the hardest gusts bring the greatest heats; 
 but this is not the case when the wind 
 blows from any other point." 
 
 This was written as a proof that a gen- 
 ial climate and hospitable region lay in 
 that direction, for it must be explained 
 that at that date nothing was known of 
 the interior to the southwest of York Fac- 
 tory, and the Company's governors would 
 not allow explorations to oe made by their 
 servants. Prof. Macoun to-day grows elo- 
 quent on the subject of the Cininook and 
 other warm winds, that range up to the 
 north from Colorado and Mexico, spread- 
 ing out as they advance, and these 
 very warm air currents are without doubt 
 those felt at York, and mentioned by 
 Robson. 
 
 I have mentioned to the people that the 
 latitude of York Factory is the same as 
 that of Perth in Scotland, and they ex- 
 claimed, "Oh, but then see the inliuenc 
 of the Gulf stream!" I submit the follow 
 ing in answer: 
 
 In speaking before the Railway Com 
 mittee of the House of Commons of Can- 
 ada in 1878, Prof. H. Y. Hind explained 
 about those very warm currents of air of 
 the Northwest, that "it may be briefly 
 stated that it is the track of the aerial 
 gulf stream of the Northwset which bears 
 a similar relation to the atmosphere of 
 that part of the North America, as does 
 the gulf stream to the ocean on its coasts. 
 It is influenced by the same unceasing 
 power, namely the earth's rotation, and it 
 sheds its climatic influence over the area 
 it covers^." 
 He also stated: "It can scarcely excite 
 
;iJ 
 
 surprise that there should be a large tract | 
 with a good climate and great depth of 
 drift clays in the vicinity of the valley of 
 the Nelson River, for the following rea- 
 sons; First, it is the lowest portion of the 
 whole basin of Lake Winnipeg, and is 
 constantly under the influence of the 
 drainage waters from 300,000 square miles 
 of land, lying altogether to tne south of 
 the narrow depression, not, perhaps, more 
 than forty miles broad, through wliich the 
 Nelson River finds its way. The great 
 thickness of drift clays upon several of the 
 rivers, noticed by different observers, on 
 the canoe route from York Factory to 
 Norway House, must necessarily produce 
 a good soil, and the two conditions, soil 
 and a humid climate, concur to sustain an 
 exceptionally fine forest growth for this 
 region, and an abundance of animal life." 
 
 According to Ballantyne, who wrote so 
 many delightful books on the Northwest, 
 the brigade of H. B. Co. boats leaves York 
 Factory about the end of May, which 
 shows that the rivers are open even in the 
 cold border land of the Bay at that date, 
 and a Rat Portage correspondent of a city 
 paper has reported that this year the Lake 
 of the Woods will not be open before the 
 end of May. 
 
 Mr. Jukes, who has spent this past win- 
 ter as head of the surveying party for the 
 Hudson Bay Railway Company at York 
 Factory, in a letter to General Rosser, 
 which was dated 8tli March, says that the 
 water was dropping from the trees, the 
 weather was quite mild, and the winter 
 appeared to be breaking up. The ice in 
 the Hudson Bay was such as not to inter- 
 fere in the sliglitest with navigation. He 
 was prosecuting his surveys and explora- 
 tions with success, and had not been com- 
 pelled through the severity of the weather 
 to cease work a single day. 
 
 In 1742 the Frenchman Joseph la France 
 told Dobbs, the wri^^er, that when with- 
 in a couple of days .v>;irney of York, com- 
 ing down the Nc.^jn River, the Indians 
 informed him that he would find cold 
 weather at the sea, and he wDuld not be- 
 lieve them, as everything was so pleasant 
 looking and the trees were all in full bloom. 
 This explains in some measure the state- 
 ments made regarding the country about 
 the Nelson River being under the influence 
 of such a severe climate. The statements 
 are made by persons who lived at the 
 mouth of the river 
 
 Extending through a period of oO years 
 a record kept at the Albany river, James 
 Bay, shows that the river is open, on an 
 average, for fully six months of the year, 
 and such is the case also in regard to the 
 Hayes River at York Factory for .52 years, 
 which has had an average of 6 months of 
 open water. The Nelson is open for fully 
 7 months. In the winter of 1880, the Nel- 
 son did not freeze across at all for some 40 
 miles above tide water. 
 
 From an authentic record of the dates 
 of opening and closing of Hayes River at 
 York from the year 1K28 to 1880-1 compiled 
 by William Wood, meteorologist at the 
 fort, and a copy which I have, I find that 
 the average closing was 20th November, 
 and opening l.ith May. 
 
 Capt. Ellis, who wintered at York Fac- 
 tory with the "Dobbs Galley," and "Califor- 
 nia"' in the years 1740 and 1747, when he 
 was in search of a Northwest passage, 
 says, in his book published in 1748, as fol- 
 lows: "If the weather is cold they have 
 an abundance of beaver skins to clothe 
 them and many other conveniences that 
 put tli«m in some measure at least on a 
 level with those who live in a milder cli- 
 mate. But what in this respect will 
 appear much more extraordinary, I dare 
 asoert, that people from Europe who have 
 lived here for some years prefer it to all 
 other places, and when they leave it and 
 come home with the ships they grow tired 
 of a more moderate climate." 
 
 Arthur Dobbs, in a most valuable and 
 voluminous work, entitled, "An account 
 of the countries adjoining to Hud- 
 son Bay, etc., published in Lon- 
 don, 1744, writes that the "Hud- 
 son Bay posts are all in the most 
 exposed situations near the Bay, and that 
 the general climate is as good as Southern 
 Poland, nothing wanting to make it so 
 but the building of convenient houses with 
 stoves, such as are used in the same cli- 
 mates in Europe. 
 
 I copy also the following from his book, 
 "the reason why the manner of living 
 there at present appears to be so dismal to 
 us in Britain is entirely owing to the mo- 
 nopoly and avarice of the Hudson Bay 
 Company, (not to give it a harsher name,) 
 who, to deter others from trading there or 
 makiug settlements, conceal all the advan- 
 tages to be made in that country, and give 
 out that the climate and country, and pas- 
 sage hither, are much worse and more 
 dangerous than they really are, and vastly 
 worse than might be if those seas were 
 more frequented, and proper settlements 
 and improvements were made and proper 
 situations chosen for that purpose. This 
 they do that they may engross a ben- 
 eflcial trade to themselves, and therefore, 
 oblige their captains not to make any 
 charts or journals that may discover those 
 seas or coasts in order to prevent others 
 from sailing to their factories. They also 
 prevent their servants, from giving any 
 account of the climate or countries adjac- 
 ent that might be favorable and induce 
 others to trade and settle there nor do they 
 encourage their servants, cr eVen allow 
 them, to make any Improvements without 
 their factories, unless it be a turnip 
 garden." 
 
 And again he says:— "In the Intitude a« 
 is a very great and bold inlet to this coun- 
 try into which Capt. Davis sailed 10, and 
 Capt. Weymouth, afterwards 30, leagues. 
 The sea, inlet and coast were full of the 
 finest cod that Davis ever saw. There 
 were great numbers of all sorts of land 
 and water fowl, and the country full of 
 fine woods." 
 
 The celebrated Capt. Gillam, wintered 
 in James Bay in 1068, it was September 
 before he gjot there, and h6 found that the 
 Rupert River did not freeze until the 
 9th December, and in April next year the 
 cold was almost over. In 1670 tne river 
 froze over November 6th, and in the fol- 
 
 ■b 
 
3 
 
 lowing spring it was clear on the 20t 
 April. 
 
 Robson speaks of the lead and copper 
 mines and says the Hudson Bay Com- 
 
 Sany explained the possession by the In- 
 ians of copper, by saying, that they had 
 broken it oft from the cannon of some ves- 
 sel wrecked on the coast,in some unknown 
 place, not condescending to explain how 
 cannon brass could be hammered into 
 fine copper. ' 
 
 Scores cf authorities and writers who 
 are well known in British history as cele- 
 brated, as well as clever and experienced 
 \ navigators and adventurers, might be 
 <luoted from their books, now lying before 
 me to support the data already given, and 
 when it is known that over 730 voyages 
 have been made into the Hudson Bay 
 through the rauch-advertised-as-being- 
 dreadful straits, and that few accidents 
 have happened to these old-fashioned, ill- 
 shaped vessels from either wind or ice, it 
 will be seen that the generally accepted 
 idea of the dangers to navigation is rather 
 erroneous, and altogether over-estimated. 
 All the early discoverers speak of the 
 black whales seen, and Robson says he 
 saw at one time a school of forty in the 
 bay. White whales were seen in plenty. 
 Ellis speaks of the value of the whale fish- 
 eries in many parts of his work and of 
 seeing whales m different quarters of the 
 bay. 
 
 To support directly the statements made 
 as above, by the United States Govern- 
 ment Fisheries report of whaling vessels 
 sailing from United States ports to the 
 ■ Hudson Bay, I may sav that in the eleven 
 years ending 1H74 the value at ruling 
 market prices, of oil and whalebone 
 brought from the Hudson Bay by United 
 States whalers was ^l,'S~l,02iV.M], and it is 
 known that this does not cover the whole 
 •'catch," as whalers come down fromCum- 
 berland Inlet into the bay, whale there, 
 and then report their whole cargo as from 
 Cumberland Inlet. 
 
 In case your readers should be inclined 
 to doubt the veracity, or knowledge, of old- 
 time navigators like Ellis, Hearne, Davis 
 and Gillam, as against the "prevalent er- 
 roneous idea'" I will give a short account 
 of the modern discoveries in this field for 
 exploration. 
 
 On the 13th September, 1880, I'rof. Bell, 
 of the Geolgical Survey of Canada, sailed 
 from York Factory for England on the 
 H)\dson Bay Company's sailing vessel the 
 "Ocean Nymph." He passed through the 
 Strait on the 8th October. In his report 
 . to the Government he speaks in very de- 
 cided and concise terms as to the value of 
 the woods, mines, and fisheries. Amongst 
 the products of these he mentions oils.furs 
 whalebone, sawn lumber,tallow, isinglass, 
 lead ore, ivory, &c. He says the Indians 
 and Eskimo And a variety of fish for their 
 own use, and fine salmon abound in the 
 rivers of Hudson Strait, From one of 
 these rivers salt«d salmon is actually now 
 being exported every year. Water fowl 
 and large game is in plenty. But the 
 most Important of the undeveloped re- 
 sources of the country around the bay 
 are its soil, timber and minerals. Among 
 the woods are white, red, pitch and jock 
 
 pine, black and white spruce, tam&rac, 
 fir, balsam, aspen, larck, white cedar and 
 white birch. The numerous rivers, which 
 converge towards the head of James' Bay 
 offer facilities for driving timber to points 
 at wnich it may be snipped by sea-going 
 vessels. He found himself or had speci 
 mens direct, from rich iron stone, inex- 
 haustible supplies of good manganiferous 
 iron ore, and promising quantities of galena. 
 Traces of goM, silver and copper were not- 
 ed on the east main coast, traversed by 
 Prof. Bell himself. Lignite, gypsum and 
 petroleum? bearing limestone, are also re- 
 ported, while "small quantities of anthra- 
 cite and various ornamental stones, and 
 some rare minerals were collected." Soap- 
 stone is abundant as well as iron pyrites. 
 A cargo of mica is said to have been taken 
 from Chestesfield inlet, at the extreme 
 north end of the Bay, to New York, and 
 valuable deposits of plumbago are report- 
 ed to occur on the north side of the 
 Strait. 
 
 Prof. Hind states that from inspection 
 of a long range of dates he finds that 
 salmon fishing commences at Churchill 
 before it;beginslat Sandwich Bay, on 
 the Southern Labrador, which is a dis- 
 tance of 5 degrees south of it, and when 
 the Indians and traders are fishing for 
 salmon on the northwest coast ot Hud- 
 son's Bav at Churchill the entire coast of 
 Labrador is blocked by ice and is inacces- 
 sable to fishermen. , 
 
 Dobbs speaks of the cod in Hudson s Bay, 
 so does Prof. Bell, the Bishop of Moosonee, 
 and the great explorer Hearne. It is well 
 known that caplin occurs in immense 
 quantites in Hudson Bay, and this is the 
 favorite food of the cod, and the value of 
 the Bay for such a fishing ground must 
 not be lost sight of. Good, sound logs of 
 white spruce,upwards of two in feet diam- 
 eter and showing from 100 to 140 lines of 
 growth, were seen by Prof. Bell on the 
 Hays and Nelson Rivers. Jack pine two 
 feet in diameter at the butt, with straight 
 trunks about seventy feet in height, and 
 nearly free from branches for the first 
 twenty or thirty feet, were seen by Prof. 
 Bell in large groves on the Albany River, 
 likely the same described by Capt. Davis 
 a hundred and fifty years ago, when he 
 says that the country (James Bay) was 
 full of fine woods. 
 
 With the object of giving some infor- 
 mation to those of your readers who have 
 no other sources of obtaining it than 
 through the medium of the press, and to 
 gather such information in return as bet- 
 ter informed persons than myself are able 
 to give, I venture to hand you these lines, 
 with a hope that some of our people who 
 have given the matter attention will give 
 us the result of theft- study and observa- 
 tion- , , . ^, 
 
 I will endeavor to hand you shortlv 
 
 some dates of the navigation of the Hud- 
 son Bay aud Strait, with the distances 
 from Churchill to points in the interior, 
 the effect that the opening of a Hudson's 
 Bay route to Europe would have on the 
 value of agricultural products for export, 
 and the transportation rates on both im- 
 ports and exports. Yours truly, 
 
 Chas. N. Beij..