PRINCE OF WALES FORT.
[CHAPTER XIII.]
FORTS ON HUDSON BAY LEFT BEHIND.
Andrew Graham's "Memo."—Prince of Wales Fort—The garrison—Trade—York Factory—Furs—Albany—Subordinate forts—Moose—Moses Norton—Cumberland House—Upper Assiniboine—Rainy Lake—Brandon House—Red River—Conflict of the Companies.
The new policy of the Company that for a hundred years had carried on its operations in Hudson Bay was now to be adopted. As soon as the plan could be developed, a long line of posts in the interior would serve to carry on the chief trade, and the forts and factories on Hudson Bay would become depôts for storage and ports of departure for the Old World.
It is interesting at this point to have a view of the last days of the old system which had grown up during the operations of a century. We are fortunate in having an account of these forts in 1771 given by Andrew Graham, for many years a factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. This document is to be found in the Hudson's Bay Company house in London, and has been hitherto unpublished. The simplicity of description and curtness of detail gives the account its chief charm.