ASSINIBOINE EIVER AND ITS FORTS. 73 



energy, and probably not less than six or eight commercial establishments or forts were 

 founded in the valley of the Assiuiboine. 



II.— The North-West Fur Company. 



The check given the fur trade by the transfer of Canada to the British (ITSO-GS) was 

 short. Two Scottish merchants of Montreal organized expeditions to penetrate the fur 

 country. It was in 1766 that the Montreal merchants reached Kaministiquia on Lake 

 Superior, and soon after (1770) Thomas Curry penetrated to Cedar Lake on the Saskatche- 

 wan, and carried on a successful trade. James Fiulay followed Curry and reached far 

 distant Athabasca The brothers, Frobisher, the determined merchant Simon McTavish 

 and the iirm of G-regory, McLeod & Co., became rivals in this enterprise. It was in 

 1783-84 that a- combination took place under the name of "The North-West Fur Com- 

 pany," and in 1790 the reorganized company contained almost all the fur traders of 

 Montreal. It would seem that the impulse of this union led to the fuller occupation of 

 the Assiniboiue valley. To us the natural entrance to this valley is by way of the Eed 

 River ; but it was from the headwaters of the Assiniboine, from the direction of the Sas- 

 katchewan and Lake Winnipeg, that the occupation came. By coming to Lake Winni- 

 pegosis and ascending the Swan River (always a fur-trader's paradise), a short portage 

 led to the upper Assiniboine. 



Fort Espérance. 



The oldest fort in the Assiuiboine valley built by the North-westers appears to have 

 been Fort Espérance, and that on a branch of the Assiniboine. It is declared by John 

 McDonnell to have been " two short days' march" from the junction of the Qu'Appelle 

 (usually written in the early records QuiAppelle) River and the Assiniboine, probably 

 near the mouth of Cut Arm Creek. Fort Espérance would seem to have been built by 

 Mr. Robert Grant, a bourgeois of the North- West Company, a year or two after 1780. 

 According to David Thompson it was in 50° 28' 58" and 101° 45' 45" West. 



Fort Alexandria. 



In the year 1800 Harmon describes this fort : — "The fort is built on a small rise of 

 ground, on the banks of the Assiuiboine or upper Red River, that separates it from a 

 beautiful prairie about ten miles long and from one to four broad, which is as level as the 

 floor of a house. At a little distance behind the fort are small groves of birch, poplar, 

 aspen and pine. On the whole the scenery around it is delightful. The fort is sixteen 

 rods (256 feet) in length by twelve (196 feet) in breadth ; the houses, stores, etc., are well 

 built, are plastered on the inside and outside, and are washed over with a white earth, 

 which answers nearly as well as lime for whitewashing. This earth is found in certain 

 places in all parts of the country." The position of Alexandria is given by Harmon as 

 52° N. and 103° W. John McDonnell states that Fort Tremblante (named from the com- 

 mon poplar or aspen) is a little farther from Shell River than Shell River is from the 

 Qu'Appelle. A glance at the map shows that Fort Tremblante (1793) and Alexandria 

 (1800) were in about the same localit}\ Probably the name Tremblante was changed to 

 Alexandria in honour of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, for so the tradition goes. 



Sec. II., 1892. 10. 



