Sxcrion II., 1907. [307] Trans. R. S. C. 
V.—York Factory to the Blackfeet Country. 
The Journal of Anthony Hendry, 1754-55. 
Edited by LAWRENCE J. BURPEE, and Read May 15, 1907. 
In its evidence before the parliamentary committee of 1749 the 
Hudson’s Bay Company was compelled to fall back upon the vague 
wanderings of Henry Kellsey, in the previous century, to bolster up its 
contention that it had been true to the implied obligations of its charter ; 
that is to say, that it had promoted the exploration of the vast territory 
granted by King Charles the Second. It was part of the irony of 
circumstances that only five years after the publication of the commit- 
tee’s report a really effective argument was furnished, on behalf of the 
company, by the expedition of Anthony Hendry. 
An impartial analysis of Kellsey’s journal leaves the impression 
that the company’s case would have been very little weakened by its 
omission. It has been claimed for Kellsey that on this journey 
of 1691 or 1692 he reached the Saskatchewan country. Dr. Elliott 
Coues even went so far as to say that Kellsey was on Lake 
Winnipeg in July and ‘August, 1692. The statement was made at 
second hand. If Dr. Coues had kept to his usual careful practice of 
relying only upon the original documents, he would have found that 
there is nothing whatever in Kellsey’s journal to support such a conten- 
tion. Neither is there any satisfactory proof that he reached the Sas- 
katchewan, or was at any time within the valley of the Saskatchewan. 
His distances and directions and his descriptions of the country tra- 
versed, so far as they suggest anything, rather go to show that his route 
lay toward South Indian lake or Granville lake, on the waters of the 
Churchill. The whole narrative, however, especially in the light of sur- 
rounding circumstances, is too unsubstantial to afford any safe ground 
for historical conclusions. 
The case of Anthony Hendry is entirely different. It is possible to 
follow him almost step by step, from the time he left York Factory, in 
June, 1754, until he returned to it in June of the following year. Dur- 
ing that period of nearly twelve months this plucky young fur-trader 
travelled, with no white companion, a thousand miles inland, from York 
Factory to the upper waters of the South Saskatchewan, wintering in 
the country of the fierce Blackfeet, and returning in safety to the shores 
of the bay. In the course of his journey he traversed an immense 
extent of unexplored country. It may be a moot point whether or not 
