314 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
Hendry has reached the Saskatchewan, and before speaking of his 
further explorations, it may be in place to point out that he was the 
first British trader upon the waters of that great highway of the west. 
There has been a widespread impression, based upon Alexander Mac- 
kenzie’s statements in his History of the Fur Trade, that the first Britis 
traders who reached the Saskatchewan came from Montreal. “ In 1770,” 
says Dr. Coues, “'Thomas Curry, of Montreal, journeyed to Fort Bour- 
bon, with guides, interpreters, and four canoes and wintered 1770-71. 
This pioneer of all the English traders was satisfied with his venture, 
and never repeated it; but he was immediately succeeded by James 
Finlay, who in 1771 went as far as Nipawi, then the last French settle- 
ment on the Saskatchewan.” Curry and Finlay may be regarded as the 
scouts of that great fur-trading enterprise that afterward became known 
as the North West Company. The men of the North West Company 
are entitled to the credit of widespread explorations in the west, but the 
honour of first reaching the Saskatchewan undoubtedly belongs to a 
Hudson’s Bay man, Anthony Hendry. 
There seems, too, to have been some misunderstanding as to the 
relative claims of Curry and Finlay, for we learn from Cocking that 
Finlay was on the Saskatchewan at least as early as 1767. In paddling 
up the river, from Pasquia to the Forks, Cocking passed the ruins of a 
trading post in which, he says, “ One Mr. Finlay, of Montreal, resided 
five years ago.” Cocking passed the place in August, 1772. Under date 
of July 23rd of the same year he notes in his journal, “ The Pedlar, 
Mr. Currie (who intercepted great part of York Fort trade this year) 
is one day’s paddling below this river, at Cedar Lake”; and Andrew 
Graham, the Factor, adds in a footnote: “ Mr. Currie’s encroachments 
was the reason I sent Mr. Cocking inland.” This confirms Dr. Coues’ 
statement that Curry, or Currie, was somewhere on the lower waters of 
the Saskatchewan in 1771, but it is evident that he did not return that 
year, as he was at Cedar Lake in August, 1772; and five years earlier 
Finlay was not merely on the Saskatchewan, but had built a trading 
post well up toward the Forks. 
To return to Anthony Hendry and his journal. After he left Fort 
Poskoyac his course lay for a few miles up the Saskatchewan; six miles, 
according to his journal. Then he left the river and paddled sixteen 
miles across a lake on the south side. This could only be Saskeram 
lake. Then, he says, he came to Peatago river, which he ascended for 
fifty-five miles, until he could get no farther, and decided to abandon 
his canoe and travel overland. One would naturally suppose that his 
river must be the small stream that enters the western end of Saskeram 
lake, but the distance travelled puts this out of the question. The maps 
