[TYRRELL] PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 3 
Island, where he overhauled his ship at the mouth of one of the small 
valleys on the north bank. A mile below his anchorage he found 
numerous remains of his predecessor’s visit, piles of cannon balls, 
chains, anchors, etc., and a piece of board with an inscription written 
on it by Button himself. 
In 1669 Captain Newlands along with Pierre Radisson, in one 
of the ships of the newly organized Hudson’s Bay Company, visited 
the estuary of Nelson river, and in the years 1670 and 1673, on behalf 
af the same Company, Des Groseilliers sailed into the mouth of the 
river with the hope of establishing a trade in furs with the Indians, 
and in the latter year he found many remains of Button’s visit in 
1612 with relics of the ship abandoned by him. 
In 1680 they were followed by Captain Draper of the same Com- 
pany with the object of trading with the Indians. 
In 1682, according to an account by De la Potherie, Radisson 
and Groseilliers, who at this time had left the service of the Hudson’s 
Bay Company, and had sworn allegiance to the King of France, 
reached Hayes river and built Fort Bourbon on its northwest bank, 
apparently on the site of old York Factory. However, the Frenchmen 
were not to remain long alone, for three days after their arrival Ben 
Gillam, a young Captain from Boston in America, arrived and ascended 
Nelson river, where he built a fort on the north end of an island 
which has since been known as Gillam Island, while shortly after- 
wards Ben Gillam’s father Zachariah Gillam, and Governor John 
Bridgar entered the same river in the interest of the Hudson’s Bay 
Company, and built a trading post somewhere on the northwest 
bank. Before the close of the winter Bridgar and his men, and Ben 
Gillam and his men were prisoners in the hands of the French, their 
two forts were burned to the ground, and in the following summer 
they were taken to Quebec, while Groseilliers left his son in charge at 
Fort Bourbon. On a later page the site of Ben Gillam’s fort is more 
fully described. 
Another account by M. Jeremie, who lived at Fort Bourbon from 
1697 to 1714, states that Des Grosseilliers learned of the presence 
of the English competitors during the winter of 1682-3. 
After the departure of his father and Radisson young Groseilliers 
left Fort Bourbon and retired a few miles up Hayes river, where he 
built a trading post or small fort on an island. The exact position 
of this fort is not known, but it is probable that it was on the island 
marked on present maps as Rainbow Island, which is still known to 
the Indians of the vicinity as Pakowemistikusha Menistik or French- 
man’s Island. 
