[TYRRELL] PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 25 
angular mound was observed on the surface among the trees near 
the edge of the cliff, and where the end of this mound reached the cliff 
the layer of dark surface soil had evidently been broken and a close- 
set row of spruce posts about six inches in diameter had been planted 
upright in it to form a wall or stockade. A foot or so in length of 
the bottoms of these posts still remained, though very much decayed. 
The lower ends had been chopped off with an axe, while the upper ends 
had been burnt. Stones had been piled against the stockade and beside 
these was a thick layer of burnt clay, probably an old chimney, 
and in the clay I found an old hand-made nail, and part of the stem 
of aclay pipe. Under the burnt clay was a layer of charcoal. 
The exact position of this little old fort with respect to the original 
brow of the cliff is not known, but in the period of 233 years since 
it was burnt, its site, with whatever land there may have been in front 
of it, has been almost completely washed away by the river. 
We have already seen that no shore cliffs have been formed 
on the open shore of Hudson Bay, but within the tidal estuaries of the 
Nelson and Hayes rivers cliffs have been cut on the west banks 
while the east banks rise gently from the waters edge. These features 
are, however, not peculiar to the mouths of these two rivers, for they 
occur with perfect regularity in the mouths of all rivers which flow 
into the south and southwest side of Hudson Bay. These eastward 
facing cliffs are being constantly washed down by the waves that 
are lashed against them by storms at high tide. For the Nelson 
river I do not know of any data by which we can judge of the exact 
rate at which these banks are being worn away, but on Hayes there are 
records of two surveys which give us information from which we may 
judge of the rate of wear. In the year 1900 the Hudson’s Bay Com- 
pany had a reserve surveyed around York Factory, and posts were 
planted 75 and 20 feet respectively from the top of the bank. In 
1912 the post at the north end was 35 feet from the top of the bank, 
40 feet having been washed away, while the post at the south end 
had been washed away entirely, and a measurement from the back 
corner of the reserve showed that its former position was 15 feet 
out over the river, or that 35 feet of the bank had been washed away 
in the preceding 12 years, or at a rate of about 3 feet in a year. 
The second case is of old York Factory which two centuries ago 
was situated on the bank half a mile below the present fort. In 
1745 a survey was made of it and its surroundings by Joseph Robson 
and a map of that survey on a scale of 118 feet to an inch was pub- 
lished by him. By comparing this map with one which I made in 
1912 it will be seen that two bends of the stream have disappeared 
and that the face of the bank is 168 feet farther back than it was 
