Voyageur, the Matchless Leader 149 



persons from a terrible death, the following 

 is one of the most interesting. 



For many years Norway House was one 

 of the most important of the interior trad- 

 ing posts of the Honourable Hudson's Bay 

 Company. Here in its many buildings 

 would be gathered from many of the remote 

 trading posts, the valuable furs, until the 

 greater part of the ship's cargo was accumu- 

 lated for transportation down the mighty 

 Nelson River to York Factory, and from 

 that port shipped to England. 



The importance of Norway House in those 

 days thus made it one of the great centres 

 of the fur trade. Here great councils of the 

 Governor, Chief Factors, and other officials, 

 were frequently held. 



One winter a number of gentlemen in con- 

 nection with the service, with their Indian 

 dog drivers and servants, started from Old 

 Fort Garry, now known as the city of Win- 

 nipeg, to travel by dog trains nearly four 

 hundred miles north to Norway House. It 

 was an unusually large party to thus travel 

 in the depth of winter over the ice, with the 

 temperature ranging anywhere from twenty 

 to fifty below zero. Generally the business 

 of this great and wealthy fur trading com- 



