ACEOSS THE SUB-AKCTICS OF CANADA 



As to York Factory, it is one of those places of which it 

 may be said " the light of other days has faded." In the 

 earlier days of the Hudson's Bay Company it was an 

 important centre of trade, the port at which all goods for the 

 interior posts were received, and from which the enormous 

 harvests of valuable furs were annually shipped. Such busi- 

 ness naturally necessitated the building of large store- 

 houses and many dwellings to shelter the goods and provide 

 accommodation for the large staff of necessary servants. As 

 late as the summer of 1886, when I visited York, there was 

 a white population of about thirty, besides a number of 

 Indians and half-breeds in the employ of the Company ; but 

 things had now changed. Less expensive ways of transport- 

 ing goods into the interior than freighting them himdreds 

 of miles up the rivers in York boats now existed, and as 

 the local supply of furs had become scarce, serious results 

 necessarily followed. Gradually the staff of servants had 

 been dismissed or removed, and one by one the dwellings 

 vacated, until York was now almost a deserted village. The 

 Indians also had nearly all gone to other parts of the 

 country. 



One of the first duties receiving our attention upon reach- 

 ing York was the placing of poor crippled Michel in the 

 doctor's hands. His frozen feet, still dreadfully sore, were 

 carefully attended to, and it was thought that in the course 

 of a few weeks they might be sufficiently recovered to allow 

 him to walk. As to taking him any farther with us, that was 

 unadvisaible, for he was now in the care of a physician, and 

 in a place where he would receive all necessary attention. 

 Besides, we would have no means of carrying him, unless 

 upon a sled drawn by our own men, and such an additional 

 burden would seriously retard progress. It was therefore 

 admitted by all that the best plan was to leave Michel in 

 Dr. Milne's care, to be forwarded as soon as he was well 

 enough to walk. This was promptly arranged, and with as 



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