Surprisingly, very nearly all of HBC’s entire fleet of York boats were built here. They were sent downriver to Churchill in the spring laden with furs, destined to return with trade goods and supplies. Travel upriver from here was by canoe or, as we had earlier discovered, paddle-wheeler. More importantly, however, Treaty 6 was signed both here and at Fort Pitt, a relatively short distance downriver.
One of 11 treaties signed in good faith by First Nation’s peoples, terms of these treaties were either replaced wholesale with little to no consultation, or outright ignored by the Indian Act a few years later thus tainting if not poisoning relations with Indigenous peoples for generations. It is a tragic, poignant reminder of governmental hubris and folly.
Tucked away in a corner of a shed away from the Fort’s other structures we find a tribute to David Thompson and his career as a fur-trader, surveyor, and geographer. I am far more pleased to see that Charlotte Small, his wife of nearly 60 years, is given her proper due. Thompson travelled more than 90,000km, criss-crossing and crossing again most of Canada from Lake Athabaska south. His wife was with him for many tens of thousands of those kilometres and his exploits and her efforts are inexorably intertwined. One is not possible without the other. More than anything else that day, her mention warms my heart.