Henry Kelsey
The Hudson's Bay Company was chartered mainly by the work of the French traders Medard Chouart, Médard des Groseilliers and Pierre-Esprit Radisson(beginning in 1670). The first inland explorer of this group was Henry Kelsey. He first entered the service of Hudson's Bay Company in 1684, when he was at the age of seventeen. He spoke Cree and Assinaboine (One of the six languages spoken by the Sioux), and was known for his respect and delight in the ways of the Indian people of Canada. The Hudson's Bay committee was quoted as saying: "... delighting much in Indian's company, never better pleased than when he is travelling among them." He travelled to the north of the Churchill River from 1688 to 1690, in failed hopes of finding more Indian nations.
With the Hudson's Bay Company's desire to contact moer inland Indian's, in hopes to increase their trading network, Kelsey began his venture into the inlands of Canada. He ventured the north coast of Lake Winnepeg, and also spent two years in the Saskatchewan River area. He was successful at gathering Indian nations for the Hudson's Bay Company. Among his other achievements is the attainment of peace between the well armed war nation Cree and the Gros Ventres, an Algonquian speaking tribe split-off from the Arapaho tribes.
While travelling the Saskatchewan River he came to a sheltered bend. This area is just below The Pas, Manitoba, and was the area he wintered in. He continued westward to a buffalo rich area Touchwood Hill, south-east of present-day Saskatoon. These two years along the Saskatchewan River are known to marked by buffalo hunts with the Indian nation as Kelsey's most personally satisfying feat. He is known as being the first white man to view the prairies. Kelsey is also noted as being the first person to have explored the area now known as the city of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
His return to HBC with a fleet of Indian's marked a successful mission. But he was denied a place in the importance of history by the HBC, and was therefore denied a fortune.
Later in his life, after 1690, he travelled back to London, where he was approached with a praise by government officials. He worked with the company for forty more years, but as a Senior Overseas Advisor in London. His reports are regarded a trade secret, and his exploits had almost been forgotten until the discovery of his journal in the early 20th century. The Hudson's Bay Company did not follow up on his explorations, staying on the coasts until the 1770's when Samuel Hearne's famous explorations occured.
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