Henry Kelsey


Kelsey, Henry
Henry Kelsey, explorer (b at East Greenwich? Eng 1667?; d there and buried 2 Nov 1724). He was apprenticed to the HBC in Mar 1684 and served the company nearly 40 years - all but 3 of them at Hudson Bay. He is chiefly remembered for his journey to the Canadian plains 1690-92. His exact route is unknown, but he left York Factory in June 1690 and with his Native guides travelled the Hayes and Saskatchewan rivers and wintered near The Pas, Man, before striking out on foot across the prairie, possibly as far as the Red Deer R.

This trip marked the first time a white man had entered present-day Saskatchewan. Kelsey's journal of the trip, which opens with some curious, rhyming doggerel, describes buffalo, grizzly bears and a Native group - possibly the Sioux or Gros Ventres. The company's hold on the bay was tenuous, and Kelsey twice negotiated surrender of York to Pierre Le Moyne d' IBERVILLE (1694 and 1697). His reward for loyal service was his appointment as chief trader at Albany (1705) and governor of all the bay posts (1717). The Kelsey Papers, a single, paperbound volume dated 1693, were not known to historians before 1926, and mysteries still surround them.

Exploration, Western Interior
Exploration, Western Interior

Author JAMES MARSH

0
0
Absolutely free, with over 40,000 articles in French and English, The Canadian Encyclopedia is the ultimate online resource for all things Canadian, from history, sports, arts, science, technology, and much, much more. Get started at www.TheCanadianEncyclopedia.com
Feature Articles
The Formation of the RCMP

The Dominion government's advertisement asked for volunteers "able to read and write either the English or French language" with "good antecedents" who were good horsemen...

INSIDE TCE

Gallery
Browse the rich visual resources of The Canadian Encyclopedia through thematic galleries of Canadian Art, History, Nature, People, and Science and Technology.
Interactive Resources
Illustrations, lively text, animations, sounds and games help make learning about Canadian history, art, geography, architecture and other topics entertaining as well as informative.
Canucklehead
The ultimate test of your knowledge of Canada, trivial and otherwise. You can choose from more than 60 dynamic quizzes with visual or text clues. Your scores depend on the speed with which you answer and the number of clues you need. Results are sent to you by email and high scores are posted on the site.
Timeline
This unique resource includes more than 6000 events from Canadian and world history. It can be searched by era, subject, keyword or date. To find out what happened on your birthday, select the month and day of your birth.
100 Greatest Events
This selection of the 100 "greatest" events in Canadian history was made by editor in chief James H. Marsh to draw attention to events that have left an indelible memory in the minds of later generations.