Albany River - History

History

Since the Albany extends far to the west, its mouth is a natural site for a trading post. See Canadian Canoe Routes (early). Trade in the area was long contested by the English from Hudson Bay and the French on the Great Lakes. Much of the Albany basin was visited by coureurs des bois long before the English penetrated inland. In 1674 Charles Bayly of the Hudson's Bay Company became the first European to see the Albany. Sometime before 1679 the HBC founded Fort Albany, Ontario at the mouth of the river. In 1685 the French built Fort des Français at the future site of Henley House. In 1743 Henley House was established 160 miles upriver at the mouth of the Kenogami River. In 1775-76 Edward Jarvis from Henley House explored the relation between the Kenogami and the Missinaibi Rivers and went down to Michipicoten on Lake Superior. In 1777 Glouster House was built 243 miles above Henley House on Upashewey Lake. In 1779 Philip Turnor surveyed as far as Gloucester House. In 1786 Osnaburgh House was built near the outlet of Lake St. Joseph. By 1790 or so the Fort Albany trade extended all the way to Lake Winnipeg.

The land north of the Albany River was part of the Northwest Territories until 1912, when it was transferred to Ontario in the Ontario Boundaries Extension Act, 1912.