YORK FACTORY NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE OF CANADA ...

in the interior, the Hayes connected these posts to York Factory, which served as
their supply centre. Because of this strategic location, York Factory served as
starting point for famous explorations by David Thompson, Peter Fidler and others.
York Factory was the repeated scene of armed conflict between England and
France for colonial domination of North America in the late 17 th and early 18 th
centuries. Between 1684 and 1713 control of York Factory changed between the
English and French six times through a series of raids. One of the most stirring
naval battles in Canadian history occurred only a few miles off the coast from York
Factory. The terms of the Treaty of Utrecht returned York Factory, then Fort
Bourbon under the French, back to the HBC.
The French
bombardment of York
Fort in 1697 from La
Potherie’s “Histoire
de l’Amérique
Septentrionale”, 1753.
(Hudson’s Bay
Company Archives)
For much of the 19th century York Factory was the political, economic and social
hub of western Canadian fur trade society. From 1810 to 1873, York Factory was
the administrative headquarters, transhipment centre, and supply source of
provisions and trade
goods for the HBC’s
Northern Department.
Letitia Hargrave, the wife
of Chief Factor James
Hargrave, proclaimed
York Factory “The most
respectable place in the
territory”. 2 The extensive
archaeological resources
(more than seventy
buildings identified and a
collection of more than
300,000 artifacts) provide
important information
about this, and earlier
periods of York Factory’s
history. Today, the three-
York Factory in the 1870s. The Depot is in the centre.
(Hudson’s Bay Company Archives)
2 A different opinion was offered by fur trader Robert Ballantyne in 1843. He described York
Factory as “a monstrous blot on a swampy spot, with a partial view of the frozen sea…. The country
unbearable”.
York Factory NHSC Management Plan Page 4