Editing York Factory

{{Short description|Trading post and settlement in Manitoba, Canada}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name                 = York Factory
| native_name          = Kichewaskahikun
| native_language      = csw
| other_name           = 
| etymology            = [[James II of England|Duke of York]]
| image                = HS34 1.jpg
| caption              = York Factory in 1853
| alt                  = 
| mapframe             = yes
| coordinates          = {{Coord|57|00|10|N|92|18|17|W|region:CA-MB_type:landmark|display=title,inline}}
| location             = [[Manitoba]], Canada
| area                 = {{convert|102|ha|acre}}
| elevation            = 
| founded              = 1684
| founder              = [[Hudson's Bay Company]]
| built                = 1788 to 1850
| original_use         = [[fur trade|fur trading]] [[trading post|post]]
| current_use          = 
| architect            = 
| architecture         = 
| governing_body       = [[Parks Canada]]
| website              = {{Official URL}}
| designation1         = National Historic Site of Canada
| designation1_offname = York Factory National Historic Site of Canada
| designation1_date    = 28 May 1936
| designation1_number  =
}}

'''York Factory''' was a settlement and [[Hudson's Bay Company]] (HBC) [[factory (trading post)]] on the southwestern shore of [[Hudson Bay]] in northeastern [[Manitoba]], Canada, at the mouth of the [[Hayes River]], approximately {{convert|200|km|miles}} south-southeast of [[Churchill, Manitoba|Churchill]].

York Factory was one of the first fur-trading posts established by the HBC, built in 1684 and used in that business for more than 270 years. The settlement was headquarters of the HBC's Northern Department from 1821 to 1873.<ref name="canenc">{{cite encyclopedia |first=Frits |last=Pannekoek |title=York Factory |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |edition=online |date=7 February 2006 |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/york-factory/ |access-date=5 October 2015}}</ref> In 1936, the complex was designated a [[National Historic Sites of Canada|National Historic Site of Canada]].<ref>{{CRHP|4481|York Factory National Historic Site of Canada|6 December 2016}}</ref>

In 1957, the HBC closed it down. It has been owned by the Canadian government since 1968 and the site is now operated by [[Parks Canada]]. No one lives permanently at York Factory; there is a summer residence for Parks Canada staff, and some nearby seasonal hunting camps. The wooden structure at the park site dates from 1831 and is the oldest and largest wooden structure built on [[permafrost]] in Canada.

==Location==
York Factory is on the north bank of the Hayes River, about {{convert|7|mi|km|0|abbr=off|order=flip}} inland. The mouth of the [[Nelson River]] is to the north, across "Point of Marsh". The Hayes is a more practical canoe route, although the Nelson is much larger, with it draining Lake Winnipeg. Seagoing ships anchored at Five Fathom Hole {{convert|7|mi|km|0|abbr=on|order=flip}} from the fort due to the shallow bottom, and goods were [[lightering|transferred by smaller boats]].The [[Shamattawa Airport]] and [[Gillam Airport]] are nearby today.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://shamattawafirstnation.com/ |title=About Us |access-date=8 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116105025/http://shamattawafirstnation.com/ |archive-date=16 January 2016 }}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Histoire de l'Amerique Septentrionale - divisée en quatre tomes (1753) (14577108988).jpg|thumb|A depiction of French forces [[Battle of Hudson's Bay|attacking York Factory]] in 1697]]
[[File:Ruperts land.svg|thumb|upright|Rupert's Land, showing the location of York Factory]]
[[File:York-Factory-Express.png|thumb|A map of the route of the [[York Factory Express]] from the 1820s to the 1840s, with political boundaries shown]]
[[File:YorkFactoryaerial.jpg|thumb|An aerial view of York Factory, ca. 1925]]
[[File:Map of York Factory, 1840.jpg|thumb|A map of York Factory, 1840]]
[[File:York Factory, Manitoba (2017).jpg|thumb|York Factory, 2017]]
From the 17th to the late 19th century, the depot at York Factory and its predecessors were the central base of operations for the Hudson's Bay Company's (HBC) control of the [[fur trade]] and other business dealings with the [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] throughout [[Rupert's Land]], the vast territory comprising the entire watershed of Hudson Bay, and which now forms much of Canada.

The first three HBC posts were established on [[James Bay]] about 1670. In 1684, [[Nelson River|Fort Nelson]], a fur trading post at the mouth of the Nelson River and the first headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company, was established at the mouth of the nearby [[Nelson River]]. The company built a second fort, York Factory, on the Hayes river, naming it after the [[James II of England|Duke of York]]. The establishment of the forts provoked a response from [[New France]]. 

In the [[Hudson Bay expedition (1686)]], the French marched overland from Quebec and captured all the posts on James Bay. During [[King William's War]], France several times sent a naval force to [[Hudson Bay]] to capture or destroy the fort. In 1690, [[Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville]] tried but was driven away by a larger English ship.  In 1694, d'Iberville returned and [[Capture of York Factory|captured York Factory]] with a show of force. He renamed it Fort Bourbon.  English forces returned the next year and retook the fort from its small French garrison. 

In 1697, d'Iberville won the [[Battle of Hudson's Bay]], the largest [[Arctic]] naval battle in North American history. The French force won in the naval battle with three [[Kingdom of England|English]] [[warship]]s and again captured York Factory since d'Iberville had laid siege to the fort in such a way as to give the appearance of having a much stronger force. York Factory was held by the French until 1713, when it was returned to the [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] in the [[Treaty of Utrecht]]. The HBC then again placed its northern headquarters at York Factory, at the mouth of the Hayes River.

From 1788 to 1795, the company constructed a square [[bastion fort]] of stone and brick at York Factory. The fort was known as The Octagon” because of the octagonal shape of the area enclosed. The choice of material was poor, however, as the stone and brick could not stand up to heaving permafrost, and in 1831, the stone fort was razed. The three-story center section of the current compound was completed that same year, with the two-story wings finished within the two years that followed.

During its first century, the depot operated by drawing First Nations traders to the post, rather than sending its own traders out into the field. Its position at the mouth of the Nelson allowed access by [[canoe]] from the watersheds of the [[Saskatchewan River|Saskatchewan]] and [[Red River of the North|Red]] rivers.

In the late 18th century, the centralized nature of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]'s operation from the depot began to become a disadvantage against the more nimble ''[[voyageurs]]'' of the [[North West Company]]. They operated by travelling among the First Nations on the vast water network of lakes and rivers. In response, the company began sending out its own traders from the depot and eventually established inland posts, first along the Saskatchewan River, and then stretching as far as the [[Oregon Country]]. Twice annually from 1821 to 1846, brigades known as the [[York Factory Express]] travelled overland to [[Fort Vancouver]] headquarters for the HBC's [[Columbia Department]], brought supplies and trade goods, and returned with furs destined for London.

By the mid-19th century, York Factory had developed an extensive trading post and settlement with 50 on-site buildings, most of which have been destroyed, and a permanent workforce. It was not a popular location. The chief trader, [[John McLean (explorer)|John McLean]], wrote that he "took leave of Fort York, its fogs, and bogs and mosquitoes, with little regret" in 1837.<ref>{{citation |last=Boyle |first=David |contribution=Notes on the Discoverer of the Great Falls of Labrador |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoY1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA332 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoY1AQAAMAAJ |title=Transactions of the Canadian Institute |volume=II |date=1892 |location=Toronto |publisher=Copp, Clark Co |page=335}}.</ref> 

The reign of York Factory as one of the most important Hudson's Bay Company posts declined in 1860s and 1870s. The transfer of Rupert's Land to Canada and the changes in the HBC Northwest transportation network increased the use of the United States railways, steamboats, and Red River carts for [[Fort Garry|Upper Fort Garry]]'s southern supply line. In 1890, the depot remained in company hands after the acquisition of Rupert's Land by [[Canada]]. In 1872, York Factory's role diminished to outfitting only to particular posts in Manitoba. In 1873, the post's fur trade headquarters title was removed, and certain responsibilities were transferred to Upper Fort Garry, present-day [[Winnipeg]].<ref name=Voices>{{cite book |editor-last1=Beardy |editor-first1=Flora |editor-last2=Coutts |editor-first2=Robert |title=Voices from Hudson Bay: Cree Stories from York Factory |location=Montréal |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |date=1996 |page=xxi |isbn=0-7735-1440-6 |url={{google books|_CsLnP-tJGgC|plainurl=yes}} |access-date=5 October 2015 |ref=Voices}}</ref>

The importance of York Factory declined further. From 1874 to 1875, the post virtually stopped receiving supplies and goods to be transported elsewhere. In 1878, the post's British products began being relocated to [[Norway House]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Innis |first=Harold A. |author-link=Harold Innis |title=The Fur Trade in Canada: An Introduction to Canadian Economic History |location=Toronto, Ontario |publisher=University of Toronto Press |date=2001 |orig-year=1930 |edition=reprint |page=341 |isbn=0-8020-8196-7 |url={{google books|eCgps70cHV4C|plainurl=yes|page=341}} |access-date=5 October 2015}}</ref> In 1911, York Factory had a brief upswing when it was designated the headquarters for the new Nelson River District. In 1929, the Factory lost the title to Churchill, due to the establishment of the railway line that connected Churchill to Winnipeg. From that point forward, York Factory served as a regional trading post.<ref name=Voices/>

In 1957, Hudson's Bay York Factory closed.  The residents were relocated to [[York Factory First Nation|York Landing Cree Nation]],<ref>{{cite web |title=About Us |url=http://www.yorkfactoryfirstnation.ca/?page_id=2 |work=York Factory First Nation |access-date=16 May 2011 |archive-date=March 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322234736/http://www.yorkfactoryfirstnation.ca/?page_id=2 |url-status=dead }}</ref> about {{convert|116|km|miles}} ENE of [[Thompson, Manitoba]], as well as Split Lake and Shamattawa. In oral stories, Cree elders who once resided at York Factory in the first half of the twentieth century recalled their desires to remain at Kihci-waskahikan or Great House when operations ceased. Kihci-waskahikan and Great House are words for the post used by the Swampy Cree, West Main Cree, Lowland Cree, and/or Home Guard Cree.<ref>[[#Voices|Beardy & Coutts (1996)]], pp. xi & xvi</ref>

The historic site is staffed by Parks Canada from June 1 to mid-September. Archaeological excavations of the 18th-century "octagon" have been conducted since 1991.

==See also==
*[[Battle of York Factory (disambiguation)|Battle of York Factory]]
*[[York Factory Express]]
*[[North American fur trade]]
*[[North-West Mounted Police in the Canadian north]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{refbegin}}

===Secondary sources===
*{{cite book | first=Peter C. | last=Newman | title=The Empire of the Bay | date= 1998 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|York Factory, Manitoba}}
*[https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/mb/yorkfactory Parks Canada: The York Factory National Historic Site of Canada]

{{Canadian colonies}}
{{NHSC|state=collapsed}}
{{Manitoba parks}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:French forts in Canada]]
[[Category:Fur trade]]
[[Category:Ghost towns in Manitoba]]
[[Category:Hudson's Bay Company trading posts in Manitoba]]
[[Category:Localities in Manitoba]]
[[Category:National Historic Sites in Manitoba]]
[[Category:Populated places on Hudson Bay]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1684]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in 1957]]
[[Category:1957 disestablishments in Manitoba]]
[[Category:1684 establishments in North America]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Northern Region, Manitoba]]
[[Category:Populated places in Northern Region, Manitoba]]