Hudson's Bay Company sign

HUDSON’S BAY HAS BEEN HERE SINCE 1792

From: Times Journal May 13, 1948

 

The Hudson’s Bay Company has been in operation in the Nipigon area since the year 1792 when the first post on Lake Nipigon was established at the Northwest corner of the Lake by John McKay.

John McKay was the son of a family which had been serving the Hudson’s Bay Company faithfully for 130 years.  Four years later after the first post was built in 1796, Jacob Gorrigal built another post on the west shore , near a fort occupied by a group of traders from Montreal.  The new post was known as St. Anne’s Lake House.  At the time, Lake Nipigon was known as St. Anne’s Lake.

When the Hudson’s Bay and Northwest Companies joined in 1821 there was only one post in operation on Lake Nipigon, a post of the Northwest Company.  It was known as Fort Duncan Cameron.  The post is said to have been well-favored by the Indians of the area who came there to trade in great numbers.

Where the community of Nipigon now stands at the mouth of the Nipigon River, there stood a post of the Northwest Company which is believed was established about  the year 1785.  This post was later taken over by the Hudson’s Bay Company.

The Post was called Red Rock Post but the name was later changed to Nipigon.  The post was operated as a fur trading station but in 1938 it was transferred to the retail stores division of the company.

The present store (1948) , occupying a prominent position on Front Street, the main business street of Nipigon, is little reminiscent of the old fur trading days.  The Hudson’s Bay Company store supplies modern merchandise in several lines in a handsome modern structure.

Hudson's Bay Company store sign from Nipigon Store.
circa 1938 -1982
Now on the Nipigon Historical Museum wall

Some dates in this article may be approximate.