Henry Kelsey

Henry Kelsey
Henry Kelsey sees the buffalo on the western plains illustrated by Charles William Jefferys (1869–1961)
Born	1667 East Greenwich, England
Died	1 November 1724 Greenwich, England
Resting place	St Alfege's Church, Greenwich
Occupation	explorer

Henry Kelsey (c. 1667 – 1 November 1724), a.k.a. the Boy Kelsey, was an English fur trader, explorer, and sailor who played an important role in establishing the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada. Kelsey was born in 1667 and married in East Greenwich, south-east of central London. He is the first recorded European to have visited the present-day provinces of Saskatchewan and, possibly, Alberta, as well as the first to have explored the Great Plains from the north. In his travels to the plains he encountered several Plains First Nations (Plains Indians), as well as vast herds of the American bison, their primary source of food.

Kelsey was apprenticed in London at age 17 to the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1684 and departed England for Canada on 6 May 1684. He was posted at a fort on Hudson's Bay near present-day York Factory, Manitoba, near the mouth of the Nelson River on Hudson Bay. Kelsey started exploring in the winter of 1688–1689 when he and a First Nations boy carried mail overland 200 miles from Fort York to Fort Severn, another HBC post. He was described as "a very active Lad delighting much in Indians company, being never better pleased than when he is traveling among them." In the summer of 1689, Kelsey and the same First Nations boy tried to find First Nations north of the Churchill River to open trade with them. Kelsey travelled inland for about 235 miles north of the Churchill, but returned without having any success.

In 1690, HBC governor at York Factory, George Geyer, sent Kelsey on a journey up the Nelson River "to call, encourage, and invite the remoter Indians to a trade with us." Beaver pelts were the item most desired by the HBC. Kelsey left York Factory on 12 June 1690 with a group of Indians and proceeded by canoe up the Nelson River (southwest). He carried with him a sample of hatchets, beads, and tobacco the company offered. Kelsey and the Indians reached a place he named Deering's Point, probably near present-day The Pas, Manitoba, on 10 July after a journey of 600 miles; they had passed through five lakes and undertaken 33 portages. Deering's Point was a gathering place for Indians who journeyed down the Nelson River to trade at York Factory. Kelsey sent a letter, carried by Indians, back to York Factory with his observations about the journey and the Indians he had met. He said that the various Indian nations were continually at war with each other, which hindered prospects for trade. Kelsey spent the winter near Deering's Point.