Norway House

History

After the arrival of Europeans in North America, the Hayes River became an important link in the development of Canada. The Hayes was the favoured route between York Factory and the interior of western Canada for explorers, fur traders and European settlers from 1670 to 1870, because transit was easier and food was more readily available. After Anthony Henday's explorations, Joseph Smith was sent in 1756, from York Factory, to explore the area. He ascended the Nelson River seeking Lake Winnipeg. He reached Little Playgreen Lake on September 21 that year. In 1816, Lord Selkirk sent out a band of Norwegians, apparently ex-convicts, They built Norway House at Mossy Point on the west side of the Nelson's outflow from Lake Winnipeg in 1817, replacing the former Jack River post at that location. The remnants of the former Hudson’s Bay Company fort established in 1825—the company's principal inland depot for the fur trade and the site where Treaty 5 was signed in 1875—was designated a National Historic Sites of Canada in 1932. Surviving buildings include the Archway Warehouse (1839–1841), the Gaol (1855–1856) and the Powder Magazine (1837–1838).

Most-observed species

• Killdeer

  Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2
• Ring-billed Gull

  Larus delawarensis Ord, 1815 · Aves
  2
• Greater Yellowlegs

  Tringa melanoleuca (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  2
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  2
• American herring gull, Smithsonian Gull

  Larus smithsonianus Coues, 1862 · Aves
  2
• American White Pelican

  Pelecanus erythrorhynchos Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  2
• Bonaparte's Gull

  Chroicocephalus philadelphia (Ord, 1815) · Aves
  2