York Boats, 19th century Transportation in the Canadian Northwest ---------------------------------------------------- The water carriage of the country is performed by means of what are called 'inland boats.' Each of these is worked by nine men, of whom eight are rowers and the other is steersman; it is capable of carrying about three- and-a-half tons of freight. Brigades composed of numbers varying from four to eight of these craft are kept plying in various directions, throughout the season of open water, on the inland lakes and rivers between those points to and from which goods have to be carried. The tripmen who man these boats are Indians or Half-breeds engaged at the place where the brigade is organized, and paid a stipulated sum for the performance of the trip. Between Red River Settlement and York Factory such brigades pass and re-pass throughout the whole season of open navigation. They are organized in the settlement, both by the Company and by such private settlers as have capital and inclination to invest it in that description of business. The cargoes sent to York are made up of furs and other country produce consigned thither by the Company for the purpose of shipment to England; the return freight from York to the settlement is partly composed of goods imported by private merchants and partly of those imported by the Company for use in its trading operations. These goods have all previously been shipped from England to York by the Company's annual vessel. Source: Joseph James Hargrave,(Montreal: 1871), pp. 159-60.