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From the Smoky Lake Signal, July 9, 1980 York Boat on the Saskatchewan River by Armin Hecht The York boat landed at Fort Victoria the other evening, just as it did many times before more than 100 years ago. And its crew was met by local people who invited the men for supper in town. In bygone days the York boat crews, the fur brigades, the voyageurs had their meals in the clerk's house at the fort. They were welcome visitors. After all, they were the only link to the outside world. Bagpipes played and the roars of muskets echoed in the North Saskatchewan River Valley as the modern-day York boat landed at Pakan, as the post is also known. It was once an important fur trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company. There was also one at the White Earth River. All along the North Saskatchewan River these posts were strung out. Here the Indians and Metis people traded their pelts for the goods of the White Man. David Sternthal is the factor of the modern day York boat expedition. He and his crew left Fort Edmonton on Canada Day and spent the first night with the people of the Fort Saskatchewan, another important point in the network of the fur trade. Mr. Sternthal and his fellow-voyageurs are retracing the historic route of the fur traders along the North Saskatchewan River. They expect to be in Fort Gary, Manitoba late in August. During the hey days of the fur trade in the 18th and 19th century, the North Saskatchewan was the most important route for the transportation of men, materials and furs in the north west. The early explorers and voyageurs even thought of the river as a vital link the long searched for north-west passage to the Orient. The search for that passage pre-occupied European man since the era of Columbus. For the business travelers of old the trip up and down the river was hard. For Mr. Sternthal and his crew it is a fun trip. That's why they couldn't refuse the early-evening hospitality extended by the people of Smoky Lake even though the sun was still high in the sky. Their forebearers had to row until the sun set behind the trees on the north bank of the river. They rowed from sunrise to sun-set. The only breaks tehy had was at eight o'clock in the morning for breakfast and then a few minutes every hour to fill a pipe with tobacco. Distances were measured in so many pipes. Mr. Sternthal and his men take turns rowing. They row for half-an-hour and then take an hour off. But Mother Nature was on their side when they came through Smoky Lake. The river was high and fast, due to recent heavy rains in the mountains and north-central Alberta. Current and oaring combined propelled them forward at about 10 miles an hour. They also didn't have to worry about rocks and sandbars, because the water was deep. So it was easy going for Mr. Sternthal and crew, at least up to this point. He initiated the historic trip and gathered the crew. Most of the fellows are from Alberta. "This is something you do once in a lifetime. So you might as well do it now, in the year of the province's 75 anniversary," he said. He asked the people of Smoky Lake to sign the scroll which at the end of the mission will be handed to the Alberta legislature. People all along the river will be asked to sign the scroll. The crew will stop at many of the historic sites of the Hudson's Bay Company and the North-west Company, the river company from Montreal. The boat carried a symbolic 97 pound bale of furs. In the olden days it carried between 80 and 90 such bales.
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