Nelson River

Rises in the Rocky Mountains, at the headwaters of Bow

River, a branch of the South Saskatchewan. Length to Lake Winnipeg, 390

miles; to headwaters of the Bow, 1660 miles. The mouth of the river was

discovered, and named, by Sir Thomas Button in 1612. He wintered there,

1612-1613. Captain Luke Foxe spent eleven days at Port Nelson in 1631.

The river itself was explored by David Thompson in 1792. Pierre Radisson

visited the mouth of the river in 1669, and built the first trading-fort

there. In later years the post was repeatedly captured by the French,

and recaptured by or restored to the Hudson's Bay Company, in whose

hands it finally remained, under the name of York Factory (q.v.).