The founding of Fort La
Jonquiere was, no doubt, a great feat. Where the fort stood we do
not know. It may have been on the North Saskatchewan, near
Edmonton, or on the south branch of the river near Calgary. In
any case it was a far-flung outpost of France.
The English had always been more prosaic than the French. The
traders on Hudson Bay worked, indeed, under a monopoly not less
rigorous than that which Canada imposed. Without doubt, many an
Englishman on the Bay was haunted by the hope and desire to reach
the Western Sea. But the servants of the Company knew that to buy
and sell at a profit was their chief aim. They had been on the
whole content to wait for trade to come to them. By 1740 the
Indians, who made the long journey to the Bay by the intricate
waters which carried to the sea the flood of the Saskatchewan and
Lake Winnipeg, were showing to the English articles supplied by
the French at points far inland. It thus became evident that the
French were tapping the traffic in furs near its source and
cutting off the stream which had long flowed to Hudson Bay.
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