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Quest for the Bay | |
---|---|
Directed by | Don Young |
Starring | Ken Albert, Jr. Rob Clark Geoff Cowie Paul Gossen Marits Luinenburg Kevin Mustard RoseAnna Schick Randal Shore |
Country of origin | Canada |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 5 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Jamie Brown |
Producer | Jamie Brown |
Production locations | Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
Running time | 50 mins |
Production company | Frantic Films |
Original release | |
Network | History Television Public Broadcasting Service |
Release | 6 January – 20 January 2002 |
Related | |
Quest for the Bay was a Canadian documentary television series which aired on History Television and the Public Broadcasting Service in 2002. It is the second entry of producer Jamie Brown's "Quest series", which includes Pioneer Quest: A Year in the Real West (2001), Klondike: The Quest for Gold (2003), and Quest for the Sea (2004). Frank and Alana Logie, a couple who had previously participated in Pioneer Quest, made a cameo appearance during the first episode. It was the highest-rated program on History Television in 2002 and received favourable reviews from newspapers—most notably, the Edmonton Journal . RoseAnna Schick, the sole female crew member, wrote a personal account of the journey for Manitoba History later that year. [1]
The five-part series was produced by Winnipeg-based Frantic Films and was filmed during the summer of 2001. It followed an eight-person volunteer team (seven men and one woman) as they attempted to recreate the journey made by fur traders of the Hudson's Bay Company during the 1840s by travelling from Winnipeg to Hudson Bay. The trip covered a distance of 1,200 kilometres (800 miles) and took the team though the heart of the Canadian wilderness. The crew members possessed only equipment used during the period, down to their food and clothing, and included a replica of a 12-metre (40 ft) wooden York Boat. [2]
The trip took eight to twelve weeks to complete, required the members to row between 12 and 14 hours a day, and forced them to navigate dangerous rapids and portages over 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) long as they ferried 1,800 kilograms (4,000 lb) of cargo and furs down the rivers between Lake Winnipeg and Hudson Bay. [2]
No. | Title | Original airdate | Series No. |
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01 | "Series One Episode One (The Company of Adventurers)" | January 6, 2002 | 1.01 |
The crew of explorers is selected, and they begin the first week of their journey, facing the same hardships the original crew would have had to deal with in 1840s Canada. | |||
02 | "Series One Episode Two (The Lake)" | January 7, 2002 | 1.02 |
The explorers begin the task of rowing the York boat to Hudson Bay under the hot summer sun, finally arriving at the Cree community of Norway House at the top of Lake Winnipeg. | |||
03 | "Series One Episode Three (The Great Portage)" | January 13, 2002 | 1.03 |
Setting out into the northern wilderness, the adventurers fight their way past the beaver dams and leech-filled sloughs on the Echimamish River. But on finally reaching the 1,600-metre Robinson Portage, the group's spirit is tested by a torrential downpour of rain. | |||
04 | "Series One Episode Four (Beyond Hell's Gate)" | January 20, 2002 | 1.04 |
The team reaches the magnificent Hayes River, but rapids with razor-sharp rocks damage the boat and a struggle for the leadership breaks out. | |||
05 | "Series One Episode Five (To the Edge of a Frozen Sea)" | January 20, 2002 | 1.05 |
The team is still 290 kilometres (180 mi) from York Factory, but their boat has been destroyed, the arctic cold is closing in, and their food is running low. They must battle illness and distrust to complete their quest to re-live the epic journey of the Hudson's Bay Company fur traders. |
The Hudson's Bay Company is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, it became the largest and oldest corporation in Canada, and now owns and operates retail stores across the country. The company's namesake business division is Hudson's Bay, commonly referred to as The Bay.
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye was a French Canadian military officer, fur trader, and explorer. In the 1730s, he and his four sons explored the area west of Lake Superior and established trading posts there. They were part of a process that added Western Canada to the original New France territory that was centred along the Saint Lawrence basin.
The Red River Colony, also known as Assiniboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on 300,000 square kilometres (120,000 sq mi) of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay Company in the Selkirk Concession. It included portions of Rupert's Land, or the watershed of Hudson Bay, bounded on the north by the line of 52° N latitude roughly from the Assiniboine River east to Lake Winnipegosis. It then formed a line of 52° 30′ N latitude from Lake Winnipegosis to Lake Winnipeg, and by the Winnipeg River, Lake of the Woods and Rainy River.
John Work was a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company and head of one of the original founding families in Victoria, British Columbia. Work joined the Hudson's Bay Company in 1814 and served in many capacities until his death in 1861, ultimately becoming a member of the company's Board of Management for its Western Department. He also served on Vancouver Island's Legislative Council. At the time of his death, Work was the largest private land owner of Vancouver Island. Work left an important legacy in the form of sixteen journals which chronicle his trading expeditions from 1823 to 1851. His journals provide a detailed record of Pacific Northwest land features, native peoples, and the Hudson's Bay Company's fur trading business in the early 19th century.
Cumberland House is a community in Census Division No. 18 in northeast Saskatchewan, Canada on the Saskatchewan River. It is the oldest community in Saskatchewan and has a population of about 2,000 people. Cumberland House Provincial Park, which provides tours of an 1890s powder house built by the Hudson's Bay Company, is located nearby.
Fur brigades were convoys of canoes and boats used to transport supplies, trading goods and furs in the North American fur trade industry. Much of it consisted of native fur trappers, most of whom were Métis, and fur traders who traveled between their home trading posts and a larger Hudson's Bay Company or Northwest Company post in order to supply the inland post with goods and supply the coastal post with furs.
Henry Kelsey was an English fur trader, explorer, and sailor who played an important role in establishing the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada.
Norway House is a population centre of over 5,000 people, some 30 km (19 mi) north of Lake Winnipeg, on the bank of the eastern channel of Nelson River, in the province of Manitoba, Canada. The population centre shares the name Norway House with the northern community of Norway House and Norway House 17, a First Nation reserve of the Norway House Cree Nation. Thus, Norway House has both a Chief and a Mayor.
Alexander Ross was a Scots Canadian fur trader and author.
The history of Manitoba covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. When European fur traders first travelled to the area present-day Manitoba, they developed trade networks with several First Nations. European fur traders in the area during the late-17th century, with the French under Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye set up several trading post forts. In 1670, Britain declared sovereignty over the watershed of Hudson's Bay, known as Rupert's Land; with the Hudson's Bay Company granted a commercial monopoly over the territory.
The Red River Trails were a network of ox cart routes connecting the Red River Colony and Fort Garry in British North America with the head of navigation on the Mississippi River in the United States. These trade routes ran from the location of present-day Winnipeg in the Canadian province of Manitoba across the Canada–United States border, and thence by a variety of routes through what is now the eastern part of North Dakota and western and central Minnesota to Mendota and Saint Paul, Minnesota on the Mississippi.
Isaac Cowie was a Scottish-born Canadian pioneer, fur trader, and politician. He served on the town council of Edmonton.
Clarence Tillenius, LL. D. was a Canadian artist, environmentalist, and advocate for the protection of wildlife and wilderness.
The history of Winnipeg comprises its initial population of Aboriginal peoples through its settlement by Europeans to the present day. The first forts were built on the future site of Winnipeg in the 1700s, followed by the Selkirk Settlement in 1812. Winnipeg was incorporated as a city in 1873 and experienced dramatic growth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Following the end of World War I, the city's importance as a commercial centre in Western Canada began to wane. Winnipeg and its suburbs experienced significant population growth after 1945, and the current City of Winnipeg was created by the unicity amalgamation in 1972.
Manitoba House is the name of a Hudson's Bay Company fur trading post as well as a separate settlement adjacent to the post. The site is in the present-day Rural Municipality of Alonsa.
Andrew Graham Ballenden Bannatyne was a Canadian politician, fur trader and leading citizen of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
William Kennedy was a Canadian fur trader, politician, and historian.
RoseAnna Schick is a Canadian entertainment publicist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her background is in the film and television industry, and she participated in a 'living history' television series in 2002 called Quest for the Bay. She often speaks at conferences and seminars, and is also a freelance travel and adventure writer.
Voyageurs were 18th- and 19th-century French Canadians who transported furs by canoe at the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places and times where that transportation was over long distances. The voyageurs' strength and endurance was regarded as legendary. They were celebrated in folklore and music. For reasons of promised celebrity status and wealth, this position was coveted.
The Mistik Creek is a stream in the Hudson Bay drainage basin in the Northern Region of Manitoba, Canada, approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Bakers Narrows.