Fur brigade

[citation needed] Canoes were eventually replaced by York boats because they were more economically and physically efficient.

Downstream loads to locations such as York Factory on the Hudson Bay or to Montreal on the St. Lawrence River consisted mainly of furs.

[citation needed] These canoe routes became part of a complex transportation system during the North American fur trade.

[1] Hudson's Bay Company administrator George Simpson kept some canoes for personal journeys, and occasionally loaned them for travel, but York boats otherwise became the dominant mode of transportation.

[citation needed] The boat brigades were mostly crewed by Métis as were almost all the men employed by the Hudson's Bay Company in western Canada at the time.

The York boats from Red River of the Portage La Loche brigades in 1862 were crewed by French Métis with a few Swampy Cree and Chippewa Christians.

[4] In 1862, Father Émile Petitot quoted William J. Christie then the chief factor of Fort Edmonton as saying in French; "I am myself a Métis."

[9] The challenger would strut about adorned with feathers in his cap bragging about his prowess (chantant le coq).