Joseph Smith was a British fur trader and explorer working for the Hudson's Bay Company.
Smith's explorations played an important role in opening up the interior of western Canada to European trade,[1] and his journals provide one of the earliest accounts of Cree life.
Their instructions were to distribute gifts to the Indians they encountered in an effort to persuade them to travel downriver to York Factory.
Adopting the native way of life and travel, Smith continued south past the Porcupine Hills, crossing the Assiniboine River where he hunted buffalo.
[3] In 1759 Smith joined the explorer Anthony Henday on a trip into Saskatchewan country, returning with a large flotilla of Cree bringing furs to trade.