The union of the two companies necessitated the consolidation of the many fur trade posts which had sprung up during the period of competition. Key posts, such as Norway House pictured here, took on a substantial and stable air. Situated at the north end of Lake Winnipeg, this post, which was built by a small force of Norwegian labourers, quickly became the centre of the Hudson's Bay Company's transport system. The brigades from every part of the Northern Department stopped at Norway House on their way to and from York Factory so that in the summer months it was "a gay and bustling place." The neat wooden buildings ranged in a square are typical of nineteenth century post architecture. "Their clean white appearance and regularity, have a very pleasing effect on the eye"' observed the writer R.M. Ballantyne who served as a Hudson's Bay Company clerk in the 1840s.
