The small trading posts established by the Hudson's Bay Company were fortified and manned by groups of traders, not soldiers. This Royal Ontario Museum reconstruction of the Hudson's Bay Company post at the mouth of the Albany River is based on both archaeological investigation and de Troyes' description. The two houses and the four flankers or bastions were built of half-notched logs, tied together at the corners with long, iron spikes. This post served from about 1680 to 1721; it replaced an earlier post which was constructed about 1674 on the same spot. In either 1720 or 1721, a third post was built on Albany Island. One house served as the Governor's dwelling and a warehouse, the other as quarters for the company servants. The ground floors of two of the bastions were also used for storage.
