In 1690 Henry Kelsey of the Hudson's Bay Company made the first journey of note inland from the west coast of Hudson Bay. For two years he lived alone among the Indians southwest of present day The Pas, Manitoba. Kelsey, according to his journal, was the first European to see buffalo on the plains. The primary purpose of his expedition was to encourage the Indians of the interior to come to the bayside posts, not to conduct trade in the fashion of the coureurs de bois of the rival trading system.
Kelsey's journal spoke of many features of his life with the Indians: the dangers, the numbing cold in winter, the gnawing hunger when game was scarce. Following Kelsey's return in 1692 there were few other inland travels of significance sponsored by the Company for nearly half a century. This was a period when critics said the Company "slept at the edge of the frozen sea". It was left to traders from New France to push deep into the western interior.
