Under the direction of George Simpson attempts were made to introduce economy and efficiency into the transportation of furs, trade items and supplies. Canoes continued to be used throughout the nineteenth century for rapid communication and transportation in warm weather, but the York boat was favoured for the movement of heavy or bulky goods and furs along the main trunk routes of the western trade. The York boat was an adaptation of an Orkney Islands fishing boat, introduced on the Albany River as part of the earliest attempts by the Hudson's Bay Company to solve its inland transportation problem. After 1821 it was commonly used on Lake Winnipeg, northeast to York Factory, south to Fort Garry and west to Edmonton. In comparison with the canot du nord, the York boat carried a much larger cargo with the same number of crew, six to eight tripmen, and it has been estimated that the boat achieved a saving of thirty-three percent in transportation costs.
York boats were strong enough to shoot rapids, and seaworthy enough to withstand storms on Lake Winnipeg. The painting shows a brigade of boats arriving at Norway House at the north end of the lake. The boats were eight and a half to twelve metres in length with crews of Orkneymen, French Canadians, MΘtis and Hudson Bay English who rowed with long sweep oars, poled with timbers of appropriate length and tracked (pulled) with harness and light ropes from the river banks. Under favourable conditions a mast and sail could be used. The one major disadvantage was weight. A York boat was too heavy to carry and had to be dragged around more difficult rapids on wooden rollers. The last York boats were constructed for the fur trade in 1923. For more about the York boat and fur trade transport in general, see Canada's Visual History, volume 34, "Life in the Western Canadian Fur Trade, 1770-1870".
