| description: | Image from a painting by Rex Woods. Henry Kelsey at 14 left England with the company of adventurers of England trading into Hudson Bay. He quickly learned native ways as a friend of the aboriginals. He even prepared an "Indian Dictionary." He was the first man to record musk ox and buffalo, and in 1690 he went 1000 miles into the interior with the Assiniboine. In his diary found in Ireland in 1926, he recounted his discovery of the Canadian Plains. A bronze plaque marks his Deerings Point Base in The Pas, Manitoba. He was the first white man to travel inland from Hudson's Bay to eastern Saskatchewan. He was captured twice by the French and was named Deputy Governor of the Company in 1714. He became Governor in 1718, the first to rise through the ranks from apprentice. He was recalled to England in 1722 and died almost forgotten. |