The Hudson's Bay Company Fort at Rat Portage on Old Fort Island, 1857

The Hudson's Bay Company Fort at Rat Portage on Old Fort Island, 1857. . , The full name given in the charter is: “The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, Trading into Hudson Bay”. , The charter, granted by King Charles on May 2nd, 1670, gave the company “The Whole Trade of All Those Seas, Streights, and Bays, Rivers, Lakes, Creeks and Sounds, in Whatsoever Latitude They Shall be, That Lie Within the Entrance of the Streights Commonly Called Hudson's Streights, Together with All the Lands, Countries, and Territories Upon the Coasts and Confines of the Seas, Streights, Bays, Lakes, Rivers, Creeks and Sounds Aforesaid, Which are not now Actually Possessed by any of our Subjects, or by the Subjects of Any Other Christian Prince or State.” , While, for many years, the Company operated around the Hudson's Bay, gradually posts were set up further south. It is believed that the post at Rat Portage was built between 1790 and 1800. The first post was on an island in the Winnipeg River. , In 1856 the Hudson's Bay posts in the Lac La Pluie (Rainy Lake) area are listed as Fort Frances, Fort Alexander, Rat Portage, White Dog, Lac Du Bonnet, Lac De Boisblanc and Shoal Lake. The Indian population of this area, at that time, was said to be 2850. , In 1861 the Company's buildings were moved to the mainland to a site on the shore of the bay (now Main Street Kenora). , In 1881 a fire destroyed nearly all these buildings. They were rebuilt in 1882 a little further south-east and in 1890, the Hudson's Bay Company built a stone building on the north-east corner of Main and First Street South, Kenora. , The Hudson's Bay Company left Kenora in 1918, transferring stock to the Company's store at Calgary Alberta.