Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith was a British fur trader and explorer working for the Hudson's Bay Company. He was one of the first Europeans to explore the interior of what later became Canada from Hudson Bay. Smith died June 1765 en route to York Factory from the Saskatchewan River country. Smith's explorations played an important role in opening up the interior of western Canada to European trade,

In March 1757 Smith continued his travels by going north to the Swan River region. There his party built birch bark canoes, and traveled to Fort Bourbon. They then returned to York Factory by way of Oxford and Knee Lakes. The next year Smith returned to the Assiniboine River, and was the first European to record the use of a buffalo pound. In 1759 Smith joined the explorer Anthony Henday on a trip into Saskatchewan country, returning with a large flotilla of Cree bringing furs to trade. After his death his Cree wife brought their child and his furs downriver to York Factory. The Hudson Bay Company gave the furs, which he had traded illegally, to his "tent mate".