Asp House was a minor

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

post on the Rainy River. It was built at the time when the HBC was pushing inland to regain the trade that had been diverted to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

by the

Northwest Company The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...

. In 1793

John McKay (fur trader) John MacKay, Mackay, or McKay may refer to: Arts and academics * John Bain Mackay (1795–1888), nurseryman based in Clapton, London *John MacKay (journalist) (born 1967), Scottish television journalist and newscaster * John D. Mackay (1909–197 ...

of the Hudson's Bay Company left

Fort Albany, Ontario Fort Albany First Nation ( cr, ᐲᐦᑖᐯᒄ ᐃᓕᓕᐗᒃ pîhtâpek ililiwak, "lagoon Cree") is a Cree First Nation in Cochrane District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada, within the territory covered by Treaty 9. Situated on the southern ...

James Bay James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost pa ...

and went south to compete with the

. In September he went up the Rainy River and built an unnamed post below Manitou Falls and 12 miles below the NWC post at

Fort Lac la Pluie Fort Lac la Pluie was a fur trade depot established by the North West Company sometime between 1775 and 1787. It was located on a high bank on the west side of modern Fort Frances, Ontario across from International Falls, Minnesota on the Rainy Riv ...

. It was supplied from Fort Albany but needed supplements from local hunting and fishing. Trade produced only 18 packs of fur. In 1794 he built a second post upstream from the mouth of Rainy River since the Indians of Lake of the Woods did not wish to travel upriver. It was called Asp House. In October of that year Charles Boyer came down from Lac la Pluie and built a competing house 200 years away. Boyer had a difficult time had closed his post the following April. In 1797 it was left unoccupied and was subsequently pillaged and burned by rivals from Montreal.Manitoba archives below In 1825 the Hudson's Bay Company built

Hungry Hall Hungry Hall was the name of two unrelated Canadian trading posts. 1. Saskatchewan River (NWC,1791): In 1790 William Thorburn of the North West Company built a post on the right bank of the Saskatchewan River near Nipawin, Saskatchewan to cut off th ...

close to the location of the former Asp House. The site is at the current Oak Grove Camp. There is a

historical marker A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...

on the riverbank.

References

{{reflist * Elizabeth Browne Losey,"Let Them Be Remembered: The Story of the Fur Trade Forts",1999 * Manitoba archives /search /HBCA online:-search Asp Hal

Hudson's Bay Company trading posts