The Albany River is a river in Northern Ontario, Canada, which flows northeast from Lake St. Joseph in Northwestern Ontario and empties into James Bay. It is long to the head of the Cat River (a tributary of Lake St. Joseph), tying it with the Severn River for the title of longest river entirely in Ontario. Major tributaries include the Kenogami River and Ogoki River. The river was named after James, Duke of York and Albany, who later became King James II of England. History Since the Albany extends far to the west, its mouth is a natural site for a trading post. See Canadian canoe routes. Trade in the area was long contested by the English from Hudson Bay and the French on the Great Lakes. Much of the Albany basin was visited by long before the English penetrated inland. In 1674 Charles Bayly of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) became the first European to see the Albany. Sometime before 1679 the HBC founded Fort Albany at the mouth of the river. In 1685 the French built Fort des Français at the future site of Henley House. In 1743 Henley House was established upriver at the mouth of the Kenogami River. In 1775-76 Edward Jarvis from Henley House explored the relation between the Kenogami and the Missinaibi Rivers and went down to Michipicoten on Lake Superior. In 1777 Glouster House was built above Henley House on Upashewey Lake. In 1779 Philip Turnor surveyed as far as Gloucester House. In 1786 Osnaburgh House was built near the outlet of Lake St. Joseph. By 1790 or so the Fort Albany trade extended all the way to Lake Winnipeg. The land north of the Albany River was part of the Northwest Territories until 1912, when it was transferred to Ontario in the Ontario Boundaries Extension Act, 1912. Geography The Albany River is the boundary between Kenora District to the north and the Thunder Bay and Cochrane Districts to the south. The river begins at Lake St. Joseph at an elevation of . and flows over the Rat Rapids dam and under Ontario Highway 599 into Osnaburgh Lake. From there it flows via a Main Channel (northern) and South Channel around Kagami Island northeast, and takes in the right tributary Misehkow River and left tributary Etowamami River. The river continues over the Upper Eskakwa Falls, takes in the right tributary Shabuskwia River, and