One of the few surviving documents from this important period in Canadian history is The English River In 1786 the North West Company traded furs in Athabaska territory as a branch of its English River district. English River was the fur trader's name for the Churchill River. The journal, which was probably kept by Cuthbert Grant the elder (later a North West Company partner), provides a day-to-day record of trade in the spring of April 1786 at Fort Athabaska, under the direction of Peter Pond. The vividly written text describes Pond's peremptory manner with the Indians and the traders'return to civilization in May. Colourful anecdotes describe events such as the time the Athabaska River, blocked by ice, flooded the fort, leaving its inhabitants scrambling for the rafters. The journal lists the names of clerks and voyageurs and contains some of the earliest native names on record. In addition to listing the names of those who worked and traded in the area, The English River Book catalogues duties, wages, stations, and many other details concerning the approximately one hundred voyageurs in the English River district during 1785 and 1786. Included are many familiar figures: such as Joseph Cartier, an interpreter whose fur trading career lasted almost sixty years, and Joseph Landry and Charles Doucette, the Acadian voyageurs who a few years later guided Alexander Mackenzie to the Arctic and the Pacific oceans, The English River Book also contains inventories of trading goods, some familiar, some mysterious, and features a short Cree trading vocabulary. In The English River Book romantic lore of the fur trade and the adventurous lives of the traders are recounted on the spot and in the heat of events. This text is unique in that, rather than providing the reminiscence of a retired trader, it presents an active working journal.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 971.2/01
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 20
- General Note
- Maps on lining paper Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- n-cn---
- ISBN
- 0773507140 9780773562134
- LCCN
- F1060.7
- LCCN Item number
- E547 1990eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOONL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (xxxviii, 212 p.)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)slc00201079 (OCoLC)243567353 (CaOOCEL)400905
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaOONL
Table of Contents
- Contents 8
- Tables and Maps 9
- Preface 10
- Introduction 12
- THE ENGLISH RIVER BOOK 40
- Contents of the Original Edition 42
- A Cree Trading Vocabulary 44
- The Journal 48
- The Account Book 61
- APPENDIXES 166
- A: Indian Names Found in the English River Book 168
- B: Biographies of Voyageurs and Traders 173
- Notes 212
- Bibliography 234
- Index 240
- A 240
- B 240
- C 242
- D 242
- E 243
- F 243
- G 244
- H 244
- I 245
- J 245
- K 245
- L 245
- M 246
- N 247
- O 247
- P 248
- Q 249
- R 249
- S 249
- T 250
- U 250
- V 250
- W 251
- X 251
- Y 251
