David Thompson's Travels is one of the finest early expressions of the Canadian experience. The work is not only the account of a remarkable life in the fur trade but an extended meditation on the land and Native peoples of western North America. The tale spans the years 1784 to 1807 and extends from the Great Lakes to the Rockies, from Athabasca to Missouri. A distinguished literary work, the Travels alternates between the expository prose of the scientist and the vivid language of the storyteller, animated throughout by a restless spirit of inquiry and sense of wonder. In the first volume of an ambitious three-volume project that will finally bring all of Thompson's writings together, editor William Moreau presents the Travels narrative as it existed in 1850, when the author was forced to abandon his work. Accompanying Moreau's transcription is an introductory essay and a textual introduction, extensive critical annotations, historical and modern maps, and a biographical appendix. The definitive collection of Thompson's works, The Writings of David Thompson will bring one of North American's most important early travellers and surveyors and his world to a whole new generation of readers.

"In the first of three volumes that will finally bring all of David Thompson's writings together, editor William Moreau presents the Travels narrative as it existed in 1850, when the author was forced to abandon the work, and supplements it with a textual introduction, extensive annotations, and historical and modern maps." "The definitive collection of Thompson's works, The Writings of David Thompson will present one of North America's most important early travellers and surveyors and his world to a whole new generation of readers." --Résumé de l'éditeur.

A compelling tale of exploration, encounter, and commerce, from the Rocky Mountains to the mouth of the Columbia River.

The Great Lakes fur trade spanned two centuries and thousands of miles, but the story of one particular family, the Cadottes, illuminates the history of trade and trapping while exploring under-researched stories of French-Ojibwe political, social, and economic relations. Multiple generations of Cadottes were involved in the trade, usually working as interpreters and peacemakers, as the region passed from French to British to American control. Focusing on the years 1760 to 1840—the heyday of the Great Lakes fur trade—Robert Silbernagel delves into the lives of the Cadottes, with particular emphasis on the Ojibwe–French Canadian Michel Cadotte and his Ojibwe wife, Equaysayway, who were traders and regional leaders on Madeline Island for nearly forty years. In The Cadottes: A Fur Trade Family on Lake Superior, Silbernagel deepens our understanding of this era with stories of resilient, remarkable people.

David Thompson’s Travels is one of the finest early expressions of the Canadian experience. The work is not only the account of a remarkable life in the fur trade but an extended meditation on the land and Native peoples of western North America. The second in a planned three volumes of Thompson’s writings, this edition completes the great surveyor and fur trader’s spirited autobiographical narrative. In the 1848 Travels, Thompson describes his most enduring historical legacy - the extension of the fur trade across the Continental Divide between 1807 and 1812. During these years he established several Nor’wester trading posts, made contact with the tribal peoples of the Columbia Plateau, and tirelessly mapped the lands he traversed, all the time striving westward toward the Pacific. The tale culminates with Thompson’s historic arrival at the mouth of the Columbia in July 1811. Like its companion Volume 1, this work presents an entirely new transcription by William Moreau of Thompson’s manuscript, and is accompanied by an introductory essay placing the author in his historical and intellectual context. Extensive critical annotations, a biographical appendix, and historical and modern maps, make this the definitive collection of Thompson’s works, and bring one of North America’s most important travelers and surveyors to a new generation of readers.