The definitive Hubbard, combining her previously unpublished diary, a full biography, and new maps that break down her daring canoe trip day by day.

In 1905 Mina Benson Hubbard became the first white woman to cross Labrador, completing the expedition that had led to her husband's death. The Woman Who Mapped Labrador makes available for the first time the unguarded and personal diary that was the basis for her famous book, A Woman's Way Through Unknown Labrador. Three specialists have combined their expertise to enhance the richness of this original source. Roberta Buchanan's annotation of Hubbard's expedition diary makes it accessible to contemporary readers. Anne Hart's biography illuminates an Edwardian woman's transformation from teacher, nurse, and devoted wife to courageous explorer and social activist. Bryan Greene's discussion of Hubbard's navigational, cartographic, and topographical techniques shows her to have been a serious explorer. His nineteen newly drawn maps make it possible to follow her journey in detail. In her diary Hubbard's full enthusiasm for the Labrador wilderness shines through her descriptions of the great caribou migration, the Montagnais/Naskapi Indians (Innu), and life at a Hudson's Bay post. She also reveals in frank detail the difficulties of asserting her authority as a female expedition leader and her satisfaction at beating out her male rival, Dillon Wallace.

Author gives an account of her husband's life and of his expedition of 1903 to central Labrador, and of her own expedition from Lake Melville to Ungava Bay in 1905. Diary of Leonidas Hubbard, July-October 1903, and of his companion George Elson, October 1903-May 1904.

In 1903 Hubbard's husband, Leonidas, starved to death on his cartographic and ethnographic expedition to Labrador. Hubbard decided to complete her husband's work, becoming a skilled explorer and cartographer in her own right. She set out in July 1905 and with the help of George Elson, a Métis guide who had been employed by her husband on the original trip, and three other guides completed her expedition in record time with significant results, including completing the first accurate map of the Labrador river system, thus correcting the earlier map that had led to her husband's death. Her original photographs and the map are reproduced in this volume.

In July 1903 Leonidas Hubbard set out to explore the uncharted interior of Labrador by canoe, accompanied by Dillon Wallace, his best friend, and George Elson, a Métis guide. Bad luck and bad judgment led the expedition into disaster and the party was forced to turn back. Hubbard died of starvation just thirty miles from camp. Two years later Wallace decided to complete the overland expedition and clear himself of blame for Hubbard's death. He had, however, a rival - Mina Hubbard. She blamed Wallace for her husband's death and, with Elson as her guide, intended to complete the trek first. The result was an epic race between the avenging widow and her husband's best friend. Reconstructing the story from the long-lost journals and diaries of the 1903 and 1905 expeditions, James Davidson and John Rugge trace the explorers' routes and re-create the saga. Great Heart is a gripping drama of individuals pushed to the limits of human endurance.

This selection of writings by twenty-nine women, known and unknown, professional and amateur, presents a unique portrait of Canada through time and space, from the seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries, from the Maritimes to British Columbia and the Far North. There is a range of voices from high-born wives of governors general, to an Icelandic immigrant and a fisherman’s wife in Labrador. A Loyalist wife and mother describes the first hard weather in New Brunswick, a seasick nun tells of a dangerous voyage out from France, a famous children’s writer writes home about the fun of canoeing, and a German general’s wife describes habitant customs. All demonstrate how women’s experiences not only shared, but helped shape this new country.