The English River Book: A North West Company Journal and Account Book of 1786 (Rupert's Land Record Society Series) [Hardcover]

Harry W. Duckworth (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1989 | Series: Rupert's Land Record Society Series

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"makes an important contribution to our knowledge of history. Professor Duckworth's work is painstaking, detailed, scholarly - a labour of love, entirely commendable." C. Stuart Houston, Head of the Department of Medical Imaging, University of Saskatchewan, and editor of The Arctic Ordeal and To the Arctic by Canoe.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Mcgill Queens Univ Pr (December 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0773507140
• ISBN-13: 978-0773507142
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,309,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A superior primary resource that includes several journals., September 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The English River Book: A North West Company Journal and Account Book of 1786 (Rupert's Land Record Society Series) (Hardcover)

I found this book to be what I think to be a first rate primary resource. It includes a copy of a ledger kept at the post (relating what post employees were issued what items and for what amount of credit)as well as a journal of the beginning portion of the canoe trip to the rendez-vous at Grand Portage. There is some discussion of what traders were trading with which tribes, who was arriving and departing the post for whatever reason, and evaluations of some of the local tribal cheifs, as well as a brief glossary of aboriginal terms used for some of the trade goods. As a primary resource that sheds light on the day-to-day occurences at the post, and later, on the trail to Grand Portage. I consider this book to be invaluable to those doing research, or to anyone who is curious to know about the daily routine at an outpost and doesn't want generalizations. The book goes into specifics, and that is one of the reasons why I liked it.