Product Description
The twenty-five years between 1821 and 1846 were turbulent but important years in the history of the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest: 1821 saw the merger of the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company, and 1846 saw the signing of the Oregon Treaty, which established the Canada-U.S. border.

Archibald McDonald was a man who experienced these changes first hand. As a senior HBC officer, he was sent to the Columbia District headquarters at Fort George in 1821 to oversee the recently absorbed NWC posts and assets. After the merger, McDonald went on to direct operations at Thompson River (1826-28), Fort Langley (1828-33), and Fort Colvile (1833-44).

During his tenure in the Pacific Northwest, letters were McDonald’s only link with the outside world. Collected here for the first time by Jean Murray Cole, these public and private letters to friends, business colleagues, missionaries, botanists, and many others provide a fascinating narrative of the expansion of the fur trade at a critical time in its history.

McDonald’s witty and ironic style make these informative letters highly readable and entertaining. They are an invaluable primary resource for historians of the fur trade and the Pacific Northwest, anthropologists, geographers, and specialists in native studies. More general readers will be fascinated by these amusing snapshots of early settlement in the Pacific Northwest. ... Read more

Product Description
Fort Edmonton was a prairie institution and icon from 1795 to 1915. It was both a physical edifice and a community, not to mention a touchstone of western Canadian commercial history. Its story is rich in drama and colour: Métis fiddlers at midnight, dwarves firing cannons, duelling clergy, never-ending public drumming, secret agents, the raising of the skull-and-crossbones flag, bears quaffing cold drinks—at times it seemed like a circus had taken up residence there. It is also a chronicle of intimidation and murder, battles between whites and First Nations, epidemics and famines, destruction by fire, whiskey traders, horse stealing, mutinies, rebellion and, finally, government neglect and stealthy demolition.

A wealth of both accurate and questionable written descriptions of the fort were produced over the years. A rich body of visual representations was also created—sketches, engravings, book and magazine illustrations, and paintings and photographs relating to different periods. It is from the accumulation of all these documents that the fascinating story of Fort Edmonton is pieced together and told in all its glory. ... Read more