North of Athabasca : Slave Lake and Mackenzie River documents of the North West Company, 1800-1821 / edited with an introduction by Lloyd Keith.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Keith, Lloyd.

North West Company.

Professor Elisabeth J. Tooker Fund.

Series:

Rupert's Land Record Society series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

North West Company--History--Sources.

North West Company.

North West Company--Biography.

North West Company--History.

Fur trade--Northwest Territories--Great Slave Lake Region--History--19th century--Sources.

Fur trade.

Fur trade--Northwest Territories--Mackenzie River Region--History--19th century--Sources.

Indigenous peoples--Northwest Territories--Great Slave Lake Region--History--19th century--Sources.

Indigenous peoples.

Indigenous peoples--Northwest Territories--History--19th century.

History.

Northwest Territories--Biography.

Northwest Territories.

Great Slave Lake Region (N.W.T.)--History--19th century--Sources.

Great Slave Lake Region (N.W.T.).

Mackenzie River Region (N.W.T.)--History--19th century--Sources.

Mackenzie River Region (N.W.T.).

Great Slave Lake (N.W.T.)--History--19th century--Sources.

Mackenzie River (N.W.T.)--History--19th century--Sources.

Northwest Territories--Genealogy.

Northwest Territories--Great Slave Lake Region.

Local Subjects:

North West Company--History--Sources.

North West Company--History.

Great Slave Lake (N.W.T.)--History--19th century--Sources.

Mackenzie River (N.W.T.)--History--19th century--Sources.

Northwest Territories--Genealogy.

Genre:

Biographies.

Sources.

Family histories.

Physical Description:

xviii, 504 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Ithaca : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2001]

Summary:

"The fur trade was an important building block in Canada's history. While much is known about the Hudson's Bay Company, information about the North Wet Company in the Slave Lake and Mackenzie River Districts has been scattered in various archives. In North of Athabasca Lloyd Keith provides the first detailed, document-based history of this pioneering company." "Using unused or little-known documents, Keith fills in gaps and corrects inconsistencies in previous information about the company. North of Athabasca not only includes the extensively annotated texts to eleven North West Company documents but Keith's introductory essay amplifies what is known about the context of the fur trade. His biographical notes provide personal details about the proprietors and clerks involved in the fur trade as well as the engages and aboriginal trading leaders. A sketch of the trading activities of every Native mentioned in the journals is included. Engages are shown to be more than labouring drones - Keith demonstrates that men such as Jean-Baptiste LaPrise were as important in furthering the interests of the North West Company north of Athabasca as any of the clerks or proprietors who kept the accounts and wrote the journals included here. The journals, often in fractured English or colloquial Canadian French, and incorporating aboriginal terminology, make intriguing reading. A glossary is provided to assist with some of the more arcane terms." "North of Athabasca fills an important void in the literature on this period and region Readers interested in fur trade history as well as students of exploration, genealogy, ethnography, and Native studies will find this a welcome addition to the literature on a fascinating topic."--Jacket.

Contents:

pt. 1. Overview. Historical Background. The Distant Past. The Recent Past. The North West Company. Slave Lake District, 1786-99. Mackenzie River District, 1795-1800. James Porter's Journal, 1800-1. John Thomson's Journal, 1800-1. Arrival of Opposition in Athabasca, 1800-4. Early Journals of W.F. Wentzel, 1802-5. Alexander McKenzie's Journal, 1805-6. Alexander Henry Jr's Journal, 1806. George Keith's Journals, 1805-7. W.F. Wentzel's Journals, 1805-08. Declining Returns from the Mackenzie, 1807-15. Roderic McKenzie Correspondence, 1807-24. Aftermath, 1816-21. Wentzel's "Account of Mackenzies River with a Chart," 1821

pt. 2. North West Company Documents. James Porter's Slave Lake Journal of 1800-1. John Thomson's Journal of 1800-1. W.F. Wentzel's Journals of 1802 and 1804-5. Alexander McKenzie's Journal of 1805-6. Alexander Henry, Jr's Journal of 1806. George Keith's Journals of 1805-6 and 1806-7. W.F. Wentzel's Journals and "Account of Mackenzies River," 1805-21. Biographical Notes, Mackenzie River and Slave Lake Districts, 1795-1821.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 479-488) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Professor Elisabeth J. Tooker Fund.

ISBN:

0773520988

9780773520981

OCLC:

44446895

Publisher Number:

99965278215