Rainy Lake House : twilight of empire on the northern frontier / Theodore Catton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Catton, Theodore, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Tanner, John, 1780?-1847.

Tanner, John.

McLoughlin, John, 1784-1857.

McLoughlin, John.

Long, Stephen H. (Stephen Harriman), 1784-1864.

Long, Stephen H.

Hudson's Bay Company--History--19th century.

Hudson's Bay Company.

Frontier and pioneer life--Rainy River Region (Minn. and Ont.).

Frontier and pioneer life.

Pioneers--Family relationships--Rainy River Region (Minn. and Ont.)--History--19th century.

Pioneers.

Missing children--Rainy River Region (Minn. and Ont.)--History--19th century.

Missing children.

Indians of North America--Rainy River Region (Minn. and Ont.)--History--19th century.

Indians of North America.

Fur trade--Rainy River Region (Minn. and Ont.)--History--19th century.

Fur trade.

History.

Pioneers--Family relationships.

Rainy River (Minn. and Ont.)--Ethnic relations--History--19th century.

Rainy River (Minn. and Ont.).

Ethnic relations.

North America--Rainy River Region.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 406 pages : maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, Maryland : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017.

Summary:

"In September 1823, three men met at Rainy Lake House, a Hudson's Bay Company trading post near the Boundary Waters. Dr. John McLoughlin, the proprietor of Rainy Lake House, was in charge of the borderlands west of Lake Superior, where he was tasked with opposing the petty traders who operated out of US territory. Major Stephen H. Long, an officer in the US Army Topographical Engineers, was there on an expedition to explore the wooded borderlands west of Lake Superior and the northern prairies from the upper Mississippi to the forty-ninth parallel. John Tanner, a 'white Indian' living among the Ojibwa nation, arrived at the post in search of his missing daughters who, Tanner believed, were at risk of being raped by the white traders holding them captive at a nearby fort. Rainy Lake House weaves together the captivating stories of these three men, who cast their fortunes in different ways with the western fur trade. Drawing on their combined experiences, Theodore Catton creates a vivid depiction of the beautiful and dangerous northern frontier from a collision of vantage points: American, British, and Indian; imperial, capital, and labor; explorer, trader, and hunter"--From publisher description.

Contents:

Part 1 Leave-Takings

1 The Explorer 13

2 The Hunter 22

3 The Trader 30

Part 2 Long

4 "The English Make Them More Presents" 39

5 Encounters with the Sioux 46

6 Race and History 51

7 To Civilize the Osages 56

Part 3 Tanner

8 Westward Migration 63

9 Six Beaver Skins for a Quart of Mixed Rum 74

10 The Test of Winter 81

11 Red Sky of the Morning 87

12 Warrior 94

Part 4 McLoughlin

13 Fort William 101

14 Marriage à la façon du pays 106

15 Bad Birds 111

16 The Restive Partnership 116

17 The Pemmican War 120

18 The Battle of Seven Oaks 129

19 The Surrender of Fort William 134

20 Lord Selkirk's Prisoner 139

21 Time of Reckoning 144

22 London 150

Part 5 Long

23 The Wonder of the Steamboat 163

24 A Christian Marriage 167

25 Up the Missouri 173

26 To the Rocky Mountains 181

27 Mapmaker 188

28 The Northern Expedition 196

Part 6 Tanner

29 The Coming of the Prophet 209

30 A Loathsome Man 218

31 Sorcery and Sickness 222

32 Taking Fort Douglas 232

33 Rough Justice 240

34 In Search of Kin 244

35 Between Two Worlds 251

Part 7 McLoughlin

36 Chief Factor 261

37 Providence 268

38 Opposing the Americans 273

Part 8 Collision

39 Working for Wages 279

40 Children of the Fur Trade 284

41 The Ambush 292

42 The Pardon 299

43 "We Met with an American" 303

44 The Onus of Revenge 309

45 Journeys Home 315.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 355-395) and index.

ISBN:

9781421422923

1421422921

OCLC:

968244726