North of Athabasca
Subtitle: Slave Lake and Mackenzie River documents of the North West Company, 1800-1821
By: edited with an introduction by Lloyd Keith.
Contributors: Keith, Lloyd.; North West Company.
Series: Rupert's Land Record Society series
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Montreal; Ithaca
Language: eng
Number of pages: 504
Subjects: North West Company -- History -- Sources.; North West Company -- Biography.; North West Company -- Histoire -- Sources.; North West Company -- Biographies.; North West Company. -- History -- Sources.; North West Company. -- History.; Fur trade -- Northwest Territories -- Great Slave Lake Region -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.; 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 -- Northwest Territories -- Mackenzie River Region -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.; Fourrures -- Commerce -- Territoires du Nord-Ouest -- Esclaves, Région du Grand lac des -- Histoire -- 19e siècle -- Sources.; Fourrures -- Commerce -- Territoires du Nord-Ouest -- Mackenzie, Région du -- Histoire -- 19e siècle -- Sources.; Autochtones -- Territoires du Nord-Ouest -- Esclaves, Région du Grand lac des -- Histoire -- 19e siècle -- Sources.; Autochtones -- Territoires du Nord-Ouest -- Mackenzie, Région du -- Histoire -- 19e siècle -- Sources.; Northwest Territories -- Biography.; Great Slave Lake Region (N.W.T.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.; Mackenzie River Region (N.W.T.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.; Territoires du Nord-Ouest -- Biographies.; Esclaves, Région du Grand lac des (T.N.-O.) -- Histoire -- 19e siècle -- Sources.; Mackenzie, Région du (T.N.-O.) -- Histoire -- 19e siècle -- Sources.; Great Slave Lake (N.W.T.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.; Mackenzie River (N.W.T.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.; Northwest Territories -- Genealogy.
Genres: Sources.; Biography.; Biographies.; Genealogy.
Description: "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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [479]-488) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: PART ONE: OVERVIEW I; title: Historical Background 3; title: The Distant Past 3; title: The Recent Past 6; title: The North West Company 9; title: Slave Lake District, 1786-99 13; title: Mackenzie RiverDistrict, 1795-1800 14; title: James Porter'sJournal, 1800-1 18; title: John Thomson'sJournal, 1800-1 22; title: Arrival of Opposition in Athabasca, 1 8o-4' 26; title: EarlyJournals ofW.F. Wentzel, 1802-5 31; title: Alexander McKenzie'sJournal, 1805-6 37; title: Alexander HenryJr'sJournal, 18o6 41; title: George Keith'sJournals, 1805-7 43; title: W.F. Wentzel'sJournals, 1805-o8 53; title: Declining Returns from the Mackenzie, 1807-15 57; title: Roderic McKenzie Correspondence, 1807-24 58; title: Aftermath, 1816-21 66; title: Wentzel's "Account of Mackenzies River with a Chart,"; title: 1821 70; title: Conclusions 76; title: PART TWO:; title: NORTH WEST COMPANY DOCUMENTS 81; title: James Porter's Slave LakeJournal of 1800-1 83; title: John Thomson'sJournal of 1800-1 126; title: W.F. Wentzel'sJournals of 1802 and 1804-5 157; title: Alexander McKenzie'sJournal of 1805-6 207; title: Alexander Henry, Jr'sJournal of 1806 252; title: George Keith'sJournals of 1805-6 and 1806-7 259; title: W.F. Wentzel'sJournals and "Account of Mackenzies River,"; title: 1805-21 288; title: Biographical Notes, Mackenzie River and Slave Lake; title: Districts, 1795-1821 365; title: Glossary 451; title: Notes 457; title: Bibliography 479; title: Index 489.