Campbell, Marjorie Wilkins. The North West Company (Toronto: Macmillan, 1973). A useful, but somewhat romanticised account of the Nor'Westers. Available in paperback edition.
-----. Northwest to the Sea: A Biography of William McGillivray (Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1975). A well-written, sympathetic biography of the man who controlled the fortunes of the North West Company from 1804 to 1821.
Daniells, Roy. Alexander Mackenzie and the North West (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1971).
Galbraith, John S. The Little Emperor: Governor Simpson of the Hudson's Bay Company (Toronto: Macmillan, 1976). The definitive work on the most important figure in the nineteenth-century fur trade.
Gates, Charles M., ed. Five Fur Traders of the Northwest (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1971). The journals of five Nor'Westers which give interesting glimpses of fur trade life.
Gray, J.M. Lord Selkirk of Red River (Toronto: Macmillan, 1963). The story of the founding of the Red River Colony set against the background of fur trade rivalry.
Jenness, Eileen. The Indian Tribes of Canada (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1966). A brief, useful survey of Canada's Indian tribes. Available in paperback edition.
McKay, Douglas. The Honorable Company (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1966). A lively account of the Hudson's Bay Company, marred by inaccurate details. Available in paperback edition.
Macleod, Margaret and Morton, W.L. Cuthbert Grant of Grantown. (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1974; Carleton Library No. 71). While focussing on the MΘtis leader of the Seven Oaks "Massacre", this book is essentially a history of the MΘtis nation in the first half of the nineteenth century. Available in paperback edition.
Morse, Eric W. Fur Trade Canoe Routes of Canada/Then and Now (Ottawa: Queen's Printer, 1969). An excellent discussion, with illustrations and maps, of the river routes utilized by the fur-traders.
Morton, A.S. A History of the Canadian West to 1870-71 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, revised edition, 1973). The standard, but massive text on the fur trade period. Recommended for teacher's reference.
Nute, Grace Lee. The Voyageur (New York: D. Appleton, 1931). Contains a wealth of information on voyageur life.
O'Meara, Walter. Daughters of the Country: The Women of the Fur Traders and Mountain Men (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1968). A popular narrative about the Indian and mixed-blood wives of the fur-traders. The book is a superficial look at fur trade society and contains material on American mountain men which should not be confused with the Canadian experience.
Rich, E.E. The Fur Trade and the Northwest to 1857 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1976). A scholarly narrative by an authority on the Hudson's Bay Company. Recommended to teachers for political and economic background. Available in paperback edition.
Ross, Eric Beyond the River and the Bay (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1973). An imaginative synthesis of primary source materials which creates a picture of life in Rupert's Land on the eve of the founding of the Red River Colony in 1811. Highly recommended.
Smith, James K. David Thompson, Fur Trader, Explorer and Geographer (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1971).
Primary Sources:
The use of the actual writings of the fur-traders themselves is strongly recommended to give students a fascinating and vital picture of fur trade life.
Ballantyne, R.M. Hudson's Bay (Edmonton: M.G. Hurtig, reprint edition, 1972). A semi-fictionalized account of life in the fur trade by the English writer of boys' stories, R.M. Ballantyne, who served as a clerk in the Hudson's Bay Company in the 1840s.
Butler, William F. The Great Lone Land (Edmonton: M.G. Hurtig, reprint edition, 1968). A classic travel narrative; Butler describes the prairie west as he saw it in 1870.
Cox, Ross. The Columbia River. Edited by Jane and Edgar Stewart. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1957). A highly readable account of the life of a Nor'Wester on the western side of the Rockies in the early nineteenth century.
Harmon, Daniel Williams. Sixteen Years in the Indian Country: The Journal of Daniel Williams Harmon, 1800-1816, edited by W. Kaye Lambe (Toronto: Macmillan, 1957). The best source of information about the lives of the Nor'Westers. Available in paperback edition.
Hearne, Samuel. A Journey to the Northern Ocean, 1769-1772, edited by Richard Glover (Toronto: Macmillan, 1958). This narrative is particularly valuable for its insights into the life of the Chipewyan Indians.
Henry, Alexander. Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories, 1760-1776 (Edmonton: M.G. Hurtig, reprint edition, 1969). The dramatic story of an early Nor'Wester.
Hopwood, Victor, ed. David Thompson; Travels 1784-1812 (Toronto: Macmillan, 1971). Thompson's sensitive comments on the land, the Indians and the fur trade combine to make this a fascinating book. Available in paperback edition.
Kane, Paul. Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians of North America. (Edmonton: M.G. Hurtig, reprint edition, 1968). This lively narrative of the artist's travels across western Canada contains many comments on fur trade life.
Mackenzie, Alexander. First Man West: Alexander Mackenzie's Account of His Expedition Across North America to the Pacific in 1793, edited by Walter Sheppe (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962).
Articles:
Much important information on fur trade life is to be found in The Beaver, which is published by the Hudson's Bay Company. This beautifully illustrated magazine is recommended for every school library.
"Castor The Beaver", The Beaver, Spring 1971,5-11.
Galbraith, John S. "The Enigma of Sir George Simpson", The Beaver, Spring 1976,4-9,
Glover, Richard. "York Boats," The Beaver, March 1949,19-23.
Howay, F.W. "Building the Big Canoes," The Beaver, December 1939,38-42.
Hussey, John A. "`Unpretending' but not `Indecent'; Living Quarters at Mid-19th Century HBC Posts," The Beaver, Spring 1975,12-17.
Rich, E. E. "The Fur Traders: Their Diet and Drugs," The Beaver, Summer 1976,42-53.
-----. "The Indian Traders," The Beaver, Winter 1970, 4-20. An analysis of the active role played by the Indian in the fur trade.
Van Kirk, Sylvia. "Women and the Fur Trade," The Beaver, Winter 1972, 4-21. Discusses the impact which the coming of white women had upon fur trade society.
Williams, Glyndwr. "Governor Simpson's Character Book," The Beaver, Summer 1975,4-18. In 1832, Governor Simpson wrote a character sketch of all the personnel in the Hudson's Bay Company from chief factors to postmasters.
-----. "Highlights in the History of the First Two Hundred Years of the Hudson's Bay Company," The Beaver, Autumn 1970. Comprising the whole issue, this is the best short history of the Hudson's Bay Company available.
