The English River Book: A North West Company Journal and Account Book of 1786 (Rupert's Land Record Society Series)

The arrival of Montreal-based fur trader Peter Pond in Athabaska territory in 1778 and the establishment of the first trading post within the watershed of the Mackenzie River marked the beginning of a period of intense northern exploration.Alexander Mackenzie's voyages to the Arctic and Pacific oceans quickly brought the Canadian north west to European attention.One of the few surviving documents from this important period in Canadian history is The English River In 1786 the North West Company traded furs in Athabaska territory as a branch of its English River district.English River was the fur trader's name for the Churchill River.The journal, which was probably kept by Cuthbert Grant the elder (later a North West Company partner), provides a day-to-day record of trade in the spring of April 1786 at Fort Athabaska, under the direction of Peter Pond.The vividly written text describes Pond's peremptory manner with the Indians and the traders'return to civilization in May.Colourful anecd