A Journal of a Voyage from Rocky Mountain Portage in Peace River to Sources of Finlays Branch and North West Ward in Summer 1824
Author: Samuel Black (1780-1841)
Year: 1955
Publisher: Hudson Bay Record Society,
Place: London
Description:
c+260+[xiv members list] pages with plates, folding map and index. Royal octavo (9 3/4" x 6 3/4") bound in original publisher's blue cloth with gilt lettering and decorative insignia to spine. Edited by E E Rich, assisted by A M Johnson, introduction by R M Patterson. Hudson Bay Record Society Number 1114 of a limited edition published for members.
Samuel Black was born into a Scottish trading family which had links with Canada. During his early years in the fur trade Black distinguished himself mostly as a bravo, using his great stature and fearless mien to intimidate the rival traders of the Hudson’s Bay Company, on whom he played many malicious and sometimes dangerous tricks. In 1822 he went to England, evidently to further his cause with the HBC’s London committee. Early the following year he was appointed a first-class clerk with the salary, but without the rank, of chief trader. He returned to the northwest later in 1823, assuming charge of Fort St John (near Fort St John, B.C.). The next year, when he became a chief trader, he carried out an exploration of the Finlay River and kept a journal, which is published here. His untiring curiosity and descriptive vividness make this account a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the northern regions west of the Rocky Mountains in the early days of exploration. Though his journey was partly inspired by the HBC’s intention of exploring the country as far as the Russian trading territory along the coast, Black found the area too unproductive and the river route too difficult for any development of the fur trade to result from his efforts.
, pages uncut. Known only through various manuscript versions from many years, Black's Journal, here printed from the original in the Hudson's Bay Company's London archives, sheds light on the early exploration of Finlay river.
Condition:
Pages unread with pages still needing to be cut, small scrape to front board else very good to fine.
