MtMan-List: New member

[gottfred@agt.net (Jeff Gottfred)]

I feel a bit like I've wandered into the wrong classroom! I've been 
interested in all the American Mountain Man stuff I've read since I joined 
the list about a week ago, but I haven't seen much about my own interest 
area: the Canadian fur trade, 1774-1821. 

Rocky Mountain House was established in the Alberta foothills in 1799, and 
provided the launch point for David Thompson's explorations west of the 
Rockies. He discovered Howse Pass for the North West Company in 1807, and 
established Kootenae House near the site of modern Invermere, BC. A few 
years later, when unhappy Blackfeet (Peigan) warned him that they wouldn't 
tolerate the NWC selling guns to the unarmed  Kootenay on the other side of 
the Rockies, he went north in search of a new route, and pioneered the 
Athabasca Pass. He crossed the Athabasca Pass for the first time in the 
winter of 1810-1811, and for decades afterwards it was a trade route for the 
NWC and, later, Hudson's Bay Company. Thompson is only one of many fur 
traders who were active in the Canadian Rockies  from 1800 onwards. When he 
crossed the Athabasca Pass, he was following a route pioneered by the 
Iroquois (yes, Iroquois!), who were acting as free trappers for the NWC.

If you are interested in the Canadian fur trade of this period, check out 
our web site, _Northwest Journal Online_, where you will find many online 
articles of interest, an index to back issues of _Northwest Journal_, and 
lots more. It's at
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gottfred/nwj.html

I've been enjoying the discussions and I admire the way everyone is careful 
to cite their sources.

Your humble & obedient servant,
Angela Gottfred
Chief Clerk, Northwest Brigade

(aka Charlotte Small)
gottfred@agt.net-->soon to be gottfred@telusplanet.net