Paul Kane
I have not paid enough attention to Paul Kane, and I am beginning to regret that fact. He is a very useful guy when it comes to west-of-the-Rockies history, and…
Read moreJohn Whalika
Who was John Whalika? He was one of my great-great-grandfather’s First Nations slaves — a Haida man who James Birnie rescued from the Indian slave trade that flourished up and…
Read moreMeasles and Dysentery
I wrote about the 1847-1848 measles epidemic in my first book, The Pathfinder, in which I said: Measles began to sicken a few Dakelh around the fort [Fort Alexandria, Fraser…
Read moreNorway House fire
I am proofing my York Factory Express manuscript, which is an interesting process. It is a chance to catch errors, and I found one. This is what I said in…
Read moreFort Pitt
Fort Pitt was a provisioning post, constructed in 1829-31, 217 miles downriver from Edmonton House. Before this post was built, the men of the outgoing Saskatchewan Brigades (which included…
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