Minnesota and the Far West

Oliphant's vivid 1855 account of a trip to the booming Great Lakes region that included travel by canoe down rapids.

Laurence Oliphant (Author)

9781108033343, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 14 July 2011

340 pages, 16 b/w illus. 1 map
21.6 x 14 x 1.9 cm, 0.43 kg

Laurence Oliphant (1829–88) was a much-travelled British diplomat and writer. In the mid-nineteenth century, between two stints in the Caucasus, he spent several years in North America, helped Lord Elgin negotiate a trade treaty between Canada and the US, and was for a time Superintendent-General for Indian Affairs in Canada. In this book, first published in 1855, Oliphant expresses his enthusiasm for the rapid development in the American West that was being driven by industry and commerce. He documents a fact-finding journey around the Great Lakes region, travelling on the new railway and adventurously taking a bark canoe down rapids and across portages. From picnics, dances and sleigh rides to mining, forest clearance and land speculation, Oliphant conveys a vivid picture of the opportunities and hardships of the frontier society. He focuses in detail on the Native Americans he encountered, their customs, skills, way of life and future prospects.

Preface
Part I. Canada: 1. Across the frontier. Reciprocity
2. Canadian politics
3. Canadian society
4. Canadian statistics
5. Canadian backwoods
6. A bark-canoe voyage down the Severn
7. A ride to the Indian village of Saugeen
8. The annual distribution of Indian presents at Manitoulin. Georgian Bay
Part II. Lake Superior: 9. The Sault Ste. Marie
10. The Pictured Rocks. Father Marquette
11. The mineral region of Lake Superior
12. Ontonagon. The 'Sam Ward'
13. The city of Superior. Land speculation
14. Wisconsin. Bed and board in the far west
Part III. Minnesota: 15. Camping out on the St. Louis
16. The Savannahs
17. Sandy Lake
18. Early traders. Coureurs des Bois. Chippeways
19. The head waters of the Mississippi. Shooting the little falls in a bark canoe
20. Winnebagoes. Indian affairs. The Sauk Rapids
21. The falls of St. Anthony
22. St. Paul. Locomotive doins in Minnesota
23. Manners, customs, and political opinions of the St. Paul public
24. Steamboat life on the Mississippi. The Bluffs
25. Across the prairies. Chicago. Niagara.

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK]