New Light on the Early History of the Greater Northwest
The Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry and of David Thompson, 1799–1814

A two-volume version of an 1897 publication containing abridged and edited journals relating to exploration of America's Northwest.

Alexander Henry (Author), David Thompson (Author), Elliott Coues (Edited by)

9781108079389, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 April 2015

602 pages, 1 b/w illus. 3 maps
21.6 x 14 x 3.4 cm, 0.76 kg

During the 1890s Elliott Coues (1842–1899), one of America's greatest ornithologists, edited several exploration narratives about the American Northwest, including Lewis and Clark's Travels. Coues tracked down the manuscript journals of two of Lewis and Clark's contemporaries, fur trader Alexander Henry (1765–1814) and geographer David Thompson (1770–1857), employees of the Northwest Company. Coues' abridged and edited version of Henry's text, accompanied by notes that draw heavily on Thompson's scientific records, appeared in 1897 in three volumes. Despite the deep prejudice evident in Henry's writing, Coues judged it a reliable account of his unscrupulous business dealings, and of the harsh realities he observed among many different First Nations peoples. Volume 2 covers 1808–14, when Henry travelled in Saskatchewan and Alberta, crossed the Great Divide, and traded along the Columbia River. This volume also contains Coues' original Volume 3, a comprehensive index of people and places.

Part II. The Saskatchewan: 13. The Saskatchewan brigade of 1808
14. Ethnography of Fort Vermilion
15. Fort Vermilion
16. To Fort Augustus and back
17. Fort Vermilion (cont.)
18. The new White Earth house
19. Overland from White Earth to the Rocky Mountain house, 1810
20. The Rocky Mountain house
21. Over the great divide
22. Geography and ethnography
23. Down the Saskatchewan, 1811
Part III. The Columbia: 24. Astoria, 1813
25. The Columbia and Willamette tour, 1814
26. Fort George, 1814
27. Fort George, concluded, 1814
Index and maps.

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK]