Alexander Ross, the pioneer recorder of the early fur trade in the
far northern West, led a beaver trapping expedition in 1824 into
the vast, unfamiliar territory east of trading posts in the Pacific
Northwest. He and his men ventured deep into Snake River country in
present-day Idaho and Montana. In this narrative, based on the
accounts left by Ross and others, historian and legal scholar John
Phillip Reid describes the experiences of the earliest Hudson's Bay
Company fur-trapping expeditions--ventures usually overlooked by
historians--and explores the interaction between the diverse
cultures of the Pacific Northwest.
Ross recorded in exquisite detail the endless vexations of
managing a brigade drawn from the widest possible mixtures of
ethnic backgrounds and nationalities--his men included metis (or
mixed-bloods), Americans, Canadians, and Native "freemen"
(independent contractors) from over a dozen Indian nations. Ross's
accounts reveal the consequences of running low on supplies and
having to butcher the animals, and how hunting game for sport
threatened the stock of ammunition and the condition of the horses.
Entire expeditions were at the mercy of the most careless trapper
and the weakest horse. Hiring guides was chancy, for local
tribesmen did not always know the locations of beaver streams, or
even the terrain ahead. Religion could be problematic, as well;
both French Canadians "and" Iroquois refused to work on Catholic
holy days.
More than merely chronicling Ross's accounts, Reid uses early
trapping expeditions as a lens for examining legal, institutional,
and commercial behavior among the diverse population the fur trade
drew together. In addition, he assesses broader issues such as
cultural conflict between Ross and his men, and the Hudson's Bay
Company's drive to discourage American settlement in the Northwest
by exterminating the beaver there. Those interested in the history
of the early Northwest will find this well-crafted saga both
engaging and enlightening.
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