This is a selection of letters written by William Traill to his mother, sisters, nieces, and nephew while he was in the service of the HBC. The letters are fascinating to read and extremely important in describing a way of life that we know relatively little about, as very few records to date describe career, courtship, marriage, household work, births, children, deaths, and generational change. This collection of letters is both interesting and poignant: read on any level they are truly engrossing. He found employment with the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become the Canadian West. His letters home are a rich and detailed portrait of domestic life in the fur trade of the Northwest between 1864 and 1893. At turns gritty then deeply touching but always fascinating and informative, the Willie Traill letters throw open a window on the joys and heart-breaking challenges of family life in the service of the fur trade.