Saskatchewan Journals and Correspondence: Edmonton House 1795–1800, Chesterfield House 1800–1802 ed. by Alice M. Johnson (review)

sr,vmws 313 recent years. Especially significant arelarge quantities ofprimary sources, several of whichshed newlightonentire chapters ofthesubject's career. However valuable andpainstaking a workof scholarship Professor Fr•gaultproduced in 1944,it is disappointing thatthe1968edition should interpret Iberville's activity inthenorthern regions withouttakingintoaccount the records eitherof the Hudson's Bay Company oreven ofthePublic Record Office. Norcanonewritedefinitively onhis Louisiana careerwithoutreappraising notablythe largelyfilusorycontentof Iberville's memoirs to the Minister between 1702 and 1705 on the North American situation. Likewise, no biography of Ibervilleis complete withouta considerable portion of thenarrative beingdevoted to hispursuit of personal wealth, whether it be at HudsonBay,Newfoundland, Louisiana, or duringthe notorious Nevis campaign of 1706.Furthermore, the present editiondoesnottakeintoaccount (though theyarenotedin thebibliography) suchmajorsecondary contributions astherecentstudies of W. J. Eccles, E. E. Rich,and M. Giraud,to namebut themostimportant. The overallscope of thisworkis, b today's standards, narrow,with notable Y emphasis, in the drum-and-trumpet rhetoric of another ageof French-Canadian nationalism, on Iberville's militaryexploits against the English. What Canadian historian of today,for instance, woulddescribe FrenchIndiandiplomacy asan effortto "tisser desliens,"asopposed to that of the English, "nouant leurs intrigues"? B•I• POT•m• National Historic Sites Service Saskatchewan Journals andCorrespondence: Edmonton House1795-1800,Chesterrield House1800-1802. Editedwithanintroduction by AnIc•.M. JOHNSON. London: TheHudson's BayRecord Society. 1967.Pp.cii,368,map.Avafiable fromthesociety, Beaver House, GreatTrinityLane,London, EC4. V/ITHTIiEPUBLICATION or ITSTV/'EN'rY-SIXTH VOLU1VIE the Hudson's BayRecord Society moves intoa newterritoryanda newperiod.Edmonton HouseandChesterfield House wereestablishrnents of critical importance in theadvance of the Honourable Company upthenorthern andsouthern branches oftheSaskatchewan in anattempt to maintain itstrading position in faceof theincreasingly vigorous andeffective competition of rivaltraders. Thevolume clearly reveals theintensification of competition. Though it isobvious thatthetraders were,andforgood reason, farmoreafraid oftheIndians thantheywereofoneanother, andthough thereismuchevidence of co-operation against thecommon danger andtheexchange of social pleasantries tomitigate thenumbing isolation of thewilderness, thisrecord of thefurtrade in thelastfiveyears oftheeighteenth century presages the violence that wasto reachits climaxin the nextdecade. The Edmonton of these journals is thefirstEdmonton House, established in 1795byWilliam Tomison aftera preliminary reconnaissance byPeter Fidlerin 1793. This was at somedistanceto the eastof the later fort at the siteof Alberta's Iegislative buildings andnearthepresent townof FortSaskatchewan. Tomison was thekeeper ofthree ofthefivejournals printed here; George Sutherland kept thesecond, andJames Birdthefifth.Edmonton today pays littlerespect tothe memory ofitsfodnder; not so much as anapartment house oranavenue preserves hisname. Tomison must have been a singularly difficult man.Though hiscolleagues charged himwithattempting tofrustrate theextension ofthecompany's 314 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW tradeintotheAthabasca country, heseems tohaveretained theconfidence ofthe London management. Perhaps it wasasa compliment to those worthies thathe named the new establishment on the North Saskatchewan "after the Middlesex arish inwhich theDeputy Governor, Sir James Winter Lake, has his ,h, ome and omwhichthe Saskatchewan apprentice, JohnPeterPruden... came. Though Edmonton House is onlyoneof theposts setup ontheNorthSaskatchewan in thisperioduponwhichthejournals andcorrespondence printed hereshed light, theothers arelargely forgotten. Edmonton House washowever, onitslatersite, destined to become a majornexus in the system o[ communications withinthe furtrade overwhich George Simpson presided. PeterFidlet'stwo seasons at Chesterfield Housemarkthe firstamongseveral attempts ontheparto[ thevarious furtrading interests toestablish themselves on theSouth Saskatchewan system. Relations withtheIndians seem tohavebeenthe underlying cause o[ failureandFidler's laconic entries, especially in thesecond journal, indicate what a nervous winterthe traders musthavepassed. Though the region's potentiality [or furscertainly did not live up to the expectations aroused by Indianreports, the 1801returns for Chesterfield House were12,000 made beaver whenthewhole tradeatYorkFactory including Severn was44,9.28. Thesecond yeartheydropped to 7,495outof a total34,337, stilla substantial proportion. Thejournal entries arelargely restricted to thestate of theweather, theemployment ofthemen, andthecomings andgoings ofthetrade. Occasionally they afford roomforspeculation astotheattitudes of thejournalist. WhenFidler,for example, orders thementofellthetrees thatlaybetween thehouse andtheriver, washeconcerned withthesecurity of hispostorwithhisenioyment of a view thatmust have been singularly refreshing in contrast tothegeneral prospect in thevicinity of Chesterfield House? In spite o[ theirrigorous confinement to the essentials o[ business, a reading o[ theiournals does convey some sense oœ the dailylifeof thetrade.These menwere,in spite of thewilderness, verymuch Europeans, concerned to maintain asfar astheycouldsome o[ theamenities of European life,though at thesame timeoftenabletoappreciate whatweretothe Indianswho surrounded themamenities o[ equalsiguificanee. The admirable notes, o[ thatsupremely highquality which readers of thesociety's publications havecome toexpect, addenormously tothetextofthejournals. Oneminor point maybeworth making. Reference ismade innote3, page11tothesiteofl]uckingham House asabout aquarter o...