The Apprentice’s Tale by Hugh Mackay Ross, and: The Manager’s Tale by Hugh Mackay Ross, and: Trader-Tripper-Trapper: The Life of a Bay Man by Sydney Augustus Keighley (review)

242 THE CANADIAN HISTOKICAL R•VIEW The coreof thisbookisprovidedbyfourchapters: 'The Searchfor EconomicStability ,' 'Political Cultures: The Realityof ColonialStatus,' 'Northern Service: Bureaucrats andtheTerritories,'and 'Fightingfor Control:Native Politics and LandClaims.' Theseshow, in turn, thatthe economy of the north is always fragiledespitethe immensity of naturalresources; thatthe political cultures are dependent on andat the sametimefightingagainst central control; thatthenorthistoa markeddegree thecreature of Ottawa; and that land claims are at the heart of native discontent. None of these perceptions arenew,andthatwhichisstated in thebookisnotunexpected to those whotbllowtheprogress of theCanadian north. Thisbookprovides a satisfactory lookattherecentpastof theYukonand theNorthwest Territories. Based ona widereading oftheappropriate jour. nalliterature,government documents, and monographic studies, it isanaltogether satisfactory review. An Ottawamandarinaboutto headfor Inuvik, Whitehorse, Yellowknife, or Pangnirtung wouldbe wiseto consultthisbook beforedeparture;and for all newlyarrivedministers of Indian affairsand northerndevelopment intenton a quickstudyof theseaffairs,TheModern Northoughtto be their firstread.At the levelof an academic enterprise, however, thiswillnotbethefinalword.The greatopportunity for northern travelandoraltestimony hasbeenlosttoour authors, andthereisa notable absence of the northern anger that southernCanadianobservers of these thingsaresubjected to on theCBC. The authorshavechosen historical commentaryratherthan political diatribe,and thisis welcome. They clearly conclude thatthe northmustdecideitsowndestiny: 'The challenge of the nexttwodecades isfortheNorthtobuildonthepromise andopportunity of the land claimsand to fully incorporate the aboriginalpeopleinto the administration andbuildingof the Yukonand Northwest Territories'(159). They envision theYukon andthe NorthwestTerritoriesascommunities completelywithinCanada , aspartners, notascostly appendages. Amentothat. BARRY MORTON GOUGH WilfridLaurierUniversity The Apprentice's Tale.HUGH MACKAY ROSS. Winnipeg: Watson andDwyer1986. Pp. x, 190,illus. TheManager's Tale.HUGH MACKAY ROSS. Winnipeg: Watson andDwyer1989. Pp.xxii, 248,illus. Trader-Tripper-Trapper: TheLifeofa BayMan.SYDNEY AUGUSTUS KEIGHLEY with RENi•E FOSSETT JONES and DAVID KIRKBY RIDDLE. Winnipeg:Rupert'sLand Research Centre; Watson andDwyer1989.Pp.xx, 220,illus. For several generations, the studyof fur•tradehistorygroundto a haltin 1870.Scholars fromA.S.MortontoA.J.Rayprovided thoughtful andsensitiveportrayals ofthenatureof theeconomy andsociety thatevolved around REVIEWS 243 thetrade,butleftthediscipline withthesense thattheRedRiverResistance andthe comingof Confederationmarked the end of the old order. While there was acertain logic instopping in 1870, oneoftheprimary justifications was simply practical: theHudson's BayCompany records fortheyears after 1870 werenot generally available. Recent scholarship, including Ray's TheCanadian FurTrade inthe Induatrial Age, has capitalized ontheavailability ofthepost-1870 Hudson's BayCompany materials and has begun todescribe thesocial and economic contours of themodern fur trade.The exchange proved moreresistant thantheearly literature suggested, astheHBC anditscorporate rivals dealtwithchanging fashions, heavycompetition, andthegradualemergence of thewelfarestate. It is now dear that the post-1870fur trade hasa vibrant,diverse,and important historyand that our understanding of the twentieth-century experience of northernnativepeople depends ona betterawareness ofthe nature of the trade. While the Hudson'sBay Company's massive archivalcollections will undoubtedly providethe basis for subsequent investigations of the modern furtrade,scholars haveavailable a plethoraof additional sources. Church records, longoverlooked, provideimportantinsights into the natureof the fur-trade society. For muchof thepost-1870 period,a varietyof provincial andfederalgovernmentcollections contains valuable data.Giventhe nature ofthese records, however, theprivateexperiences of thefur-tradeemployees themselves mightwellremainsomewhat elusive. The threebooksreviewed here,by HBCemployees Hugh MackayRoss andSydneyKeighley, provide important personal insights intothenatureof thepost-1870 fur trade. Trader-Tripper-Trapper is the bestof the threebooks.SydneyKeighley worked for the Hudson'sBayCompanyfrom 1917to 1938,and thenremained in thefieldasan independent traderuntilheretiredin 1963.While hisaccount focuses on personal travelsand experiences, he offersmany usefulobservationson native life, the activitiesof visitorsto the north, the operation ofthefur trade,andnon-native responses to northern conditions. Thebooklingersunnecessarily on Keighley's various travels, although this emphasis highlights thevastdistances anddifficulties of getting about in the north.It is unfortunatethat he doesnot devotemoretimeto hispersonal affairs; forexample, hisrelationship withhisfirstwife,a Creewoman named Rachel, is sketched brieflyand shepasses quickly from thepages. To his credit, Keighley readily acknowledges thelimits ofhismemory anddoes not attempt to pushhisrecollections intouncertain territory. HughMackay Ross's two-volume memoirs aremoreengaging. Ross, born inScotland, joinedtheHudson's BayCompany in 1930andremained with thefirmuntilheretiredin 1977.Duringhiscareer, helivedandworked in such diverselocations as Grassy Narrows,Bear Island,Waterways, and 244 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW Winnipeg,movingsteadily up the corporate ladderfrom apprentice trader to, by 1948,districtmanagerfor northernSaskatchewan. Ross's books are morepersonal thanKeighley's, offering extended descriptions offamily and company life,and providinggoodaccounts of the social roundof thefur. tradeposts. Ross is particularly strongin hisdescriptions and characteriza. tionsofothernon-native peopleinvolved in thenorthernfur trade.Thereis lessattentionto the nativepeople,but this is generallyoffsetby useful discussions of theinnerworkings of theHudson'sBayCompany.Ross writes withcertainty; hisfrequentuseof reconstructed conversations, complete with...