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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Thompson mapping Canada
From: Joe Schultz
Date: 2009 Dec 4, 05:58 -0800
From: Joe Schultz
Date: 2009 Dec 4, 05:58 -0800
We may not have heard of Thompson if it hadn't been for the efforts of Joseph Tyyrrell. His "David Thompson's narrative...." is interesting reading. The university in Toronto has a digital version of this book, but the URL is a bazillion characters long. Access it at the bottom of the following. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Thompson_(explorer) I think the field books are still in Ontario's provincial archives. Have they been digitized? American Public Television did a film a few years ago, good for background. http://www.pbs.org/empireofthebay/ The Hudson Bay Company archives are now in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and are still being catalogued. Of interest to this list are the maps, see the following for a description. http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/holdings/special_media.html Appointment only, and they'll like you if you bring your own gloves. There's nothing like having the archivist uncover a map and thinking Hearne or Fidler said "Yes, that looks good." Apacherunner, lots of areas weren't mapped. The companies owned the land and did as they pleased in accordance with their charters. East India Company started the survey of India on their own, Hudson's Bay Company didn't do much more than what folks in this area call "cruising." Get the lay of the land and figure out the local population centers and transportation routes. Some used instruments, some didn't. I live on the American side of old Rupert's Land, and my area wasn't adequately mapped (in a fairly modern sense) until the 1850s. The land was de facto controlled by Hudson's Bay Company until the early 1870s, although the North West Company (and their predecessors, the Montreal free traders) were also there and competed hard for trade about a hundred years before Thompson. Actual survey and "Americanization" began in the mid 1870s. I wonder what is forgotten in a dusty archive in France or Spain? Were Le Seur and de Noyon really the first Europeans? The American Revolutionary War treaty and the international border west of Lake Superior is a whole 'nother issue. The 49th parallel was moved three times (that I know of) in my area, the final move was after Hudson's Bay Company relinquished control of the land to Canada in the 1870s. WGS-84 now has N49 almost where it was at the 1818 treaty! The border in northeastern Minnesota wasn't resolved until the 1940s, due to the remoteness of the area. Didn't Thompson "survey" this area twice? There were "free" Indians living their lives until the late 1930s/early 1940s in the area east of International Falls, Minnesota, until they were displaced to a reservation. Below are more links for background reading. I don't know where the original Hudson's Bay Company charter is (or the amendments) or if they've been scanned. See the following for one transcription of the original and an 1884 amendment. Interesting trivia: a 20th century amendment ended the crown tribute. Reason was that the company was sold to Americans. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6580 Always more than one side to a story. One of my good friends is Metis (pronounced Mae-TEE). http://nfb.ca/film/other_side_of_the_ledger/ And Gustavus Myers is always fun reading. See "A History of Canadian Wealth" at the left side of the following. http://www.yamaguchy.netfirms.com/7897401/myers/myers_index.html Joe -- NavList message boards: www.fer3.com/arc Or post by email to: NavList@fer3.com To , email NavList+@fer3.com