Synopses & Reviews
"My desire was to paint a series of word pictures of the North as I knew it, of the fur trade of an earlier day, and of the men and women who walked the stage at that particular time." -Harold Kemp
First published in 1956, Northern Trader is a historically valuable, intimately personal and vividly expressed memoir of the last days of the fur trade. A gifted writer, Harold Kemp recounts the routine and rhythms of that long-lost way of life; a life that had been "following the same placid course that it had been following for the past two hundred years"; a life in which "bark canoes were still built, muzzle-loaders still used," and where the north was "a vast region of infinite allure in which a young man could test his characters, make his name, and earn a living far distant from the mundane familiarities of town or city." Kemp tells how, as a teenager, he was fascinated by a map of northern Saskatchewan with "too many blank, unexplored areas on it, too many lakes half-drawn, too many rivers that terminate only in dotted lines."
Kemp's palpable, often gripping prose recounts life on the trail in all seasons: paddling freight canoes, being under sail in a York boat, packing one's own weight on portages, running on snowshoes to break trail for dogs pulling loaded toboggans, and making camp at the end of an exhausting day.
Equally impressive, historically, are his depictions of the Cree among whom he lived, whose language he spoke, whose skills he admired, and whose customs he respected.
Synopsis
With previously unpublished photographs, this new edition of Northern Trader is a vivid personal memoir and valuable primary account of the last days of the fur trade. Harold Kemp recounts the routines and rhythms of that long-lost way of life and paints a portrait of the north as a "vast region of infinite allure." In palpable, often gripping prose, Kemp depicts life on the trail in all seasons: paddling and portaging freight canoes, using muzzle-loaders, running on snowshoes to break trails for dogs pulling toboggans, and making camp at the end of an exhausting day. A gifted writer, Kemp creates distinctive portraits of those he encounters, including the Cree people among whom he lived, whose language he spoke, whose skills he admired, and whose customs he respected.
Synopsis
First published in 1956, Northern Trader is a historically valuable, intimately personal and vividly expressed memoir of the last days of the fur trade.
Synopsis
Relive the romance of the fur trade.
With previously unpublished photographs, this new edition of Northern Trader is a vivid personal memoir and valuable primary account of the last days of the fur trade. Harold Kemp recounts the routines and rhythms of that long-lost way of life and paints a portrait of the north as a andquot;vast region of infinite allure.andquot;
In palpable, often gripping prose, Kemp depicts life on the trail in all seasons: paddling and portaging freight canoes, using muzzle-loaders, running on snowshoes to break trails for dogs pulling toboggans, and making camp at the end of an exhausting day.
A gifted writer, Kemp creates distinctive portraits of those he encounters, including the Cree people among whom he lived, whose language he spoke, whose skills he admired, and whose customs he respected.
About the Author
H.S.M. (Harold) Kemp was born in the U.K. in 1892 and came to the North-West Territories as a boy. At age sixteen he began working for the Hudsonandrsquo;s Bay Company. Three years later he joined the Revillon Freres, then the HBCandrsquo;s great rival. His Northern Trader is the only full-scale recollection of the fur trade we have by a andquot;French Companyandquot; man.