THE FUR TRADE CANOES OF EARLY CANADA ONTARIO FOCUS

A COMPILATION OF PHOTOS, SLIDES FROM 1970 TO 1972.
Don paddled canoe routes in Northern Ontario between 1969 and 1972 preparing a draft of NORTHERN ONTARIO CANOE ROUTES for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. He paddled the Missinabi River and was sent on the Polar Bear Express to Moosonee and Moose Factory on James Bay and was flown in a 1930's Albatross to Fort Albany to interview an old retired fur trader.
Don spent much of 1971/72 coping with Ottawa's heaviest snowfall in a century and admiring the view of the Ottawa River from the third floor reading gallery of the Public Archives of Canada for an MA in Canadian Studies at Carleton University. He sifted through microfilmed journals of fur factors of the Hudson's Bay Company, as far back as 1670 for NE Ontario. Journals had daily entries recording the number of fur pelts traded, health of the Indians and unusual events such as drownings or murders. One assignment was on the settlement of the clay belt in Northern Ontario in the 1920's.

Don worked in Moosonee and Moose Factory from April to the end of August, 1972.

DON PUGH

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