Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
From Barrow to Boothia: The Arctic Journal of Chief Factor Peter Warren Dease, 1836-1839

From Barrow to Boothia: The Arctic Journal of Chief Factor Peter Warren Dease, 1836-1839

Barr, William

Hardcover

Series: Rupert's Land Record Society, Book 7

Arctic HistoryCanadian HistoryExploration

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 0773522530
ISBN13: 9780773522534
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Published: Jan 23 2002
Pages: 416
Weight: 1.75
Height: 1.20 Width: 7.00 Depth: 9.90
Language: English

In 1835 the map of the arctic coast of North America was still far from complete, with unmapped gaps of 280km from Return Reef to Point Barrow in Alaska and 550km from Point Turnagain to Boothia Peninsula in the Central Canadian Arctic. The Hudson's Bay Company developed a plan to fill the gaps and two of the Company's officers were chosen to carry it out: the veteran Chief Factor Peter Dease - efficient, competent, steady, and with an excellent rapport with Indians and the servants, mostly Métis - and Thomas Simpson, young, energetic, ambitious, arrogant, and cousin and secretary to George Simpson, the Company's governor in North America.

Over a three-year period from 1837 to 1939, operating from a base-camp at Fort Confidence on Great Bear Lake, the expedition achieved its goal. Despite serious problems with sea ice, Dease and Simpson, in some of the longest small-boat voyages in the history of the Arctic, mapped the remaining gaps in a model operation of efficient, economical, and safe exploration. Thomas Simpson's narrative, the standard source on the expedition, claimed the expedition's success for himself, stating Dease is a worthy, indolent, illiterate soul, and moves just as I give the impulse. In From Barrow to Boothia William Barr shows that Dease's contribution was absolutely crucial to the expedition's success and makes Dease's sober, sensible, and modest account of the expedition available.

Dease's journal, reproduced in full, is supplemented by a brief introduction to each section and detailed annotations that clarify and elaborate the text. By including relevant correspondence to and from expedition members, Barr captures the original words of the participants, offering insights into the character of both Dease and Simpson and making clear what really happened on this successful expedition.

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