Northern Trader

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 Hudson's Bay Company. Three years later he joined Revillon Freres, then the HBC's great rival. His Northern Trader is the only full-scale recollection of the fur trade we have by a "French Company" man.

• Publisher’s PrefaceForeword to the 2014 Edition Author’s Introduction Chapter One“Freeze-up Travel,” 1911Chapter TwoThe Hudson’s Bay Company; The Treaty Party, 1911; John H. ReidChapter ThreeCrees and Chipewyans; Northern Missionaries; Andrée’s Balloon; York Boat TravelChapter FourRevillon Frères; Cumberland House; The “Indian” Life; Lac la Ronge; EpidemicChapter FiveNorth with the Family; Of Eggs and Oranges; Ile à la CrosseChapter SixRed Earth Post; A Primitive People;Birch Bark Canoes; A Double WeddingChapter SevenOf Muzzle-loaders; The Cree Calendar; A Birth in the Family; A Brush with the LawChapter EightThe Logjam; Indian Honesty; Farewell to Red EarthChapter NineMuskeg Travel; River Travel; Stanley Post; The OrganistChapter TenAn Ancient Church; Of Fish and Foxes; The “Haggling” Indian; Kitimakis; Winter TradingChapter ElevenSix “Average” Dogs; Of “Balls of Fire” and Weetigoes; White and Indian “Ethics”Chapter TwelveSummer Returns; Village Life; Elsie and her PatientsChapter ThirteenDangers of the Trail; Of Phobias and Strange BeliefsChapter FourteenA Holiday and Return; A New Look for an Old ChurchChapter FifteenEducation, Devotion, and Veneration; Joe Visintin and R. D. BrooksChapter SixteenWinter Diversions; Timber Wolves and a Mad Dog; Autumn FishingChapter SeventeenWe Leave the North; Montreal Lake Again; The Waskesiu RiverChapter Eighteen1947; We Revisit Old Scenes; And Meet Old FriendsChapter Nineteen“Civilization” Reaches the North; L’Envoi