David Thompson’s Travels is one of the finest early expressions of the Canadian experience. The work is not only the account of a remarkable life in the fur trade but an extended meditation on the land and Native peoples of western North America. The second in a planned three volumes of Thompson’s writings, this edition completes the great surveyor and fur trader’s spirited autobiographical narrative. In the 1848 Travels, Thompson describes his most enduring historical legacy - the extension of the fur trade across the Continental Divide between 1807 and 1812. During these years he established several Nor’wester trading posts, made contact with the tribal peoples of the Columbia Plateau, and tirelessly mapped the lands he traversed, all the time striving westward toward the Pacific. The tale culminates with Thompson’s historic arrival at the mouth of the Columbia in July 1811. Like its companion Volume 1, this work presents an entirely new transcription by William Moreau of Thompson’s manuscript, and is accompanied by an introductory essay placing the author in his historical and intellectual context. Extensive critical annotations, a biographical appendix, and historical and modern maps, make this the definitive collection of Thompson’s works, and bring one of North America’s most important travelers and surveyors to a new generation of readers.

William E. Moreau is a teacher with the Toronto District School Board and a sessional lecturer with the University of Toronto at Scarborough.

William E. Moreau's profile page

"While preceded by several other editions, Thompson's manuscripts have had to wait until Moreau's exhaustive and impeccable edition to appear in trappings worthy of their fascination and importance. The editor as well as the publishers of this superb tandem of volumes (with a third in preparation) have painstakingly produced a woefully overdue publishing milestone. Although written 166 years ago, Thompson's Travels is the Canadian book of the year." Canadian Literature