The Elusive Mr. Pond: The Soldier, Fur Trader and Explorer Who Opened the Northwest

by Barry M. Gough

Sir Alexander Mackenzie is known to schoolchildren as a great Canadian explorer who gave his name to the country’s longest river, but hardly anyone could name the man who mentored Mackenzie and mapped much of northwestern Canada before him. Soldier, fur trader and explorer Peter Pond, the subject of this long overdue book, is a man whose legend has been forgotten in favor of those who came after him. Much of Pond’s life is shadowed in mystery. Historian Barry Gough uses Pond’s surviving memoirs, explorers’ journals, letters written by acquaintances of Pond, publications in London magazines and many other sources to track and reconstruct the life of one of the last of the tough, old-style explorers who ventured into the wilderness with little more than a strong instinct for survival and helped shape the modern world.

Genres: History, Biography

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2014

About the author

BARRY GOUGH was professor of history at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario until retirement in 2004. An expert on the maritime history of the Pacific Ocean, he has published widely on Anglo-Canadian naval subjects.

Reviews

[Koit]

Oh Peter, Oh Peter Pond, what a figure you are... Mr Gough's work makes you sound like a misunderstood choir boy who never meant anyone any harm while the entire rest of the world was out to get you -- while another book that covered some of your exploits noted you as the voyageur dangereux, whose companions and associates suffered accidents perhaps a bit too often. 
In the end, what this book sounds like is that the author has a bit of a grudge against Alexander Mackenzie being considered the most skilled explorer so at every possible moment where one can contrast the two giants, we hear how good of a character Mr Pond was and that Mackenzie -- really wasn't -- and more than that, whatever Mr Mackenzie may have known, it would have originally come from the voyageur Pond. The one time in the book where Mackenzie is actually praised for his qualities looks forced and unwilling, perhaps added by the editor to make the book look more equitable.

Mr Pond, at the same time, comes across as a misunderstood figure in the Canadian wilderness who had to best the Montreal traders, the Hudson Bay Company as well as the wrongly put-forward murder accusations. Mr Gough also states in the book that while Mr Pond probably actually killed someone, then maybe he really didn't mean it, and perhaps we should remember that the times were different, and "Overall, it is likely that he was provoked". These excuses also lambast the court proceedings which followed, because of course these should not have done so as really the Upper Canadian courts had no jurisdiction in the wilderness. The second murder that normally gets thrown at Mr Pond's door is glossed over with a sad note that even though it may have been committed by the book's hero, it was not what he really meant to do.

The other problem (though do I need another one?) that this book presents is the author's tendency to imagine things. I am fine with that in a work of fiction, but as long as this one presents itself as a history, that approach should have been stepped down in favour of what we know -- and if we don't know something, that could easily have been stated instead of embarking upon a five-page examination of "this may have been, and in all probability...". In some places the author's tendency to be creative easily already turns this into a work of historical fiction rather than the narrative history Mr Gough thought he was writing -- and while making this change official would not have detracted from the subject matter, the book currently remains in the middle of the two worlds, not really joining either. I also think that from the author's viewpoint, a POV story of Mr Pond would have carried a lot better in explaining the person's motives.

Lastly, to not only be negative, I have to say that a history of Mr Pond being accessible is a step forward in its own right -- I searched for a number of the voyageurs and this was not the case for the majority of them. Hence, I would still recommend this work such that the trying time of the people who "opened" the Canadian Northwest would be better known, but I would also ask the reader to keep an open mind about the other figures mentioned within this work.

This review was originally posted on my blog.

[Matt Pekuri]

For a biography, it's light on details. The premise is that there's not much surviving documentation about this historical figure. That makes for a dull read. Just the bare facts and none of the flavor one would expect from a modern bio.

[Sherri Anderson]

Interesting book on the fur trade. Peter Pond it seems does not get much credit that is well deserved. It is too bad that more information about his life did not survive.

[Ken]

This is a good narrative about a very elusive but influential fur trader and explorer of the late 18th century. There's not a lot about Pond. an autobiography he wrote while relatively young with lots of life yet to be lived and mentions in various letters and journals. Mr Gough weaves a very readable and interesting story.