This detail of Arrowsmith’s map, above, notes geographical features and Indigenous territories near the Arctic Ocean. It shows the Indigenous groupings Fidler encountered along the Copermine River close to the Arctic Ocean. This portion also contains some landscape features. Other parts of the full map contain reports on wildlife, moose, deer, fishing, and the location of early trading posts. Mineral deposits and agricultural prospects begin to occur on later maps.
Hudson's Bay Company Archives HBCA-G-3-87-Portion2-T16895
Aaron Arrowsmith's Map of North America , published in London in 1793 and updated in 1811.
facing page: Fidler's drawing of February 1801 copying Ac Ko Mok Ki's drawing in the snow. Fidler has described 31 Indigenous groupings. He refers to them as Indians with both Indigenous and English names, and the number of tents for each group that he encountered. He locates them individually on the map. Fidler travelled all over the west and his various maps depict large areas. What I like about this map is that on the right hand side, which is north, are the Bow River and the Red Deer River in present-day Alberta.
Peter Fidler’s diaries, notes, surveys and maps were sent to the Hudson’s Bay Company headquarters in London where, along with other surveys, they were drafted into the official maps of the Hudson’s Bay Company by Aaron Arrowsmith, the reputed British geographer and cartographer who engraved and published many world maps as a record of the geography of the expanding British Empire. A large map of North America was produced in 1793 with Fidler’s assistance, illustrating Canada’s west as understood at the time, and updated in 1811. Fidler’s surveys and comments about the geography and geology of the West contained extensive information about the numerous extant Indigenous tribes and their territories. Major rivers have both Indigenous and European names. There was no possibility that the coming European occupation could succeed without a knowledge of the geography, the river trading routes, the natural resources and a cooperative relationship with the indigenous people. 3
George Dawson would have had access to, and knowledge of, these Hudson’s Bay Company maps in 1875 when he began his work for the Geological Survey of Canada. Dawson’s 1879-80 map provides more detailed information about the Peace District from the prospect of farming, mining and commerce than the earlier maps. The best soils for agriculture are identified, as are sources of lignite coal deposits along the rivers. He reported that 'Gold occurs in paying quantities on some of the bars about this part of the Athabasca River' and 'Fine gold found on this stream' in numerous locations. Every major river and lake on this map has an Indigenous name, but differs from the 1812 map in that there is almost no reference to the territories of the Indigenous Peoples. Dawson was accompanied by Henry Augustine Fitzgerald Macleod, civil engineer and land surveyor, and in his journal he mentions Antoine, a Cree guide, and his son as they spent three days together at a location he called Drift-Pile Camp. As with Peter Fidler 70 years before, Dawson’s journey depended upon the assistance of the Indigenous Peoples. In his diary he mentions two additional Indigenous scouts who assisted with the remaining trip to Fort Edmonton, where they arrived before winter 1879.
3 Robert S. Allen, “FIDLER, PETER,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography , vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–; accessed November 23, 2022 http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/fidler_peter_6E.html.
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on site review 42: atlas :: being in place
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