David Chapin tells the compelling tale of Peter Pond, “a trader of some celebrity” in the far Northwest, and his adventures in the fur trade from 1756 to 1790.
For those who love the much later exploits of the Rocky Mountain trappers, Freshwater Passages: The Trade and Travels of Peter Pond (University of Nebraska Press, $50) offers an engaging examination of the enterprise’s origins on Hudson’s Bay waterways. Meticulous research, insightful judgment and crisp prose enliven this mysterious Connecticut Yankee’s years pushing the frontiers of exploration. Chapin crafts the engaging story of how this forgotten voyager, cartographer and entrepreneur mapped the Great Salt Lake and dreamed of being the first to cross the continent to the Pacific.
—Will Bagley author of South Pass: Gateway to a Continent
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