Peter Fidler: Canada's Forgotten Explorer 1769-1822

Barry M. Gough is a professor of history at Wilfrid Laurier University
and the author of The Northwest Coast: British Navigation, Trade, and
Discoveries to 1812 and First Across the Continent.

Peter Fidler is regarded as a secondary figure in the history of the
Canadian West, and this book, which was first published in 1966, aims to
put him in the best light. In that sense MacGregor has triumphed.

Fidler, a robust Englishman, brought to the Northwest scholarly
capabilities and accounting skills. He served under Philip Turnor, the
Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) surveyor. In 1792–93, he was sent to the
foothills of the Rockies, but arrived too late to catch the pathfinding
Alexander Mackenzie, who was leading an expedition westward in search in
search of the Pacific. After building a number of HBC trading posts on
the Beaver River, South Saskatchewan River, and Lake Athabasca, he found
himself on the receiving end of reprisals by the North West Company and
was particularly tormented by Samuel Black, a fierce competitor. He
guided settlers to Red River in 1812, and, after settling there (he had
a large Métis family), made extensive contributions to the surveying
and mapping of the west.

Although Fidler’s life has been more recently told by other writers,
MacGregor’s well-written biography will remain popular with the
reading public.