Delayed Frontier: The Peace River Country to 1909

Charlene Porsild is an assistant professor of history at Simon Fraser
University.

In his second book on the Peace River region, David Leonard provides us
with a interesting, lively, and well-documented narrative that explains
local development while examining the larger issues of race relations
and government policy.

His study of the exploration and settlement of the region shows that a
succession of non-Native activities, including fur trading, mission
work, and prospecting, all had a profound impact on the Beaver and Cree
communities in the region. The complex series of adaptations made by
Native and non-Native people alike are the focus of the book. Leonard
argues that these adaptations laid the foundation for a self-conscious
regional identity in the “Land of Twelve Foot Davis.”

Using fur-trade records, Indian Affairs reports, correspondence,
personal narratives, newspaper reports, and much more, Leonard pieces
together a portrait of the region, beginning with the negotiations
leading to Treaty 8 in 1899. He quotes original sources frequently and
uses them effectively; for example, readers are able to “hear”
Moostoos and Chief Keenooshayo express in their own words their feelings
of mistrust, fear, and disappointment. Leonard also incorporates in the
text a range of conflicting historical opinion. For example, in one
section the Beaver people are both disparaged and celebrated. Quoting at
length from the pens of men like Alexander Mackenzie and the Anglican
Bishop Bompas, allows readers to draw their own conclusions about the
plight of Natives and about the character of some of their critics.

Delayed Frontier is an important new reference tool and an excellent
example of how local history should be written and presented.