Chronicles of Canada Volume 22 - Pioneers of the Pacific Coast: A Chronicle of Sea Rovers and Fur Hunters

Before accurate maps of the Pacific coast existed, there were men who sailed into the unknown and came back with tales that reshaped an empire. Agnes C. Laut resurrects the swaggering sea captains and relentless fur traders who carved routes through fog-shrouded islands and along coastline no European had ever charted. From the Russian explorer Bering to the British naval man Vancouver, from the overland treks of Mackenzie and Fraser to the quiet cartography of Thompson, Laut traces the fierce competition that made the Pacific Northwest what it is. These were not gentleman explorers - they were hunters, opportunists, and visionaries willing to die for beaver pelts and territorial claims. This is history told with the pulse of adventure, revealing how the collision of Russian, British, and American ambition on these wild shores determined the future of a continent.