I have the good fortune to be a grandson of one of the North's pioneers, Harold Kemp. Grampa came over to Canada while still a teenager and was able to secure a job in the fur trading business, ultimately running an remote trading post in Northern Saskatchewan (Stanley Mission) in the early 1900's. Northern Trader is his autobiography, written in the 1950's. The book has been out of print for years, although copies are still available if you search the various bookstores online. Now I have heard that Amazon will be publishing the book in paperback form, scheduled to be released October 15. Here's a link:  (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)  The book is a series of anecdotes about life in the Northern Wilderness during a much simpler and much more difficult time. I think anyone who enjoys the trials of canoe expedition camping in Quetico will find this a highly enjoyable read.

A couple months ago, fellow QJer "Lost Again" was gracious enough to provide me with a copy of "Northern Trader: The Last Days of the Fur Trade" by H.S.M. Kemp, written by his grandfather.  My intent was to treat myself to reading this book during one of my planned canoe trips this coming summer.  Alas, I couldn't hold out any longer!  Perhaps driving through a snow storm this past Monday, May 1st, was the straw that broke the back of my resolve?  Anyway, I needed SOMETHING to get me over a mental hump. 

This book was surely it!

If ever you wished to savor authentic flavors of what the "north country" was really like in the days before planes, modern roads and fancy communications globalized, modernized and (somewhat) assimilated the region, "Northern Trader" IS your ticket.  Lost Again's grandfather was a skilled raconteur.  His rich stories and the accompanying photography are absolutely vintage stuff, covering the end of an era (@ one century ago).  I felt fully transported to another place & time... which is the test of any good book.

Captured are the people, the pace, the adversities, the victories and defeats of a trader's life lived up north.  Hear the dogs, smell the balsam, run the rapids, swat the mosquitoes, learn how to build a birch bark canoe or set up a dead-fall bear trap... it's all here in Kemp's book.  There are great tales about scheming competitors in the fur trade, about the customs & habits of native and not-so native peoples, about getting lost then found again, and even about some goings-on that seem to have come out of Spook Central or The Twilight Zone. 

H.S.M. Kemp led a rich life.  His keen observations and sense of humor make this a very entertaining read.  Little wonder that this extraordinary account of those times has been brought back into publication after so many years!  See: (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)


I highly recommend "Northern Trader" for all aficionados of literature dealing with the Far North!

Jimbo   

Looks like my kind of book, TomT!  Thanks for the recommendation....

Jimbo