Peter Pond (January 18, 1739 – 1807) was an American explorer, cartographer, merchant and soldier who was a founding member of the
North West Company
The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...
and the
Beaver Club. Though he was born and died in
Milford, Connecticut
Milford is a coastal city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, between New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bridgeport. The population was 50,558 at the 2020 United States Census. The city includes the Vill ...
, most of his life was spent in northwestern
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
, on the upper Mississippi and in western Canada.
Early life
Pond, born on in January 18, 1739 at
Milford, Connecticut
Milford is a coastal city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, between New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bridgeport. The population was 50,558 at the 2020 United States Census. The city includes the Vill ...
, began his fur trading career with his father out of
Fort Detroit
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...
.
[
] He traded throughout the regions south of
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...
and west of
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...
, which later became
Minnesota
Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
and
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
. During the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...
, Pond enlisted in the
Connecticut Regiment, a
provincial infantry unit. A narrative of his early life was published in the 1933 book ''Five Fur Traders of the Northwest''.
Through his business he became acquainted with
Alexander Henry the elder,
Simon McTavish and the brothers
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
,
Benjamin
Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...
and
Joseph Frobisher. They would be the founders of the North West Company (NWC) in 1779, which developed a fierce rivalry with the
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
(HBC). Working for the group, In search of new fur resources, Pond went to the area west of the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...
. In 1776–1778 he wintered at a fur post he established at the junction of the
Sturgeon River and
North Saskatchewan River
The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows event ...
near present-day
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada, after Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina. It is situated near the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway ...
.
The site is today a National Historic Site.
He was chosen to take four canoes northward into the Athabasca region.
He took his party through the Portage La Loche (the
Methye portage
The Methye Portage or Portage La Loche in northwestern Saskatchewan was one of the most important portages in the old North American fur trade, fur trade route across Canada. The portage connected the Mackenzie River basin to rivers that ran east ...
). It took the group eight days to travel about 12 miles. In 1778-1779 he wintered at Pond House, a post he built on the Athabasca River, 60 kms from Lake Athabasca. Likely this was the first fur trading post inside today's Alberta. He collected so many furs he did not have capacity to haul them all away in one trip. He operated this post, the first white man's building in present-day Alberta, for ten years
At Lac La Ronge,
Jean-Étienne Waddens had a lucrative trade with “the Northward Indians” coming from
Lake Athabasca
Lake Athabasca ( ; French: ''lac Athabasca''; from Woods Cree: , " herethere are plants one after another") is in the north-west corner of Saskatchewan and the north-east corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N in Canada. The lake is ...
. In late 1781, Pond, a man who too represented the company's interests, joined him. However, they were on bad terms. In March 1782, Pond fatally wounded Waddens in a fight. The act was called murder. In 1783, Mrs. Waddens requested the governor of Quebec,
Frederick Haldimand, to arrest Pond, submitting an affidavit of one of Waddens’ men. Pond was examined in 1785 but was not brought to trial, most likely because Lac La Ronge lay in the territories of the HBC, beyond the jurisdiction of the
Province of Quebec
Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...
.
Explorations
In 1783, Pond's explorations led him again to the Athabasca, a region stretching from
Lac Île-à-la-Crosse
Lac Île-à-la-Crosse is a Y-shaped lake in the north-central region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan along the course of the Churchill River (Hudson Bay), Churchill River. At the centre of the "Y" ...
to the
Peace River. There he explored waterways around
Lake Athabasca
Lake Athabasca ( ; French: ''lac Athabasca''; from Woods Cree: , " herethere are plants one after another") is in the north-west corner of Saskatchewan and the north-east corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N in Canada. The lake is ...
and determined the approximate locations of
Great Slave Lake and
Great Bear Lake from
First Nations peoples of the area. From his notes and diaries Peter Pond drew a map showing rivers and lakes of the Athabasca region, including what was known of the whole area from Hudson Bay to the
Rocky Mountains and interpolating his information to the
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...
or
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, near the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. The eastern route along the Arctic ...
.
In 1785, one copy of Pond's map, accompanied by a detailed report, was submitted to the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
and a second to the
Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
The lieutenant governor of Quebec (; , ) is the representative in Quebec of the monarch, who Monarchy in Quebec, operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the Canadian federalism, ten other jurisdictions of Canada. T ...
,
Henry Hamilton. Pond needed financial support to carry his explorations to the limits of North America's northwest, but the British government was not forthcoming. A partner in the NWC, founded in 1784, he was in charge of the company business in the Athabasca and Peace River areas. An ambitious man with a reputation for having a violent temper, he was implicated in two murders (one of a rival trader): Although acquitted on the murder charges, the company replaced him with
Alexander Mackenzie. In the process of taking over the management of the business Mackenzie learned a great deal from Peter Pond about the Athabasca and Peace River region. Pond left the NWC in 1788.
Later life and death
Mackenzie was intrigued by Pond's belief that the tributaries of that area, which could be seen gathering into a great river flowing northwestward, flowed to the
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, near the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. The eastern route along the Arctic ...
. Mackenzie took the initiative to follow up on Pond's belief and followed this great river to its mouth; the watercourse, now called the
Mackenzie River
The Mackenzie River (French: ; Slavey language, Slavey: ' èh tʃʰò literally ''big river''; Inuvialuktun: ' uːkpɑk literally ''great river'') is a river in the Canadian Canadian boreal forest, boreal forest and tundra. It forms, ...
, did in fact flow to the Northwest Passage section of the
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...
. Peter Pond had contributed to the mapping of Canada by drawing the general outline of the
river basin
A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, th ...
that Mackenzie recorded in 1789. The maps that Peter Pond subsequently drew, based on his explorations and on the information provided to him by
First Nations
First nations are indigenous settlers or bands.
First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to:
Indigenous groups
*List of Indigenous peoples
*First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...
peoples, ultimately gained international recognition for Pond at the end of the 18th century.
In 1790, Pond sold his shares in the NWC to
William McGillivray. He returned to Milford, Connecticut, where he died in 1807.
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Peter Pond Find a grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pond, Peter
1739 births
1807 deaths
American duellists
American fur traders
Explorers of Canada
American explorers of North America
North West Company people
People from Milford, Connecticut
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
18th-century American merchants