George Simpson

George Simpson
Author: D.T. Lahey
Publisher: Dundurn
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2011-01-18
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1554888484

Born in Scotland and trained as a sugar broker in London, England, Sir George Simpson (1792-1860) was unexpectedly appointed in 1820 as governor of Rupert's Land and the Indian territories, an area encompassing all of Canada from Hudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean. By his friendliness of manner, strict discipline, and vigorous and constant travel, he brought peace and prosperity to the vast empire under his control. Simpson's explorations opened Canada from Labrador to British Columbia and from Yukon to Nunavut. He was knighted in 1841, then travelled around the world, predicting the fall of California to the United States, saving the Hawaiians from colonial occupation, and describing the mysteries of remotest Siberia. Praised as the governor who "combined the widest range of authority and the longest tenure of power ever enjoyed by one man in North America," he stands with Sir John A. Macdonald as one of the greatest Makers of Canada.

Fur Trade and Empire

Fur Trade and Empire
Author: Sir George Simpson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 440
Release: 1968
Genre: Fur trade
ISBN:

Simpson's reorganization of Oregon Territory after amalgamation with the Northwest Company. First published in 1931.

The Meaning of Evolution

The Meaning of Evolution
Author: George Gaylord Simpson
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 392
Release: 1949-01-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780300002294

A world-famous scientist presents a synthesis of modern views on the principles of evolution. The result of twenty-five years of research, The Meaning of Evolution follows the rise and fall of the dynasties of life through the 2,000,000,000 years of the history of earth. It explains what forces have been acting to bring about evolution and re-examines human aims, values, and duties in the light of what science discloses of the nature of man and of his place in the history of life. The clearest and soundest exposition of the nature of the evolutionary process that has yet been written...The book may be read with equal profit and pleasure by the general reader, the student, and the expert.-Ashley Montagu, Isis This book is, without question, the best general work on the meaning of evolution to appear in our time.-The New York Times

Emperor Of The North

Emperor Of The North
Author: James Raffan
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Total Pages: 546
Release: 2010-08-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1443401390

The adventure-filled story of the legendary Hudson’s Bay Company is inextricably linked to the formation of a Canadian nation stretching from sea to sea to sea. In an absorbing and lively new book on The Bay, James Raffan explores the forces that moulded a man, a company and a country. The histories of Sir George Simpson and the HBC in the golden years of the 19th century are in many ways one history, for Simpson’s professional acumen and personal ambitions propelled a failing business to a position of great wealth and political power. At its height, the HBC trading territory covered an astonishing one-twelfth of the world’s surface. Raffan captures the many contradictions of the larger-than-life man at its centre: a brilliant manager who kept an iron grip on his fur forts from east to west, ensuring British power across the land; a pompous dandy who was most at home in a voyageur-paddled canoe; a man ashamed of his illegitimate birth but who went on to sire 13 children with eight different women, only one of whom was his wife; a master businessman who laid the foundations for the single greatest business enterprise of its day. Emperor of the North is the vibrant tale of a man who shaped much more than a fur-trading company—he launched an empire of ideas that led to the creation of a country. Meticulously researched, highly readable and wonderfully illuminated by maps and archival photographs, Emperor of the North is a delight for history buffs, armchair adventurers and biography fans alike.

Ghostboat

Ghostboat
Author: George E. Simpson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 420
Release: 1976
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

"All hands to battle stations." The words still haunt Jack Hardy, even after thirty years. As a young Navy lieutenant, he watched as his submarine, the U.S.S. Candlefish mysteriously vanished in the Pacific amidst an attack by an unseen enemy. Now, the Candlefish has emerged out of its own shadows, fully intact and in perfect working order, miles from Pearl Harbor. Only a return to the scene of the original incident can answer the question of what strange forces stole the lives of his crew. As Hardy leads a new team toward Longitude 30 north--a place known as the Devil's Triangle--he realizes he must solve a riddle from the past or finally meet his fate. As they near their destination, the ghostboat begins to reveal its secrets--and all may be headed toward a watery grave.

The Lifeline of the Oregon Country

The Lifeline of the Oregon Country
Author: James R. Gibson
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2011-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0774841591

In The Lifeline of the Oregon Country, James Gibson compellingly immerses the reader in one of the most intractable problems faced by the Hudson's Bay Company: how to realize wealth from such a remote and formidable land. The personalities, places, obstacles, and operations involved in the brigade system are all described in fascinating detail, stretch by stretch from Fort St. James, the depot of New Caledonia on the upper reaches of the Fraser River, to Fort Vancouver, the Columbia Department’s entrepôt on the lower Columbia River, and back. Never before has such a rich collection of primary information concerning the fur trade supply system and the constraining role of logistics been so meticulously assembled. The Lifeline of the Oregon Country will prove indispensable to historians, researchers, and fur trade enthusiasts alike, and is an important contribution to our understanding of the economic history of the Pacific Slope.