A fur trader and explorer, Peter Pond (1740–1807) became one of the first English-speaking men to see much of North America, traveling its rivers and lakes from Long Island Sound to Great Slave Lake in Canada’s Northwest Territories. At sixteen Pond joined the provincial army to fight in the Seven Years’ War. He tried his hand at seafaring, before turning his attention to the Great Lakes fur trade, exchanging British manufactured goods, tobacco, and rum for furs and skins hunted by members of Algonquian nations. He spent two winters on the Minnesota River trading with Dakotas before setting his sights to the lands of the Cree and Assiniboine in what is now Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In 1778 he made a pathbreaking voyage to the homelands of the Chipewyan around Lake Athabasca, farther northwest than any trader from the Eastern Seaboard had previously been. Pond became a partner in Montreal’s North West Company, drawing some of the earliest maps of central Canada, and organized the westernmost parts of the Canadian fur trade on behalf of merchants in Montreal. He developed ideas about what lay between his own explorations and contemporary voyages of Captain James Cook in the North Pacific. He shared these ideas, most notably, with Alexander Mackenzie, who would reach the Arctic and Pacific Oceans overland from Lake Athabasca shortly after Pond retired from the trade. Whereas previous depictions have caricatured Pond as a quarrelsome brute, Freshwater Passages presents him as an intellectually curious, proud, talented, and ambitious man, living in a world that could often be quite violent. David Chapin draws together a wide range of sources and information to present a nuanced and multidimensional portrait of Pond. "Chapin crafts the engaging story of how this forgotten voyager, cartographer, and entrepreneur mapped the Great Salt lake and dreamed of being the first to cross the continent to the Pacific."—Will Bagley, True West "Chapin's biography is wonderfully written and enjoyable."—S. Matthew DeSpain, Western Historical Quarterly "I suspect that this will be the definitive biography of the man for a long time to come."—Claiborne A. Skinner, Annals of Iowa "Fur trade historians and enthusiasts alike will find Freshwater Passages an engaging contribution to understanding a global fur industry undergoing an intensive growing phase."―Jim Hardee, Montana: The Magazine of Western History "A compelling read."—Deborah Breen, Journal for the History of Discoveries “Well written and well researched, and would be a good introduction to fur trade history.”―P. T. Sherrill, Choice “Pond was a significant figure in early mapping and the northern fur trade, and bridged a very important period in its history while contributing to his contemporaries’ understandings of northwestern North America. Freshwater Passages draws together a wide range of sources and information to present a fresh, multidimensional portrait of Pond that greatly enhances our understanding of this complex and rather mysterious personality.”—Jennifer S. H. Brown, professor of history emeritus at the University of Winnipeg and coeditor of A. Irving Hallowell’s Contributions to Ojibwe Studies: Essays, 1934–1972 Published On: 2013-09-23 “As an American engaged in the Canadian fur trade, Peter Pond contributed to the development and expansion of fur trade commerce among the native people of the Great Lakes region and the Canadian Northwest. There is nothing of its depth and breadth available and it especially brings to life the earliest days of the North West Company.”—Theresa Schenck, associate professor of life sciences communications and American Indian studies and folklore at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and editor of The Ojibwe Journals of Edmund F. Ely, 1833–1849 Published On: 2013-09-23 David Chapin is the author of Exploring Other Worlds: Margaret Fox, Elisha Kent Kane, and the Antebellum Culture of Curiosity and The Auglaize Conspiracy: A Novel of Early America .