Books with author George WOODCOCK

From trading post to emporium, this book presents a tricentennial history of Canada's pioneering fur-traders. The Hudson's Bay Company was the one chartered company that refused to die. It survived to play its part in the building of Canada, and today, like the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, it is one of those institutions that Canadians can criticize but never dismiss. But its historical importance is wider than Canada, for it represents one of the great forces in the drive that impelled Americans and Canadians alike across the great plains and the mountains towards the western ocean.

Born in St Boniface in 1837 of French and Indian parentage, Gabriel Dumont's childhood was spent in the Saskatchewan country, where he grew accustomed to the semi-nomadic existence of the Metis. These were the proud days of the Metis nation, when its people roamed freely throughout the Prairies. The most stable social institution was the annual buffalo hunt with its rules. When Gabriel Dumont became head of the Great Saskatchewan Hunt in 1862 the end of the nomadic lifestyle was already in sight. As the buffalo herds dwindled, the Metis began to form more permanent settlements, but were alarmed when their pleas for recognition of their land rights were ignored by Sir John A Macdonald's government. Dumont appealed to Louis Riel, leader of the Red River Rebellion. Riel spoke up for the Saskatchewan Metis, but their petitions were ignored. In 1885, the Metis took up arms against the government forces. Dumont spurred the outnumbered rebels to several victories. After the Metis defeat, Dumont fled to the United States where he spent time with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show until an amnesty was declared and he was able to return to his home.

Excerpt from Modern Pilgrims, Vol. 2 of 2: Showing the Improvements in Travel, and the Newest Methods of Reaching the Celestial CityThe obvious defect, as they discovered on close examination, in all these compasses, was the impossibility of adjustment. The traverser either dipped to the nadir or the zenith; and, if you shook it loose, it went bobbing and dodging backward and for ward, first this way, and then that; and then, all at once, it would sweep the whole circle in an instant, - forever in dubiety, and forever in the pursuit of certainty and rest.Mynheer Staub showed them some very curious scales for measuring the nicest lines of length; but good for nothing in real life, for the slightest variations of heat and cold would SO expand or contract them as to make them unreliable. Indeed, they were made to be used in vacuum but this was obtained only by the use of the water-trough, and all the various appliances used by chem ists in a laboratory, by way of rectification and compensation. However, as our pilgrims learned afterwards, all who used any of these scales, in despite of all experience to the contrary, had each for himself his own way of rectification, which he regarded as exact; but, then, there were no two alike.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Modern Pilgrims, Vol. 1 of 2: Showing the Improvements in Travel, and the Newest Methods of Reaching the Celestial CityIN presenting to you these volumes, I fulfil the wish you expressed to me in April, 1850, that I should resume the pen I had laid aside, after the publication, in 1848, of Peter Schlemihl in America.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.