The Savage River: Seventy-One Days with Simon Fraser
by Marjorie Wilkins Campbell Author
(From Amazon): "We had to pass where no human being should venture." On the morning of May 28, 1808, Simon Fraser, two clerks, two Native guides, and nineteen voyageurs set out in four frail birch-bark canoes from Fort George on the Pacific slope of the Rocky Mountains. Before them was an unnamed and unexplored river that led south and, Fraser hoped, west to the Pacific coast. Every bend threatened new dangers - impassable rapids, treacherous portages, unfriendly Natives. But in seventy-one days, Fraser and his party fought their way to the mouth of the savage river and back to Fort George. Fraser's journey on the river named for him is one of the most remarkable feats in the exploration of western Canada. Although Fraser failed to find the navigable canoe route to the Pacific, so desperately needed by the North West Company, his exploration helped to secure for Great Britain - and for Canada - the vast territory that became British Columbia. The Savage River is a gripping account by award-winning author Marjorie Wilkins Campbell of one of the greatest adventures in Canadian history. First published in 1968, the book is base on Simon Fraser's journal of his remarkable hourney on the river that bears his name.
Additional Details
- Resource Type
- Book
- ISBN
- 978-1894856249
- Print Status
- In Print
- Chapters
- 15
- Pages
- 149
- Suggested Grades
- 4th - 6th
- Geographical Setting
- Canada
- Historical Setting
- 1776 - 1862
- Publisher
- Fifth House
- Edition
- 1
- Copyright
- 2003
Chapters
- 1 The Date with Destiny
- 2 Crocus and Charcoal
- 3 You Can't Get Out of the Canyon
- 4 Decision
- 5 "What Cannot Be Cured, Must Be Endured"
- 6 "Thomson's River"
- 7 "Where No Human Being Should Venture"
- 8 "The Threat of Our Displeasure"
- 9 The Longest Saturday
- 10 "I Solemnly Swear..."
- 11 Hell's Gate Again
- 12 Medicine for Shoes
- 13 "Our Cache Perfectly Safe"
- 14 "Nothing to Reproach Ourselves with"
- 15 After 1808...
User Reviews
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Exciting novel describing a difficult journey.
Reviewed by Parent/Teacher
The Savage River is a 149 page book divided into 14 chapters, plus a short 2 page summary of what happened after the story. The forward in the copy I read says that the book was originally published in 1969 as part of the Great Stories of Canada series, aimed at interesting young people in Canadian history.
The book is based on Simon Fraser’s trip journals, but it is a novel, so details have been imagined and added. However, the forward says, “Campbell follows the journal closely; in a way her book is a dramatization of Fraser’s own words.”
The book is not a full biography of Simon Frasier, although it does mention interesting aspects of his personal history and Canadian history throughout the account. But what a story! Maybe because of my own (much more limited) experience in a canoe, but her story really brought the scene to life for me. She describes the day to day adventures, and the details of how such a journey would be made. The version I was reading (a 2003 publication from Fifth House) include a map, and it was very interesting to examine as I was reading.
A small warning that there are a couple of mentions in the book of marrying Metis women “au façon du nord,” and having children with them. We hear that Fraser himself had children by two different women, and it the final summary, he marries (again) a European woman. My understanding was that many of the voyageurs married native or Metis women according to the women’s customs, but many would not have considered themselves really married. The book doesn’t explain the details. I suspect that my son won’t dwell on this, but I thought I would warn about it.
This is a great book, that really brings an exciting journey to life. I am looking forward to using it with my son as a Canadian history biography in grade 4 next year.