January 27 Weekly Review

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www.WEEKLYREVIEW.ca

Wednesday, January 27, 2021 Vol. 44, No. 4

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YOUR LOCAL PAPER

Local historian publishes “Pearl of the West” after 50 years of research on Anthony Henday’s journey with companion Patricia Harcourt Editor

After researching the life and times of explorer Anthony Henday for the past 55 years, local historian Peter McArthur has published his seminal book, “Pearl of the West.” The subtitle reads: “Anthony Henday’s Bedmate in 1754-55,” and refers to a girl named Pearl who McArthur says chose Henday as her mate and was his companion for the journey. She was just 13 years of age when that happened, but McArthur says the cultural mores of her tribe at the time meant she was of age and able to choose her own mate. He recounts how together the girl and the Hudson’s Bay Co. trader shared a journey of discovery and adventure. He says this historical novel is “based on the first recorded non-Native person to enter what is now called the province of Alberta.” The novel centres around the attachment between Henday and Pearl, and describes the encampments, people and adventures of the time. As a Hudson Bay Company trader, Henday had instructions “not to mix with the natives,” while undergoing his mission to meet with native tribes of the far west. McArthur himself describes the novel, released recently on Amazon: “Here is a dramatic novel that will acquaint you with the harsh realities of the 16th Century in Canada’s vast western frontier,” he writes, “where rules set down in London, England simply did not and could not apply.” The novel’s front illustration is a depiction of the young Pearl. It is a portraiture drawn by young Viking artist, Aaliyah Gosselin. McArthur himself jokes that the book “took a year to get together,” but only after over 50 years of studying the subject. “It’s pretty in-depth.”

Peter McArthur (right) gives the first printing of his new book “Pearl of the West”, available for purchase now at Amazon.ca, to Aaliyah Gosselin who illustrated the cover. He recalls reading the first copy of Henday’s journal, which is considered the best out of four existing copies made, in 1969. McArthur did his reading in the lock up room where precious documents are stored at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. “I had a mess of notes about it,” he said. It was the start of five decades of research and notes culminating in the book which gives his take on the explorer and HBC trader. McArthur’s book is written documentary-style and contains a message he wants to relate about the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Henday’s original journal, called a “waist book.” McArthur contends it was destroyed upon his return to York Factory at Hudson Bay.

He believes the HBC officials there “destroyed the original journal because it gave credit to a native woman,” for helping Henday in dealing with situations, often precarious in nature. In his book, McArthur tells of the destruction of Henday’s original journal. Four copies of it were made prior to the original being destroyed. McArthur says the first copy was transcribed by a Mr. Burpee and is considered the most authentic of the four. But McArthur says there was “very little written on his bedmate,” referring to Pearl. So he has filled in much of the historical background on this. But McArthur added that this is “not a racy” recounting See McARTHUR BOOK P10

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