[TYRRELL] PETER FIDLER, TRADER AND SURVEYOR 127 



He was a man five feet nine and a half inches in height and appar- 

 ently of good physique, but his life was shortened by the free use of 

 brandy and rum which were so plentiful among the traders in the West 

 at that time. He had four sons at least, namely, Thomas, George, 

 Charles and Peter. Thomas was employed by the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany as a writer and George as a boatman. In the accounts for 1821 

 the father makes the following remarks with regard to these two men . — 

 "Thomas very handy, rather addicted to rum, George active, a Moose 

 hunter." 



Fidler himself was a hard worker, but was of an irrascible dis- 

 position with comparatively little consideration for the weaknesses 

 or failings of others. He was a diligent student and fond of reading. 

 In the Library at York is a manuscript book of mathematical problems 

 worked out by him, and a large number of the printed books in the 

 Library are inscribed with his name and have evidently been contri- 

 buted to the Library by him. Most of these are on mathematical 

 subjects of some kind, many of them being such books as ''The 

 Nautical Almanac," "The Diary Companion, being a supplement to 

 The Ladies' Diary," "The Gentlemen's Diary, or The Mathematical 

 Repository." Others are on Biblical chronology. In addition to 

 which there is the "Monthly Magazine" for a number of years. 



In those of his journals which I had the privelege of inspecting 

 there is only one record of a survey, namely, that of the South Saskatche- 

 wan River from the point where it joins the North Saskatchewan up 

 to Chesterfield House, but it is quite clear that a number of other 

 surveys were made by him, for the map of the North- West Territories, 

 which is now in the possession of Mr. White, of the Commission of Con- 

 servation, shows indubitable evidence of such surveys. 



At the present time it has not been possible for me to give more 

 than a few notes from the journals of this old pioneer trader and exploier, 

 but they may throw a little additional light on some of the early history 

 of Western Canada. 



