Peter Fidler

Peter Fidler, fur trader, mapmaker, explorer (b at Bolsover, Eng 16 Aug 1769; d at Fort Dauphin [Man] 17 Dec 1822). Long obscured by his contemporary, David Thompson, Fidler has come to be recognized for his contribution to the mapping of western Canada. Fidler joined the Hudson's Bay Co as a labourer in 1788 and was appointed chief surveyor and mapmaker in 1796. His surveys took him to Lake Athabasca and Great Slave Lake (1790-92), the foothills of the Rockies (1792-93), northern Manitoba (1793-95) and the Assiniboine River (1795-96). After 3 years as a trader at York Factory and on the Saskatchewan River, he was sent to spearhead competition against the North West Co on the Beaver River (1799-1800), South Saskatchewan River (1800-02) and Lake Athabasca (1802-06). Two years completing surveys around Lake Winnipeg and Reindeer Lake were followed by 3 difficult ones competing against the North West Company on the Churchill River. After leave in England, he served the company in the Red River area until his death; his last job as a surveyor was to lay out river lots for the Red River Colony.