Aritha van Herk

At the age of 17, long before he met Charlotte Small, explorer David Thompson travelled to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and spent the winter of 1787-88 with a large camp of Peigan, the guest of an elder named Saukamappee. Their long winter’s conversation took place near present-day Calgary, where writer Aritha van Herk lives. “That iconic moment informs my exploration and imagining of Western history,” says van Herk, whose book Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta inspired a new permanent exhibition at the Glenbow Museum. “I’m convinced that the secret story of David Thompson and Charlotte Small haunts Canadian history in the same way that Thompson’s great map of the Northwest haunts the character of the West.”

Last updated: July/August 2007

Photo: TRUDIE LEE PHOTOGRAPHY