Sense of Adventure by Adam Shoalts
Champlain, Samuel de (1567?-1635), French explorer, cartographer, and colonizer, known as the "Father of Canada" for his settlement efforts in Quebec, which he founded in 1608.
Clark, William (1770-1838), American explorer, who along with Meriwether Lewis, led an overland expedition to the Pacific Ocean in 1804-1806.
Columbus, Christopher (1451-1506), Famous Italian mariner who "discovered" the Americas while attempting to sail from Spain to Asia in 1492.
Corcoran, Danny (1916-1938), Newfoundland Ranger who perished while attempting to cross Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula alone and on foot. (Corcoran is referred to in Sense of Adventure in connection with a book on his life, Will Anyone Search for Danny? by Earl B. Pilgrim?.)
Coureur de bois (literally translated as "runner of the woods") were originally Frenchmen who in the 17th century ventured into the Canadian wilderness and adopted Native lifestyles. They served as traders, guides, and interpreters. However, during the 18th century the name increasingly was used to denote any Canadien woodsman or trapper.
Grey Owl (1888-1938), Canadian woodsman, writer, and pioneering conservationist. Born Archie Belaney, after serving as a sniper in the Canadian Army during WWI, he returned to the northern wilderness and soon after adopted an Ojibway identity as Grey Owl. In the early 1930s, he quit trapping and became a champion of wilderness conservation, and wrote four classic works of literature. Grey Owl is Adam Shoalts' hero.
Groseilliers, Medard Chouart, Sieur des (1618?-1696?), French explorer of Canada and companion of Pierre Esprit Radisson. Groseillers and Radisson were among the first Europeans to explore Lake Superior, and learned from local Native peoples of a "great northern sea" which was in fact Hudson's Bay. With English backing, they founded the Hudson's Bay Company.
Group of Seven, Informal group of seven influential Canadian painters during the 1920s era. The group's most famous art work vividly depicts the wilderness of the Canadian Shield.
Hamlet, Shakespeare's famous character, the ill-fated Danish prince who seeks revenge for his father's murder.
Hearne, Samuel (1745-1792), English explorer of Canada's vast Northwest. Hearne travelled overland from Prince of Wales' Fort, on Hudson's Bay, thousands of miles to the Arctic Ocean.
Holmes, Sherlock, British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's great character, Sherlock Holmes, is a fictional Victorian detective.
Lewis, Meriwether (1774-1809), American explorer, who along with William Clark, led the first overland expedition across the American Northwest.
Livingstone, David (1813-1873), Scottish physician and African explorer. While on his final African journey Livingstone was out of contact with the "outside world" for several years, which generated a famous search and rescue effort to find him.
Mackenzie, Sir Alexander (1764?-1820), British-Canadian explorer, who became the first European to traverse North America by land, a feat he accomplished in 1793, more than 11 years before Lewis and Clark. In 1801 he published an account of his travels.
Radisson, Pierre Esprit (1636?-1710?), French explorer and fur trader, who along with his companion Groseilliers, founded the Hudson's Bay Company with English backing. He famously described himself and Groseilliers as, "Caesars of the wilderness."
Romeo, Shakespeare's famous character, a youthful, ill-starred lover, from the play, Romeo and Juliet.
Socrates, (469-399 BC), Ancient Greek philosopher, who committed suicide by drinking a hemlock potion, rather than recant his teachings in exchange for a lighter punishment.
Voyageurs, 18th and 19th century French-Canadian canoemen, who transported furs via canoes, mostly for the North West Company.
A. Shoalts
of Adventure
