As someone who has traveled to remote places with all kinds of different people, I know a good team when I have one, and my trip to Kugluktuk and Bloody Falls in the summer of 2002 was a real pleasure thanks in large part to the companionship of my brother, Brian Jenkins, and my dear friend Chris Sheldrick.
In Kugluktuk, I was fortunate indeed to come to know Malcolm Palmer, the current Anglican minister, and his wonderful wife, Ruth, who managed the town’s visitors’ center. The Palmers were unfailingly generous and hospitable. Also in Kugluktuk, thanks to Alex Buchan, Alistair and Dan Harvey, Aimee Ahegona, Larry Whitaker, Tommy and Elva Piglalak, and Peter Kamingoak.
The transcripts for the Edmonton and Calgary trials can be found in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police files at the National Archives of Canada. The Royal North West Mounted Police report detailing the search for Sinnisiak and Uluksuk can be found in the Alberta Provincial Archives, as can the Commissioners Report detailing other RNWMP activities. I received invaluable assistance from a number of researchers and staff librarians, including Kay Forsyth and Jonathan Davidson at the Alberta Provinicial Archives; Chantal Nadeau at the Archives Deschatelets in Ottawa; and Diane Lamoreaux at the archive of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Thanks to Kirsten Olson at the Legal Archives Society of Alberta and Margit Nance and Curt Griffiths at Simon Fraser University’s Northern Justice Society. Photographs of the people and places described here can be found in a number of places, and for this reason I am indebted to several people who work in archives in the United States and Canada: at Dartmouth College’s Rauner Collection, Sarah Hartwell; at the Northwest Territories Office of Education, Culture and Development in Yellowknife, Amanda Halldorson; at Canada’s National Archives, Doug Whyte, Richie Allen, and Rowanne Mokhtar.
Once again, the staff at the University of Delaware’s interlibrary loan office deserve special mention, especially Ann Pfaelzer Ortiz. Eric Wilson helped out early on as an undergraduate research assistant, and Leigh Snyder and Trish Jenkins contributed valuable insights as independent study students.
Although this book comes with a complete bibliography, I thought it proper to mention some particularly important influences. Barry Lopez, Hugh Brody, and Francis Spufford are among the most eloquent and textured writers I have read on the Far North; the region’s literature is vastly richer for their contributions. R. G. Moyles set the stage for this book when he first dug up some of the story’s most important documents for his book British Law and Arctic Men. George Whalley’s research into the case and his biography of John Hornby were extremely helpful, as was George Douglas’s account of his trip to the Arctic coast.
Thanks to my dear friends and exquisitely intelligent readers Chris Sheldrick, Tim Dilworth, and Wes Davis, whose intellectual capacities and enthusiasms continue to astound me. I must also tip my hat to the Village Idiots, Tom Thompson, Matt Thompson, James Guyton, Gerry Hanlon, Andrew Holt, and Kevin O’Malley, with whom I played bluegrass every Thursday night during the course of this writing. Mike Sproge and Linda Brunson at Baltimore’s spirited Evergreen Café supplied the coffee that made this book possible.
I am fortunate to have had Lee Boudreaux as editor on this project. Though she inherited it from Courtney Hodell, with whom I had worked on a previous book, Lee proved an exceptionally enthusiastic and curious guide, and a razor-sharp line editor as well. Her assistant, Laura Ford, was unfailingly professional and generous with her time, and Bonnie Thompson’s copyediting was brilliant. And, as always, I am indebted to my wonderful agent, Neil Olson.
Finally, I am grateful to my wife, Katherine, who has always been a subtle and painstaking editor; to my son, Steedman, who charms my every day; and to my baby daughter, Annalisa Swan, who waited so patiently in utero while I finished this manuscript. She began her entrance into this world exactly thirty minutes after I printed out my first draft.