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Acknowledgements

This book would not have been possible without the existence of the well-organized national treasures held within the Library and Archives Canada, the Library of the Geological Survey of Canada, the archives of the Hudson's Bay Company, the Ottawa Library, the museum of the 43rd regiment on Ottawa, and the McCord Museum in Montreal. Not only does much of Canada's history reside in these collections, but the people taking care of them were invariably helpful and enthusiastic in responding to our endless questions and demands. In particular, we would like to thank James Burant of the Library and Archives Canada and Professor W. Gillies Ross of Bishop's University for their insights and information on the Neptune expedition.

We thank those who supported us financially in our quest for knowledge and insights into A.P. Low and his life and times, and into the area he spent much of his career exploring: The Royal Canadian Geographical Society explorer fund (and Mike Schmidt's guidance on its use), Natural Resources Canada and EarthWild International. Without such invaluable support, our fieldwork and research would have been much restricted.

We owe special thanks to many people: Don Haines, who went beyond the bounds of friendship to generously help us with the logistics of our journey to retrace Low's routes; Michael Greco, President of the Canadian River Management Society, for his unwavering enthusiasm and support for this project; Bob Hellman of Hellman Canoes, whose 17.5' Prospector canoe turned out to be the perfect craft for retracing Low's routes in Quebec; Philip Petawabano of Waasheshkun Airways; Don Gibson, National Manager of the Canadian Heritage Rivers System (CHRS), for his understanding and patience while Max was away gallivanting across Quebec, or lost in the archives; Ian Greig of the Parks Canada Library who went far above the call of duty in helping us locate and retrieve obscure books and documents; Martin Legault of the Earth Sciences Information Centre Photo Collection and the staff of the Natural Resources of Canada libraries for their help in retreiving archival images and documents; Mark McCormack, intern at Parks Canada, who also went far above the call of duty to help Max write captions on a laptop in a van speeding back from a conference; Tom Gifford of Gifford Automotive of Ottawa who checked out Connie's beat-up Toyota Tercel that we depended on for the long drive from Ottawa to Mistissini; Dan Carpenter Jr., and Bill Seeley (both of Camp Keewaydin) and Deb Williams of the Hulbert Outdoor Center of Fairlee, Vermont, for their insights in canoe travel in the James Bay region; Dr. Toby Morantz of McGill University for her information about the history of the fur trade in the region; and Jim's supportive friends at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade who encouraged him in this venture.

Very high in our order of thanks are Jane Gibson and Melissa Hughes and the others at Natural Heritage Books for their ongoing support, their endless patience in editing and with other critical tasks, without which this book would never have seen the light of day.

Of course, we also thank our wonderful wives and children, the loves of our lives, Connie and Michaela (and Adam, Benjamin and Isaac) for their support, patience and endurance as we followed our wild schemes and dreams. We are lucky guys.

Lastly, we thank the rivers and lakes of Quebec, that made this journey, and A.P. Low's journeys, possible, for giving us dreams to follow. May they flow forever unfettered to the sea.

While we recognize the support of many, we acknowledge that the responsibility for accuracy rests with us. Any errors reported to ourselves or to our publisher will be corrected in subsequent editions.