William Bleasdell Cameron

author

William Bleasdell Cameron

1862–1951

A restless adventurer turned writer, this Canadian survivor of the 1885 Frog Lake Massacre drew on firsthand experience to tell one of the most dramatic stories of the Canadian West. His best-known book, The War Trail of Big Bear, blends memoir, history, and witness testimony.

1 Audiobook

The war trail of Big Bear : being the story of the connection of Big Bear and other Cree Indian chiefs and their followers with the Canadian North-west rebellion of 1885, the Frog Lake massacre and events leading up to and following it, and of two month's imprisonment in the camp of the hostiles

The war trail of Big Bear : being the story of the connection of Big Bear and other Cree Indian chiefs and their followers with the Canadian North-west rebellion of 1885, the Frog Lake massacre and events leading up to and following it, and of two month's imprisonment in the camp of the hostiles

by William Bleasdell Cameron

About the author

Born in Trenton, Ontario, on July 26, 1862, William Bleasdell Cameron spent much of his life moving between occupations and frontiers. He worked in the Northwest during the 1880s and became known as the sole white male survivor of the Frog Lake Massacre during the North-West Resistance of 1885.

That experience shaped his reputation and his writing. Cameron was held captive for about two months by Big Bear's band, and years later he turned those events into The War Trail of Big Bear, the book for which he is best remembered.

Beyond that famous episode, he lived an unusually varied life as a newspaperman, editor, land agent, pharmacist, municipal politician, mink rancher, and even a film consultant. He died in 1951, leaving behind a body of work closely tied to the history, conflict, and storytelling of western Canada.