Buffalo Days and Nights

Born in 1833, Peter Erasmus was a colourful and important character in the events that marked western Canada's transformation from the open buffalo plains of Rupert's Land into townsites and farmsteads. He was a remarkable and highly educated man, fluent in six Native languages as well as English, Latin and Greek, and respected by Native peoples, white settlers and explorers.

Trained by the church for missionary work, Erasmus instead became one of the "mixed-blood" guides and interpreters who helped shape the Canadian west. His long career as a celebrated buffalo hunter, mission worker, teacher, trader and interpreter made him a legend in his own time. His involvement in such events as the Palliser expedition, the smallpox epidemic of the 1870's, the signing of Treaty No. Six, and the last big buffalo hunt has ensured his place in history long after his death at the age of ninety-seven.

Buffalo Days and Nights is a lively and fascinating account of his experiences, first assembled with the help of Henry Thompson, an Edmonton reporter, in the 1920's. It is a classic in western Canadian history that offers an insider's view into the events that surrounded the start of a new era.