In conventional histories of the Canadian prairies, Native people disappear from view after the Riel Rebellions. In this groundbreaking study, Frank Tough examines the role of Native peoples, both Indian and Metis, in the economy of northern Manitoba from Treaty 1 to the Depression. He argues that they did not become economically obsolete but rather played an important role in the transitional era between the mercantile fur trade and the emerging industrial economy of the mid-twentieth century.

Tough reconstructs the traditional economy of the dynamic fur trade era and examines its evolution through reserve selection and settlement, scrip distribution and the participation of Natives in the new resource industries of commercial fishing, transportation, lumbering, and mining. His analysis clearly shows that Native people in northern Manitoba responded to the challenge of an expanding market economy in rational and enterprising ways, but that they were repeatedly obstructed by government policy.

Numerous interpretive maps, figures, and illustrations provide indispensible aids to Tough's argument. His book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of western Canada and the role of Native people in the post-fur trade era.