Peter C. Neuman wrote a number of books about the Canadian fur trade. The Company of Adventurers and Emperors of the Wilderness are excellent starting point if you are interested in the fur trade. The rest of his books are also outstanding reads.

Fur Trade Governor, The Little Emperor and Fur Trade and Empire are all about Sir George Simpson, the man placed in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company's entire North American fur trade.

The British Columbia Chronicles are two volumes that provide a detailed history of British Columbia from first contact until the province entered confederation. These books use letters, journals, newspapers and ships logs to give us first hand accounts.

Champlain's Dream is about the history of New France and it's early colonial years.

There are five volumes in The Canadian History Series that provide a fairly comprehensive look at the development of Canada from First contact until the Second World War. The Path of Destiny, Century of Conflict, Ordeal by Fire, From Sea Unto Sea and The White And The Gold are the titles in this series.

Barry Broadfoot travelled the Canadian Prairies interviewing settlers and pubkished his interviews in a series of books. All of his books give unfiltered first hand accounts of how the early settlers lived. They cover from the early immigrants in the 1880's up to the Great Depression.

The Range Men by L. V. Kelly is a history of the early ranchers and Indians from Southern Alberta.

John Jewitt's Journal or White Slaves of the Nootka is one mans account of being Chief Maquinna's slave for two years after the American ship Boston was captured by the Indians of Friendly Cove.

Bloody Falls of the Coppermine River is about Samuel Hearne's expeditions to the high Arctic in ithb1780's.

Overlanders by Richard Wright is the story of some 300 adventurers who traveled by land across Canada seeking fortune in the fabled Barkerville goldfields. Some turned back, many died, a few were eaten, a baby was born and almost all of them arrived too late to stake gold bearing ground.

Daniel Harmon's Journal is a reproduction of the daily journal written by a fur trader of the Northwest Company. Harmon spent almost 10 years living among the natives at Fort St James, just 10 years after first contact was made. His journal gives us a great look at the early Indians culture and customs, although they are brief.

I have many more books on my shelves, but they are almost all about the history of British Columbia, Oregon and Alberta. I have a mountain of journals written by the early fur traders piled beside my chair (and a patient and understanding girlfriend) that I try to read each night. If you are interested in some of these let me know and I'll expand your reading list.