Milton (1862-1863)

Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, William, Viscount Milton (1839-1877). The North-West Passage by Land; Being the Narrative of an Expedition from the Atlantic to the Pacific [...] by One of the Northern Passes in the Rocky Mountains. London: Cassell Petter, and Galpin, [1875].

Written by a young Englishmen with an adventurous spirit, The North-West Passage by Land played an indirect part in the creation of present-day Canada. By describing the opportunities offered by the Prairies and British Columbia, this work actually helped to prepare public opinion in both England and Canada for creating a federation including the West.

Born in London in 1839, William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, Viscount Milton, studied at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1860 he visited the Red River colony as an amateur, a trip which awoke in him a more ambitious desire: "In the spring of 1862 I decided to see for myself the nature of the region extending from the Red River colony to the Rocky Mountains and to go, if possible, by the shortest route into the Cariboo gold-bearing country."

Lord Milton landed in Quebec City in July 1862 accompanied by one of his friends, the physician Walter Butler Cheadle. The two young men - Lord Milton was 23 and Cheadle 27 - set out immediately on their long and sometimes painful transcontinental journey. They finally reached Kamloops in August 1863 in rags and half-starved, after crossing the Rockies via Edmonton, Jasper and the Yellow Head Pass. After visiting the Cariboo region, they returned to England via Victoria, where they boarded a ship in December.

Lord Milton and Cheadle published jointly several accounts of their journey, but The North-West Passage by Land was the most successful: it went through at least eight editions between 1865 and 1875. Written in a lively and sometimes amusing style, it provides much relevant information about the Canadian West; moreover, the authors' interest in the Yellow Head Pass was later justified by the Grand Trunk Railway's choice of a route over that pass.

After his adventures in North America, Lord Milton sat in the British House of Commons from 1865 to 1872. He died in Rouen, France in 1877.