In the summer of 1845 the Irish-born artist Paul Kane travelled west as far as Sault Ste. Marie, sketching Indians he encountered along the way. The following year he joined the westward bound brigade of the Hudson's Bay Company and accompanied various parties of voyageurs to the Pacific Ocean. When he returned to Toronto two and a half years later, he had amassed a large collection of sketches of Indian clothing, artifacts and customs. The record of the trip kept in his published journal gives a unique impression of the life of Indians and traders in what is now western Canada. He died at Toronto.