The opening of the Canadian West is a story of fur-trading empires: the Aboriginal people who were their indispensable allies and collaborators ; bold explorers and mapmakers. The scale is epic, covering two centuries the boundless territory from the Great Lakes to the Arctic Ocean and long-sought-for Pacific. It is a tale of renegades like Pierre Esprit Radisson, who founded an English trading empire; of loyal soldiers like Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de la Vérendrye, who spent a lifetime searching for the Western Sea and paid dearly for it; of Matonabbee, the tough Dene chief who led Samuel Hearne on a monumental trek into the Barren Lands; and of the arrogant and single-minded Alexander Mackenzie, whose dash to the Pacific made him one of the most celebrated men of his age. And it is the story of David Thompson, who did more than any other man to unlock the secrets of the West. The episode concludes as settlers on the prairies and gold miners in British Columbia begin to claim the West for themselves. The fur trader's day is seen coming to an end.

VHS format. "Episode 6: The pathfinders (1670 to 1850)--Promotional material.