A history of Jacques Cardinal, voyageur, mountain-man, trader and explorer. He was one of the first of the famed Mountain Men of the west and estab-lished the first of the famed Mountainman Rendez-vous, at the Kootenay Plains in Alberta, after having spent almost a decade as a voyageur with David Thompson throughout the west. He was the first known person to boat the Red Deer River. In 1813 he was posted to Jasper House as second-in-command, remaining there until his death in 1839. Jacques left behind many descendants; most Cree and Metis in Alberta can trace ancestry to him or his brother Joseph. Jacques was the son-in-law of the noted Mountain Cree Chief PESEW by marriage to PESEW ISKWEW, and is sometimes called the first Chief of the Paul/Alexis Nakoda (Stoney Asini-boine) Nations and his sons subsequently became Chiefs of several different bands. He is signifi-cant figure in the aboriginal history of western Canada, of the Cree and Nakoda peoples, and in the developmental history of the west.