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.