Peter Pond was an important individual for Fort MacMurray in the past, but who was he? Peter Pond was born on January 18, 1739 in Milford, Connecticut. During his life Pond was a regiment soldier for Connecticut, an explorer, a fur trader and trapper, and one of the founders of the Beaver Club and the North West Company. Peter Pond also gained recognition as a cartographer as well. One of the maps created by Peter was submitted to the Congress of the USA in 1785, after he had spent many years exploring and searching for furs to trade. Starting in Detroit, Michigan Peter Pond worked with his father to gather pelts and then trade them. Eventually Pond partnered with Alexander Henry ,Simon McTavish and the Frobisher brothers Thomas, Benjamin, and Joseph. The result was the North West Company.

From 1776 to 1778 Peter Pond explored the Great Lakes and Alberta areas, and in 1783 he discovered the Athabasca which stretched from the Peace River to Lac Île-à-la-Crosse. The adventurer spent several years exploring the Lake Athabasca waterways. Pond charted the Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake, both of which were very important to the native Cree people in the Fort MacMurray area. In the notes made by Peter Pond and teh diaries that he kept it is possible to trace his explorations. Fort Chipewyan, Alberta was founded by Peter Pond, and he was the explorer who led the very first people of European descent to see the Athabasca oil sands.