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He began his fur trading career with his father out of Detroit, Michigan. He traded throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. Through his business he became acquainted with Alexander Henry, Simon McTavish and the brothers Thomas, Benjamin and Joseph Frobisher. They formed the North West Company which developed a fierce rivalry with the Hudson's Bay Company.

In search of new fur resources he explored west of the Great Lakes. In 1783 his explorations led him to the Athabasca, a region stretching from Lac Île-à-la-Crosse to the Peace RiverPeace River may refer to: The Peace River in Alaska in the United States, called by natives Gui-guok-lok The Peace River in Alaska in the United States, a tributary of the Koyuk River The Peace River in Florida in the United States The Peace River in Brit. There he explored waterways around Lake AthabascaLake Athabasca is located in the Northwest corner of Saskatchewan and the Northeast corner of Alberta between the 58° and 60° latitudes. The lake covers 7,850km², is 283 km long, has a maximum width of 50 km, and a maximum depth of 243 metres (797'), maki and determined the approximate locations of Great Slave LakeGreat Slave Lake is the second largest lake in the Canadian territory of Northwest Territories, behind Great Bear Lake, and the deepest lake in North America at 614 metres (2,015'), covering an area of the southern part of the territory of 28,400 square k and Great Bear LakeGreat Bear Lake Sahtu is the largest lake in the Canadian territory of Northwest Territories and the fourth largest in North America. Location The Great Bear Lake is situated on the Arctic Circle between 65 and 67 degrees of northern latitude and between from First Nations peoples of the area. From his notes and diaries Peter Pond drew map showing rivers and lakes of the Athabasca region, including what was known of the whole area from Hudson Bay to the Rocky Mountains and interpolating his information to the Arctic OceanThe Arctic Ocean located entirely in the north polar region, is the smallest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Southern Ocean), and the shallowest. It occupies a roughly circular basin and covers an are or Northwest PassageThe Northwest Passage is a route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean through the Arctic archipelago of Canada. Between the end of the 15th century and the 20th century, Europeans attempted to establish a commercial sea route north and west around. In 1785, one copy of his map, accompanied by a detailed report was submitted to the United States Congress and a second to the Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, Henry Hamilton. Pond needed financial support to carry his explorations to the limits of North America's northwest but the British government was not forthcoming.

A partner in the North West Company, founded in 1784, he was in charge of the company business in the Athabasca and Peace River areas. An ambitious man with a reputation for a violent temper he was implicated in two murders: Although acquitted on the murder charges, the company replaced him with Alexander Mackenzie. In the process of taking over the management of the business Mackenzie learned a great deal form Peter Pond about the Athabasca and Peace River region. Pond left the North West Company in 1788. Mackenzie was intrigued by Pond's belief that the rivers of that area flowed to the Northwest Passage. He took the initiative to follow up on Ponds belief and canoed that river, now called the Mackenzie River, which did in fact flow to Arctic Ocean. Peter Pond had contributed to the mapping of Canada by drawing the general outline of the river basin that Mackenzie recorded in 1789.

The maps that Peter Pond subsequently drew, based on his explorations and on the information provided to him by First Nations peoples, ultimately gained him international recognition at the end of the 18th century.

In 1790, Pond sold his shares in the North West Company to William McGillivray. He returned to Milford, Connecticut, where he died in 1807.