Voyageur’s Blog
Ask a voyageur a question
Here’s a blog to answer your questions, like what was life like during the 1800s in French Canada? Like who could or couldn’t be a voyageur? How big the canoes were? What trade goods they carried? What different furs were worth? What they used for medicine? I’ll answer these and more in the “A Voyageur’s Life” blog. Click on the button below to ask your question or go to the “Contact” section of this site — I’ll find the answers.
Cash or credit: New way to pay offered by fur trade
The fur trade introduced paying by credit–a new system of commerce. Until this past January, Hudson’s Bay Company was the longest-operating business in North America.
New book! Fur Trade Nation: An Ojibwe’s Graphic History
A first–the fur trade from the Ojiwbw point of view, in a graphic novel by Carl Gawboy His book “Fur Trade Nation” is well worth your time.
John Macdonell’s journal: part 5
John Macdonell’s journey: He completes the first leg of his 1793 journey, arriving at the Grand Portage rendezvous about 6 weeks after departing from LaChine with his brigade.
John Macdonell’s journal: part 4
John Macdonell’s journal. part 4: They finally travel downstream on the French River to Lake Huron, and Michilimackinac.
John Macdonell’s journal: part 3
John Macdonell’s 1793 diary: In 3 weeks, his brigade has traversed the Ottawa and Mattawa Rivers and reached the Lake Nipissing, back-breaking work for the voyageurs.
John Macdonell’s journal: part 2
John Macdonell’s journal of 1793: He describes the challenges of the Ottawa River on his first fur trade voyage. However, he wasn’t required to paddle or carry like the voyageurs.
No wonder Nikki Rajala writes about voyageurs—her French-Canadian ancestors paddled birch bark canoes on many fur trade brigades. One great-great wintered for 16 years in fur posts west of Lake Superior and threads of family stories infuse this book. On Girl Scout canoe expeditions as a teen, she explored Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park. Nikki loves rendezvous re-enactments, reading fur trade journals, visiting museums, tasting voyageur foods.
