by Nikki Rajala | Mar 30, 2025 | Voyageur
The fur trade was the lifeblood of the North American economy in the 17th and 18th centuries. What did Indigenous communities, particularly the Ojibwe, want in exchange for their highly prized beaver pelts? What’s your guess? Guns (the high-ticket item) and...
by Nikki Rajala | Mar 2, 2025 | Voyageur
Near the end of “Uncharted Waters” (Book 3), André and his crew find themselves in a vast water meadow and can’t orient themselves. He despairs that they’ll never find Danny’s father in this wilderness. To pinpoint their location, André’s...
by Nikki Rajala | Feb 1, 2025 | Voyageur
Most Minnesotans know that Dakota, and then Ojibwe tribes, resided here from early on. But the Winnebago (properly called Ho-Chunk) also lived here for a short time. I recently learned that while perusing an old account book of fur trader A.C. Riggs with two small...
by Nikki Rajala | Jan 9, 2025 | Voyageur
Recently I’ve been perusing an old accounts book from a fur trader, Ashley Crowl Riggs. On the first page, Riggs titled it, “Winnebago* accounts for the 1852 and 1853 at Watab and Cold Spring.” That piqued my interest for 2 reasons: because Cold Spring is only 5...
by Nikki Rajala | Dec 5, 2024 | Voyageur
With snow flurries teasing us, and Christmas carols playing, and wreaths and decorations everywhere, I wonder about the voyageurs during this season. Mostly, they celebrated New Year’s with a dram or two, occasionally with a rival post (as I wrote about in a...
by Nikki Rajala | Nov 6, 2024 | Voyageur
A good idea always moves. Point blankets were used for more than sleeping by French-Canadian fur traders. To cope with being outdoors in the harsh winters, voyageurs fashioned a wool point blanket into long wrap-style coat with a hood by cutting off one end (for...
