by Nikki Rajala | Jan 29, 2023 | Voyageur
Meet “Postmaster Gregoire” who worked at Heritage Park Historical Village in Calgary, Alberta. The person inside that authentic outfit is fur trade historian, public speaker, interpreter and re-enactor Greg Ingram. He spent his summers and falls interpreting at the...
by Nikki Rajala | Jan 26, 2022 | Voyageur
What voyageurs ate depended mostly on where they were — along the rivers, in the Great Lakes, at their wintering post or back home. In the earliest days, Radisson, Champlain, Pond and other French-Canadian explorers and adventurers hunted and fished — and traded with...
by Nikki Rajala | Mar 19, 2021 | Voyageur
My question exactly. How do you figure it out? Or, backing up a bit: What goods were profitable? Early on, fur traders discovered they needed more consumable goods — clothing, blankets, other fabrics, vermilion and beads, powder and shot, tobacco and alcohol. Fabrics...
by Nikki Rajala | Feb 3, 2021 | Voyageur
Singing. Sea shanties, sung by sailors on long journeys, have had great press lately — so you can see the tradition of work songs lives on! But wait — there’s more. The technique worked with voyageurs as well. Voyageurs, those jaunty hearty French-Canadian...
by Nikki Rajala | Oct 21, 2020 | Voyageur
As it’s coming on wintry weather, did you ever wonder — What were the voyageurs doing 200 years ago in this season? But of course you did. By October they’d returned to their posts with loads of new goods from the rendezvous, ready to start trading. What...
