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...
by Nikki Rajala | Sep 26, 2020 | Voyageur
Are you dying to know what the Ottawa River looked like 200+ years ago? I am. So this 1831 map from Montreal showing the route French-Canadian voyageurs followed on their way to the rendezvous is a real godsend. WOW! It helps me clarify what Andre needs to do at each...
by Nikki Rajala | Jun 10, 2020 | Featured
Did you read biographies as a kid? Bigfork’s tiny public library had one shelf of biographies for youth, jacketed in red and yellow, illustrated with black and white drawings. After finishing the life stories of all the women (maybe 7 total), I kept on, reading...
