by Nikki Rajala | Jun 28, 2019 | Featured
After five weeks traveling in 1793, John Macdonell and two others arrive at Michilimackinac, where they spend a companionable day or so. Then they hustle on to the rendezvous where important company decisions are being made. His journal continues, the fifth part in...
by Nikki Rajala | Jun 18, 2019 | Featured
John Macdonell has been traveling for a month with his first-ever canoe brigade, in 1793. This is the fourth of 5 parts. June 24 ~ Left the Prairie des Vases and crossed a large bay of Lake Nipissing. I have been informed it is so shallow that they spear fish in...
by Nikki Rajala | Nov 26, 2017 | Featured
The writings that have survived from fur traders are full of inventive spellings — like Lac Ouinipique or Ouisconstan. Can you guess where they are? There weren’t many literate people in the fur trade. Most voyageurs signed their contracts with an X. The clerks’...
