by Nikki Rajala | Mar 12, 2020 | Voyageur
Do you love maps as much as I do? When Bill drives, I’ve got a paper map on my lap. Sure GPS gives helpful info, turn by turn, but it doesn’t give me the whole picture. Old maps in particular fascinate me. Besides studying them, I’ve saved a few — like...
by Nikki Rajala | Mar 24, 2019 | Featured
Peter Pond, a larger-than-life voyageur, is responsible for the deaths of three men. Death wasn’t uncommon back then, but murder was rare. And three of them? On the credit side: Pond is one of the founders — the only American — of the North West Companywhich...
by Nikki Rajala | Oct 18, 2018 | Featured
“Saint Anne is the patroness of the Canadians, in all their travels by water.” That’s what Alexander Henry (the Elder) wrote in his 1804 journal about his 1761 venture into Canadian fur country. I also read about her in various fur trade histories. So I believed...
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’...
