Voyageur’s Blog
Ask a voyageur a question
Here’s a blog to answer your questions, like what was life like during the 1800s in French Canada? Like who could or couldn’t be a voyageur? How big the canoes were? What trade goods they carried? What different furs were worth? What they used for medicine? I’ll answer these and more in the “A Voyageur’s Life” blog. Click on the button below to ask your question or go to the “Contact” section of this site — I’ll find the answers.
John Macdonell’s journal: part 3
John Macdonell has been with the brigade for just over 2 weeks in 1793. They finally reach the Mattawa River, back-breaking work for the voyageurs.
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John Macdonell’s journal: part 2
John Macdonell kept a journal of his first fur trade experiences, in 1793, including this trip to the rendezvous.
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John Macdonell’s journal: part 1
John Macdonell became a clerk for the North West Company in 1793, to supervise the fur trade.
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Lobsticks — guides for voyageurs, then and now
Lobsticks were tall trees sheared of lower branches, used by voyageurs to mark special events, and later to mark places on the route to access a portage or river. Now, it’s the name of a newsletter.
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Digging into the Voyageurs’ World
Carolyn Podruchny presents fascinating info in “Making the Voyageur World” — like different songs sung with various canoe sizes, lobsticks, leaky canoes, difficult conditions.
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Where in the world did trade goods come from?
Goods traded to Native American tribes originated all over the world. While much came from from England and France, other countries in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, Brazil and North America, offered unique materials.
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No wonder Nikki Rajala writes about voyageurs—her French-Canadian ancestors paddled birch bark canoes on many fur trade brigades. One great-great wintered for 16 years in fur posts west of Lake Superior and threads of family stories infuse this book. On Girl Scout canoe expeditions as a teen, she explored Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park. Nikki loves rendezvous re-enactments, reading fur trade journals, visiting museums, tasting voyageur foods.
