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.
Did fur traders make money on blankets?
What kind of return did the fur trade companies receive with point blankets, a staple of the goods offered to Native Americans? Substantial, it turns out.
Should big names from history have a role in my book?
Weaving historical people and events into my book could be fun—but I need help from readers.
What’s the secret to welding voyageurs into a unit?
Voyageurs brigades sang to stay in rhythm, to keep from focusing on their own pain, to commemorate the places and people, and for the sheer joy of singing together.
The Witched Canoe #2
Did you like reading the story of the Flying Canoe? Here's the backstory: In print, the tale of the Flying Canoe, La Chasse Galerie dates back to 1891 but it was an old tale then and told across Canada.Some sources date it to Europe, and other versions have Native...
For a wild ride, try a Flying Canoe
What's better on a cold night than to get cozy and hear an old story?. Here is a popular French-Canadian story — the tale of the Flying Canoe. (also known as La Chasse Galerie, The Bewitched Canoe and The Wild Hunt.) It's New Year’s Eve at a far-flung trading post. A...
‘Devil in Deerskins’ — An early female conservation activist
Read about Gertrude “Anahareo” Bernard, an early Canadian conservationist who adopted a pair of baby beavers as family.
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.
