Duluth's Edison School Makes On-Line Visit

Students at Duluth's Edison school ended their school year by visiting White Oak's on-line Learning Centre. Among the questions posed to our amazingly literate electronic voyageur: (see below)

"Do you like kids? Have you heard of a computer? Do you like sports? Why do they wear such funny clothes? Do you play any other games besides Cat and Mouse? If you do play any other game than Cat and Mouse, what is your favorite game? Was it easy to make fires? Was it hard to paddle so long? Was it hard to play cat and mouse? How much did voyageurs make? Would voyageurs ever get days off? Is it fun being a voyageur? Have you ever sunk in your boat?"

If you want to pose your questions about the fur trade, visit White Oak at: http://www.whiteoak.org. Teachers are welcome to make our On-Line Learning Centre a part of their curriculum. Just direct your students to us or contact us for a customized session.

Thank You, Sally Becker

In 1989, Ross Becker, Perry Vining, Ray Nyberg and Chuck Ogee ventured to Old Fort William for the annual rendezvous. Like so many great events this was a memorable one - great music, weather, food and friends. After the group returned, Ross put his talents to work and carved a full sized avant paddle. Sally, Ross' wife, then applied her talents painting the paddle's blade with all the stories and escapades of the grand adventure. There is the man who broke his leg dancing, the bears spotted on the far banks of the Kam River, the Ojibwe village, bark canoe pulled up at the wharf, Clemens the artist at his easel and more.

Sally has graciously donated this wonderful piece of craft work to the Society in Ross's memory. It hangs proudly on the office wall at the Learning Centre. Come and enjoy this well executed bit of shared memory. To Sally - migwitch, merci, thanks.

The Heart of the Fur Trade

The following quotes from "Where Two Worlds Meet" poignantly underscore the nature of the fur trade. It was a time of bartering, cajoling, and negotiating between members of two cultures separated by backgrounds but tightly linked by a shared enterprise.

Among the Anishinabeg

"...Tell your servants to fill the measure and not to put their fingers within the Brim...give us good black tobacco, moist & hard twisted. Let us see itt before op'n'd....The Guns are bad, Let us trade Light guns small in the hand, and well shap'd, with Locks that will not freeze in the winter, and Red gun cases....Let the young men have Roll tobacco cheap, Kettles thick high for the shape, and size, strong Ears, and the Baile to Lap Just upon the side, - Give us Good measure, in cloth, - Let us see the old measure, Do you mind me!" Cree chief to a trader, 1743

At Day's End ...

"I did my best to secure 10 Beaver skins that [Pichiquequi] has in his lodge. I gave him a small Tin Basin that he Asked for, to make himself a pipe. I proposed to trade them for Rum, for merchandise, silverware, Beads, all in vain, he was absolutely unwilling to give [the skins] to me...replying that he loved them. I offered him a blanket to no avail. He [said] that he was Keeping them to make a robe...to Cover him in The night." Michel Curot, 1804

"Fashion reigned here as imperiously as in more civilised lands; some fine, richly coloured, oval beads, the size of pigeon's eggs, which I considered my best...were despised and out of date, while the little trashy white ones, no bigger than a pin's head, were highly appreciated....The small beads were valued...for embroidery...while the larger ones...had come to be thought too barbaric."James Carnegie at Fort Carlton, 1859

Historical Resources

Where Two Worlds Meet

"A novel kind of commerce ruled this land from 1600 to 1850. Europeans traded their manufactured goods for the furs of the American Indians. People from two different worlds met, and their goods and ideas mingled. Neither culture was ever the same gain."

In 1982 the Minnesota Historical Society assembled an impressive display on the Great Lakes Fur Trade. Accompanying the exhibit was the book "Where Two Worlds Meet." The book combines excellent color plates and photographs with a text that provides a solid overview of the fur trade era. It belongs in any reenactor's library.

Although this book is a superb reference guide to the goods and material items of the trade era, its focus is on the cultural nature of the trade. The lone generalization made by author Carolyn Gilman indicates this: "The fur trade thus an exchange of information: information about technology, about social organization, about human nature." Gilman proceeds to state the perception that most reenactors cherish about this era: "The fur trade is an example of how two radically dissimilar cultures establish a common ground of understanding with sacrificing their unique characteristics and without annihilating one another."

Obviously, we know that the trade era unleashed or was accompanied by forces that had devastating impacts on the Indian tribes. But, at its heart, the trade itself was an economic exchange, with vital cultural implications, in which both sides willingly engaged for their own purposes.

This book can be used by students, teachers and reenactors of all ages. It is a valuable source of information on goods, the actors, the trade, changes within the trade over time, and the changes which occured as a result of the fur trade.

Keeping Up Appearances

European traders took much of their world into the wilderness. Clothing, customs, and possessions all helped keep cultural ties and memories strong. Belongings were also the outward symbols of class distinctions, very important in a trading post. At the top of the scale was the bourgeois, or regional manager of a string of posts. Next in line was the commis, or clerk, who might manage a single post. At the bottom was the illiterate voyageur, who was like an indentured servant.

Men in the fur trade had to know their place. The gentleman in charge could bring a cassette of his own belongings. The fur companies outfitted voyageurs with only two blankets, two pairs of trousers, two shirts and some tobacco each. Gentlemen had their own stores of tea, coffee, chocolate, and brandy. Voyageurs drank water and rum. Gentlemen ate off china. Voyageurs ate from kettles. The importance of class symbols brought luxuries like pewter and bone china to posts in the wilderness. [from "Meeting of Two Worlds", Minnesota Historical Society, Carolyn Gilman]

The Portage Path

Observations along the Gil Quaal Nature Trail

Thanks to a grant from the Itasca County Trails Task Force the Nature Trail is being expanded. A new link will cross the bog just east of the Ersatz River. This will allow Gil to identify new plants in the bog ecosystem for interpretation to visitors and students.

The route will also permit visitors to correctly approach the fur post from its front door, that is, from the water side via the Ersatz and the north gate.

The crew that worked on the trail included: site manager Gary Peterson, Beth Irving, Dan Howard, Jim Adkins and assorted volunteers.

John Parmeter headed a work group to reestablish the Ojibwe village in its proper location along the Ersatz and the nature trail.

Space provided courtesy of Paulbunyan Net

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