Note: This post contains pictures of real furs that some readers may not enjoy.
Last week, between Wednesday and Friday, we were in Thunder Bay, Ontario, for just over 48 hours to attend a dear friend's wedding. Neither the Man nor I had been there before and we wanted to make the most of our limited time.
We arrived just after lunch on Wednesday after a non-eventful flight. We arrived and went to the car rental place, to find out, there was not a car for us. We had used a 3rd party booking site (that we have used before). Turns out there was a conference of some kind going on and this city of just over 100 000 had no cars. In the end, one of the 4 car rental places had ONE car. We got the last car. Of course it was the expensive SUV, but it was a car and we took it, and as you will see over the next few weeks, we put it to good use!
The second challenge was driving said car. It had a very different gear shift that took the Man some time to figure out.
After a lunch of tacos, we headed to Fort William.
Fort William was a very important place during the fur trade. Owned by the North West Company, it wasn't a military fort, rather the half way point along the trading route. It was a trading post. While the fort had only 20-30 people living in it during the year, in the summer for several weeks, it hosted the Superior Rendez-Vous. Because traveling across Canada (and some of the States) would be impossible to do within the summer, the company had their suppliers meet in the middle. The Voyageurs from the east, mainly Montreal would canoe to Fort William with European items. These voyages would take 2-4 weeks. The Voyageurs from all over the North and West, would come with the furs on journeys that lasted 2 weeks to 3 months, one way. At the Rendez-Vous, the Voyageurs changed cargo, receive medical care and then head back. Most Voyageurs from the east, did 1 season and those from the West often did 3 year contracts. While most Voyageurs were young men, some made life long careers, becoming guides and translators. The Rendez-Vous was the place that the company shareholders were able to meet and conduct most of the company business.
For those not familiar with what a Voyageur was, they were independent contractors (usually European in decent) with the trading companies. They would be responsible for transporting goods for the companies. The trades were already done. They were the transporters, much like truckers, but with canoes. They were often French, as there were many French labourers during the fur trade.
The Fort is a re-creation, the original which was about 14 km away, was destroyed. They have staff, who take on different characters from 1815 (based on historical records of real people) who conduct great tours to teach about this part of history. I have been to many, many historical sites and must say, this was very well done.
I admit, I have very conflicted feelings on the fur trade and the settlement of North America. However, I am also able to reflect on this as history and how it was. I in no way condone much of what was done.
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| Samples of furs - all furs were donated |
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| That is a Timber Wolf Fur |
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| When portaging (carrying items between water sources, or around falls) the Voyageurs would carry 2, 90lb containers like this. |
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| I realize looking at my pictures, beaver was the most important fur, and yet, I didn't take pictures. All these furs would have been shipped back to the UK to be made into clothing - beaver hats, fur coats, lining of boots etc. |
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| You can't bring large groups of men, who have been rather isolated most of the year, together without having a Gaol (jail). |
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| There were no European women at this site. The only women were Indigenous. Many of the European men married Indigenous women. |
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| The farm has also been recreated. Even with a small number of people, supplies were needed. |
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| As many of the owners were Scottish, mutton was an important part of the diet. |
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| Pork was also an important part of the diet. |
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| We laughed watching this young man try and catch this sheep. He was trying to catch her to remove some burrs from her wool. |
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| Being around the furs all day, I so wanted to do this, so I was excited, after our tour when there was no one around and I could do this. |
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| And this |
After some fort fun, we headed to our hotel. We stayed at the Courthouse hotel. The old court house has been converted to a hotel.
After settling in, we walked to a Smoke House for dinner before retiring early.
Come back next week for the only full day in Thunder Bay!
