Voyage of a lifetime

Ken Johnston

“We are at war,” said Robert Taylor, one of the twelve Lakehead University Voyageurs visiting Rainy River last Wednesday.
Referring to an ongoing rivalry between the Northwest Company and Hudson’s Bay Company, Taylor said, “The year is 1815.”
He and fellow voyageur, Leanne Chisolm, narrated for about 20 local residents as the other ten voyageurs took the Montreal Freighter canoe out for a spin on the river. They explained the different types of paddlers, the pay they made and how the rivalries between the two fur trading companies were at times nasty.
“A typical voyageur could not swim,” explained Taylor. The reason for that was that the boats were loaded with 3,000 lbs. of very valuable furs. “The company felt we would take less chances and fewer risks if we could not swim,” he added.
The voyageurs were also generally shorter than 5’6” to allow as much room for cargo as possible.
Once on shore the dozen voyageurs asked for recruits from the audience at the Rainy River post. “We lost some paddlers in the rapids at Manitou,” was the cry from the voyageurs. They asked everyone and eventually found a couple willing to send their son off to brave the rough terrain as they continued their journey west and north to Sioux Narrows. There were no women voyageurs. If women were aboard they were usually metis wives of the men.
After that part of their presentation Chisolm talked a bit about life as a voyageur. Only the Bourgeois (upper class paddlers) had tents to sleep in. The voyageurs tipped their canoe over, placed a tarp over it and extended it out. They then slept under it. “The bugs were bad but applying bear grease or skunk oil helped prevent them from being bitten.” Of course that also ment the men would smell pretty bad, “But cleanliness was not a priority to the voyageurs,” she added.
The fur trading travellers adopted many games played by Natives. Mike Richardson and Shannon Boyce demonstrated an Inuit game called Knee Jumping. The players would see how high they could kick a piece of fur attached to a paddle. The trick is to stand on one foot and kick with that foot without the other foot touching.
Taylor and Matt Buttle also showed the audience how to make fire using a piece of char-cloth, carbon steel and tinder.
Carly Travers and Taylor also explained the clothing that they were wearing, noting that Old Fort William donated authentic garb for this year’s trip.
The sashes usually were of different colours, indicating where the original voyageurs originated.
The toughest part of the trip for the voyageurs this year was the rainy weather and the three kilometre portage through Fort Frances. “We were rained on every day to this point and that 800lb canoe was very heavy by the third kilometre,” said Bill Mitchell.
The trip, is part of the LU Outdoor Recreation program and is done in the third year by students. They were averaging about 40-50 km per day but did do 60 km on their way to Rainy River. They started just below the Crilly Dam east of Fort Frances and travelled 13 days to Sioux Narrows.
Many members of the audience enjoyed participating in the various activities. Jack Elliott of Rainy River learned first hand how to make fire.
Lance Laroque, 10, of Sanford, MB., tried his hand at lifting the wet tarp they use for sleeping under. He also tried a rope game.
Ralph Jorgenson of Calgary, AB., also tried to lift the tarp and struggled.
The LU Voyageurs gave a true depiction of what life must have been like. They had to be short, strong and foolishly brave to get in boats not knowing how to swim, when their competition would strike and full of adventure, travelling hundreds of miles each journey into virtually unknown territories.