Special History:
The Environment and the Fur Trade Experience in
Voyageurs National Park, 1730-1870
Chapter Two
The Fur Trade Experience in the Rainy Lake Region (continued)
Trade
From a strictly economic standpoint, the fur trade consisted of two kinds of exchange: a primary concern with furs, skins, and other animal products that had value in distant markets, and a secondary concern with food stuffs and other items of immediate necessity for fur trade society–the so-called "provisioning trade." Company officers might differentiate between the two kinds of trade in their account books and year-end reports, but in other respects the two kinds of exchange overlapped. Trade was as much a basis of social relations as a system for economic gain.
One of the earliest accounts of trade in the Rainy Lake Region is that of Alexander Henry in his Travels and Adventures, in which he describes an encounter with Ojibwe during his journey westward in 1775.
We encamped at Les Fourches, on the River a la Pluie, where there was a village of Chipeways, of fifty lodges, of whom I bought new canoes. They insisted further on having goods given to them on credit, as well as on receiving some presents. The latter they regarded as an established tribute, paid them on account of the ability which they possessed, to put a stop to all trade with the interior. I gave them rum, with which they became drunk and troublesome; and in the night I left them. [1]
 Indian and trader |
Typical of so many descriptions of trade, Henry's succinct account is deceptively simple. It touches on no less than four significant features of trading. First, his party traded for canoes rather than pelts–an example of the provisioning trade. Second, he mentions the Indians' desire for credit, a feature that became more common as time passed. Third, he notes that the Indians demanded presents, an important part of the ritual that surrounded trade. Fourth, he alludes to the role of liquor and its effect on how the encounter ended. Trading involved much more than an exchange of goods; economic interests were tightly bundled with social and cultural meanings that formed the foundation of fur trade society.
Traders often recorded specific types and quantities of goods they exchanged. In 1793, John McKay traded an unidentified Indian chief two gallons of spirits and two pounds of tobacco for sixteen gallons of rice. In 1819, an Ojibwe named The Little Rat brought 20 muskrat skins and a half beaver pelt to the Rainy Lake Fort, for which he received one gallon of "Leeward Island Rum." A few days later, another Ojibwe named The Little Deer obtained a credit of 50 Made Beaver at the post. For this quantity of furs, The Little Deer received "a Complete Chief Clothing with a Flag," plus two and a half gallons of rum, one and a half pounds of powder, three pounds of BB shot, one and a half pounds of "low India–," one comb, three knives, one fire steel, one pound of tobacco, eight flints, and one fourth pound vermilion–all taken from the store.
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Roderick McKenzie describes a trading session In the morning early arrived The little Deer who after smoking his pipe Said he has Come to take debt. Without Saying any thing I told Mr Buck to go to the Store & Select Such articles as he thought the Indian would require & ask for. Some time after I told the Deer to follow me, he received 50 Made Beaver after which he enquired if there were no Coats. I answered that there was a Complete Chief Clothing with a Flag for him which I got laid aside with the following Articles 2 1/2 Gallons Rum, One & half pound powder, Three ditto Shot BB, One & half do low India— One Comb— 3 knives One Fire Steel One pound Tobacco Eight Flints One Fourth pound Vermilion. After Mr Buck had delivered the whole I requested him as he speaks the language tolerably well to tell the Indian that I expected he would make a good hunt & endeavor to get a few young men attached to him as also to keep clear of the Nwt all which he promised to do. [He] took his departure immediately without Seeing any of the Indians about the Fort which I was well pleased at knowing if he once broached his Keg it would be the Commencement of a Couple of days drinking at least. —Roderick McKenzie, Lac La Pluie Post Journal, October 2, 1819. |
The Little Deer's purchase of "a Complete Chief Clothing with a Flag" on credit illustrates an important strategy that traders employed to secure trading relationships with more Indians. By giving certain Indians extra presents and outfitting them in scarlet coats and pants, traders hoped to influence these "chiefs" to encourage other Indians to trade with them as well. Honoring such men as "chiefs" benefited both parties: The Little Deer gained prestige among his own people, and the trader gained new trading partners. Roderick McKenzie alluded to this practice when he recorded, on September 29, 1819, that The Little Deer and The Little Rat had both been promised "chief's clothing" by his predecessor, Robert Logan. The two Indians, he wrote, "expect those articles & likewise better treatment than the rest of there [sic] tribe." A shrewd trader such as McKenzie tried to be sensitive to such relationships when he started at a new post. "The rat again made a Second demand for Rum," McKenzie noted in the post journal on the following day, "which I was obliged to give him it would appear that this Indian has been indulged a good deal by the deceased Mr. Don[al]d McPherson & afterwards by Mr. Logan…."
Little Deer's credit was measured in 50 "Made Beaver." Made Beaver was the term fur traders used to describe a certain quantity and value of furs. A Made Beaver was the equivalent of a single prime beaver pelt. It took a number of lowly muskrat skins to equal one Made Beaver, while a single good bearskin was typically worth three Made Beaver. The fur trade was based on the barter system, yet the Made Beaver increasingly served as a kind of "currency" that standardized the value of pelts. European trade goods could also be measured in terms of Made Beaver. For instance, a gun could be priced at fourteen Made Beaver, a blanket valued at seven Made Beaver, and a hatchet exchanged for one Made Beaver. In practice, however, the value of goods relative to Made Beaver could fluctuate a good deal. As historian Daniel Francis has observed, the trader had various means of deviating from a fixed price schedule. He could arbitrarily raise prices of goods he had in store–particularly if competition from other traders was not too keen. He could insist on discounting the value of furs if they were small, thin, worn, or otherwise damaged. He could shortchange the Indians when he weighed shot or measured cloth. And he could tamper with the goods, diluting rum with water for example. Evidence of these practices, according to Francis, may be found in Indians' demands to "give us full measure," as well as in traders' account books. None of the Hudson's Bay Company account books for Lac La Pluie district contained such evidence, however. It would seem that most traders did not admit to such practices in official company documents.
Trade was surrounded by ritual. The ritual varied little from place to place or between companies. Indians visited the posts not only to procure goods, but also to engage in ceremony, to renew friendships, and to assert their position of equality with the non-Indian traders. Duncan M'Gillivray described the ritual that attended trading:
When a Band of Indians approach near the Fort it is customary for the Chiefs to send a few young men before them to announce their arrival, and to procure a few articles which they are accustomed to receive on these occasions–such as Powder, a Piece of Tobacco and a little paint to besmear their faces, an operation which they seldom fail to perform previous to their presenting themselves before the White People. At a few yards distance from the gate they salute us with several discharges of their guns, which is answered by hoisting a flag and firing a few guns. On entering the house they are disarmed, treated with a few drams and a bit of tobacco, and after the pipe has been plyed about for some time they relate the news with great deliberation and ceremony....When their lodges are erected by the women they receive a present of Rum proportioned to the Nation and quality of their Chiefs and the whole Band drink during 24 hours and sometimes much longer for nothing....When the drinking match has subsided they begin to trade.
Trade at the Rainy Lake Fort was no less ritualized. Frederic Damien Huerter, an employee of the North West Company from 1816 to 1819, described the post trader's insistence on proper attire by his men for the benefit of the Indians.
The day of our arrival at Laclapluie 13th. June Lieutt. Missary told me on the portage, it was Mr. McLeods orders that I should put on my regimentals which I complied with, after I was dressed Mr. McLeod told me that the Fort of Laclapluie was a place of great resort for Indians, and it was necessary that we should all appear in Regimentals.– That the Indians might see we belonged to the King– Lieuts. Missary & Brumby, their two servants, and also Charles Reinhard and I were in Regimentals on arriving at the Fort. There were many Indians there, Mr. McLeod had them all assembled in the Fort, and made a Speech to them. I happened to be out of the way, on my return to the Fort, Charles Reinhard informed that McLeod wanted me, as well as every one of us, to be present at the Council but by the time I entered the Hall, he had already delivered his Harrangue so I did not hear it.
The greatest ceremony of the year at Rainy Lake was the grand medicine dance, which drew hundreds of Ojibwe from all over the region. A post trader at Fort Frances (the former Rainy Lake Fort) described the event in the post journal in 1837:
[June 19.] Many arrivals of Indians all encamped and assembling at the portage for the purpose of celebrating the yearly grand Medicine or Mitayway–
[June 26.] Mr. Taylor here gives us a description of the frightful and warlike appearance of 30 or 40 Indians or rather painted and naked ragamuffins dancing inside the Fort for Some Rum and Tobacco, and curiously enough informs us of the feasting dancing, crass playing and preparations for the approaching celebration of the mysterious Grand Medicine, or Devilry as he calls it in one part of his Journal.
[July 3.] More arrivals of Indians principally from Leech Lake and Red lake. at last Mr. Taylor informs us, of the commencement of the devilry or Grand medicine, preluded as it would seem by a grand War dance, by the Leech Lake Indians and here again Mr. Taylor could not but admire the noble and martial bearing of these rogues: and in conclusion says that it cost him two fathoms of Tobacco for the dance and the sight of it which was certinly cheap enough for the gratification he seems to have enjoyed on the occasion.
[July 10.] A large number of Indians (mostly Leech Lake) leave this on their way back to their Country after acquitting themselves here of their Religious duties and Ceremonies in the Mysterious Mitaiway dance or grande Medicine– All left this peaceably enough, without offering or doing any mischief to our Cattle & horses. rather a fortunate circumstance, from Such a large assemblage of Indians and of a different tribe & families, who are very apt to be mis-chievously inclined when gathered and Idling in Such numbers at one spot.
Credit, or "debt" as the traders called it, increasingly defined the "mode" of trade. Historians debate the extent to which Indians became dependent on the traders. "The Indians were not defenceless [sic] when it came to trading," writes Daniel Francis. "They were as expert at haggling as the white man, and they could simply refuse to trade their furs if they couldn't strike a deal. This threat was given special force when rival traders were in business nearby." Yet traders themselves recognized that the credit system gradually transformed the Indian into a quasi-employee of the company. "In theory," explains Rhoda R. Gilman, "the independent Indian brought his winter's catch of fur to the trader's post and bartered it for the marginal luxuries that made his life in the wilderness easier. If he were dissatisfied with the price offered, he refused to trade. In reality, the Indian, in Aitken's words, 'had to submit to his trader.' Gilman argues that by the 1830s if not earlier, the ritual of the fur trade served to mask the fact that trader and Indian were locked in an exploitative relationship.
The credit system developed early in the Rainy Lake Region where competition between companies was particularly keen. Traders offered credit as a means of securing trade at the expense of their rivals. The Hudson's Bay Company trader John McKay alluded to "giving debt" as early as 1793. He complained three years later of the amount of credit being extended by North West Company traders in the region. "The more outfits in such a small area the more dearer they must buy their trade," he observed, "for an Indian will take debt from one and trade his furs to another of the same concern." McKay accused his Canadian competitors of encouraging the Indians to cheat on their debts.
The use of credit became prominent again in the years 1816-1817 when the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company actually came to armed conflict in the Rainy Lake Region. It was frequently mentioned again in the early 1820s when the Hudson's Bay Company sought to force the American Fur Company to abandon its tenuous hold in the border lakes country. In 1825, post trader John Cameron described the credit system as he had applied it over the previous few years. The details he entered in his district report for that year display a remarkable degree of sensitivity and moral ambivalence, as well as self-justification, about his trading practices. His "article" on "mode of trade" is quoted here in full.
Mode of Trade. This is a difficult article to dwell upon. when people are alone, they may act as they please, but when along side of opposition a trader must be guided by Circumstances which are liable to frequent changes. He must Sometimes act differently with different Indians and at times must vary his Conduct with Some Indian. An Indian is not always the same thing. However the general mode is, to Supply an Indian in the Fall, if not with his wants, at least, with a Sufficiency to enable him to pass the Winter. The Summer is not the Season for hunting. Indians therefore with their families are generally Naked in Autumn, hence the absolute necessity of advancing an Indian Some goods on Debt, without which it would be impossible for him, in this Department, to get through the Winter. In other parts of the Country where large Animals are numerous, An Indian may Cloath himself with leather: but here it is impossible, he can have no other recourse whatever but to our Goods, Nay, we are obliged to bring in drest leather & parchments, to Supply him with the Means of Making his shoes & Snowshoes. We make a point however, of dealing out his Supplies according to his ability as a hunter. To Some More, others less. It must be observed that there is Some Art in refusing an Indian, as well as in making him a present. A quality too much neglected by Some Traders; and altogether unattainable by others. My custom when giving out debts is I have a Blotter made for the purpose before me I call each Indian who is present and desire him to name the Articles he is most in want when he names an Article that I think he can do without, I tell him so, & make him acknowledge his inability from the poverty of his Lands to pay a heavy debt.– After I have written what he is to get on debt I add the gratuities Such as a Couple of Measures of Ammunition to every Man of family, two Knives, a Steel, an Awl, five Needles five flints–Some Thread, a little Vermillion and half a fathom of Tobacco besides Liquor– To young men who have no families one Knife, a Steel, three flints & Some vermillion besides Liquor. Sometimes a foot of Tobacco. After he wants of all present are are [sic] written down, I give the Blotter to the Clerk, who calls the Indians to the Shop One after the other, and delivers to each the Articles Mentioned to his name– Every one gets their Liquor apart. Once the Blotter is taken to the Shop, it is in vain for any to recall to his Mind Articles that he has forgotten, unless it is a file or an ax I always make it a point to Send off an Indian pleased after he has taken debt, and I Seldom or never fail, but then, I am lavish with the Liquor– In Winter however, I generally make up for my extravagance in the fall. I always give them a Dram on their arrival and on their departure.
On my arrival in Autumn 1824 I gave out no debts untill my Neighbour had begun– I found he had begun by Keeping the old Prices but the Ammunition & Tobacco he gave out for Nothing and with an unsparing hand. When I began I lowered the prices on all the prime goods– Some articles two Skins, others One, but charged them the Ammunition & Tobacco they took– of the Ammunition I gave good measure– the Tobacco at half price. This Plan I had adopted with a view of encouraging the Indians to make good hunts, as well as to induce them to be more honest & faithful to our Establishment. I had also Some hopes it would tempt Some of the Vermillion Lake Indians to bring me their Furs in the course of winter. Their hunts however were too trifling, and however well inclined they might have been to Come they were too well watched & fleeced to Keep any thing for me. Our own Indians, with the exception of One, were faithful: but from the exhausted state of their hunting grounds & more particularly from their want of provisions: their Hunts did not answer their good intentions nor my hopes.
The Doctor [John McLoughlin] was in the habit of Cloathing a few of the Chiefs, whether they had paid their debts or not. In this I have differed from My Friend as I found the Chiefs did not lay a Sufficient Value on the cloathings consequently had become rather remiss in their exertions. Indeed they Considered the Cloathings as their due providing they had not given a Skin to the O.P. [opposing or rival post]. However I gave them to understand: that I had never despised my Cloathings So far as to put them on Chiefs who were so largely in debt as they were; that any stranger who would look in the Books and see their Balances, would not believe they were Chiefs but consider the word Chief attached to their names as a Mistake, that they appeared to look on a Chiefs Cloathing as a mere common dress to deserve which, they did not deem it worth their while to exert themselves: that they must be more sparing in taking debt, and more diligent in paying: that I did not intend to break them but Still Considered them as Chiefs; and would always feel a pride in cloathing them, providing I would See no Balances against them; with much more to the Same purpose. Their pride was hurt; but no feelings wounded.
I have not altered the prices of goods from last year Altho I had threatened the preceeding spring that if I came back I would.
After my arrival last September I told the Indians that not one was to get a Skins worth of Goods before he had paid the balance due on the Goods he had from me the Autumn before. As for the Balances due the Doctor, I would pass over them for the present. nor had I any intentions of exacting furs for them, but whenever they would be Successful in gathering a good Crop of rice I would then insist on the Doctors debts being paid. Though they did not all pay their Balances, yet, I was well pleased with their exertions, for generally speaking, their Fall Hunts were good. In all my discourses with them Since My arrival last– I never gave them the least hint that I thought there was an Opposition on the opposite Side– no more, than if there never had been an American in the Country.
My first year here, I made no presents of goods to any Indians whatever, except two, Horse Lake Rat and little Deer of War-road. To the first, I gave a laced Capot & pair Leggens– and Some Silver works to his Wife. To the latter I gave a pr: Leggens, a Breech-Cloth, and a new net. The former was an American Indian, who had given me all his Hunt which was mostly Beaver. The little Deer had made a very good hunt and was almost uncommonly honest. Last fall I was more generous– I gave four Capots, with as many pairs leggens and as Many Sleeves to Indians good hunters who have large families and who were going to a great distance to hunt. This Spring after they had finished their winter Hunts and returned from their ineffectual efforts; I treated them as if they had made good spring hunts since their want of Success Was by no means owing to a want of exertion as I never Saw Indians got to work more heartily. But from the amazing height of the water it was impossible for them to make rat Hunt[s]. To four of the principle Men I gave each a common Coat, to one a Shirt, to another a pair of Leggens– with Some trifling articles to the young men who had behaved well, besides Ammunition Tobacco & Vermillion to all. I gave amongst them all about five Kegs of mixed Liquor. In My speeches to them I condoled with them on the Starving State that the Major part of them had past the winter, in the mean time pointed out the necessity, as well as Suggested the Means, to the best of my judgement, of Collecting as much Provisions during Summer as possible. I lamented the cause which led to the failure of their Spring hunts which desabled them from clearing off their debts. I should have been happy, for their own Sakes, as well as mine that they had been Successful; but Still, I was Satisfied with their exertions therefore exonerated them from all Blame. To two or three with whom I was not pleased for want of exertion in winter because the[y] had not Starvation for an excuse, I gave proper repremands. I encouraged the whole to bring good bark in Summer in order to Score off their debts. They all went off highly pleased after repeatedly observing that they were much better treated than they expected or deserved.
Was the relationship between trader and Indian exploitative? Certainly it contained many harsh features and probably most traders and Indians wrestled with the issue to one degree or another. Compared to the harsh conditions surrounding the terms of employment of engagés, Indians had considerable freedom to come and go, work when they pleased, and negotiate the price of their labor. Yet the Indians' relatively primitive political and material culture placed them at a disadvantage with the Europeans and the system tended to reward those traders who were most adept at manipulating the Indians according to their vulnerabilities. Traders tacitly acknowledged the Indians' growing dependency in the way they identified them. In the early years, traders referred to the Indians in the Rainy Lake Region by their tribe or clan name. As time passed, they increasingly identified them by company affiliation. Dr. John McLoughlin, in particular, wrote frequently of "our Indians" when he was in competition with the Americans.
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John Tanner describes the theft of his cache In a former season, Net-no-kwa had made a deposit of valuable furs, near the trader's house, on Rainy Lake, not having confidence enough in the honesty of the trader, to leave them in his care. When we returned to this spot, we found the sunjegwun [cache] had been broken up, and not a pack, or a skin, left in it. We saw a pack in the trader's house, which we believed to be one of our own; but we could never ascertain whether they or some Indians, had taken them. The old woman was much irritated, and did not hesitate to ascribe the theft to the trader. —A Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner, p. 69. |
As Cameron's article attests, the credit system involved traders and Indians in highly personalized relationships. Traders came to know much more about their trading partners than simply their trustworthiness and hunting ability. They were aware of feuds between Ojibwe bands. They knew the number of wives and children who were dependent on each Indian hunter. In 1817, trader Donald McPherson noted the deaths of two Indians, remarking that he had had to cancel their combined debt of 80 Made Beaver and that they had both left "numerous family to deplore their loss." In 1830, Cameron had been in the Rainy Lake Region for six years and knew hundreds of Indians by name. He listed all 629 Indians–men, women, and children–in the district report for that year. Allowing for three or four exceptions, he noted that they were "honest enough" and would "give hunts" to pay their debts.
Generally throughout the fur trade, relations between traders and Indians were peaceful. Traders and Indians in the Rainy Lake Region followed the general pattern, despite keen competition between rival companies for the Indians' loyalty. Violence, or even the threat of violence, was rare. Two Indians murdered two men of the North West Company at their fishing place near the outlet of Rainy Lake in 1793. John McKay wrote a detailed account of the killings based on what he was told by the North West Company's William Boyer. During a scuffle in 1817, a Hudson's Bay Company man shot an Indian, probably fatally. Donald McPherson's narration of the event is so vivid as to be worth quoting–although it must be stressed that the event was highly unusual.
A Gang of Indians (commonly called the Cranes) arrived a short time after who in their drunken fits shot 3 of the Cattle, they immediately came to the Gate & cut it oppen [sic] with Hatchet and went in the Fort when they attempted to break open the Store doors, but the Clerk with his men fired on them, the Indians returned the firing but without any injury, the people being in one of the Houses prevented the Indians and another was shot in the back, he tells me that he thinks the Indian have expired since.
The Rainy Lake post journals are filled with references to the use of liquor in trading and to displays of Indian drunkenness. Indeed, liquor was as much a part of the ritual of trade as an actual commodity of trade. Traders usually dispensed liquor and tobacco to Indians as gifts in order to initiate or conclude a trading session. Often when Indians arrived at the fort there would be a day or two of drunken revelry and only afterward did traders and Indians exchange manufactured goods for furs. Traders found the Indians' desire for liquor and the Indians' drunken behavior rather appalling, even frightening, but the protocols of trade nevertheless demanded the liberal use of liquor. In the Rainy Lake Region, where competition between traders was often intense, liquor probably flowed even more freely than elsewhere.
Fur trade scholars have sought to place the use of liquor in cultural perspective. During the fur trade era, members of the clergy condemned the amount of liquor present on the frontier, and traders were certainly not immune to their ideas. Traders viewed Indians' behavior according to their own cultural norms, and described Indians' use of liquor in tones that betrayed their own sense of discomfort about it. Sifting through this evidence judiciously, scholars of the fur trade have attempted to understand Indians' use of liquor in terms of native cultural norms. While acknowledging that liquor had an insidious and destructive effect on many individual Indian lives, these scholars have stressed the flexible and enduring nature of the fur trade and the positive ways in which Indians and traders created a new society.
Besides the system of credit or "debt" and the ritual use of liquor, another crucial aspect of trade involved intermarriage and the resulting ties of kinship between European and Indian. The new social history in the 1970s produced two noteworthy contributions to the historical literature on this aspect of the fur trade: Sylvia Van Kirk's Many Tender Ties: Women in Fur-Trade Society, 1670-1870 (1976) and Jennifer S. H. Brown's Strangers in Blood: Fur Trade Company Families in Indian Country (1980). These works find intermarriage between traders and native women to be a key factor in understanding the social stability of the fur trade. Van Kirk focuses on the role of women in the development of fur trade society, tracing the contribution and changing experience of Indian, mixed-blood, and white women over 150 years. Brown uses an anthropological approach to explore kinship connections among personnel and company families in the Hudson's Bay and North West companies. Brown highlights fundamental differences in the way the two companies accommodated interracial marriages and their mixed-blood offspring, and shows how these differences created two distinct societies. Specifically, she shows how the offspring of North West Company traders and native women gravitated to the native culture and formed a distinctive group called the métis, while the offspring of Hudson's Bay Company traders and native women–the so-called "country-born"–found a tenuous place in English society or the company hierarchy in North America.
A familiarity with the works of Van Kirk and Brown provides useful context for understanding the conflict between the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company over the Red River settlement (see Chapter One), especially as it involved an uprising by the métis. However, as that conflict spread to the Rainy Lake Region in 1816-1817, its social basis was less clear. Indeed, the pivotal event in the Rainy Lake Region in 1817 involved the seizure of the North West Company's fort by Meurons, Swiss mercenaries in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company. The events of 1816-1817 are detailed both in the Hudson's Bay Company's post journals and in the papers of Lord Selkirk. At the local level these sources tell a dramatic story, but they do not reveal the substrata of fur trade society very clearly.
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Names of Officers and Men of the Hudson's Bay Company wintering at Lac La Pluie, 1818-19 Robert Logan, chief master —Robert Logan and Robert Jones, Lac La Pluie Post Journal for 1818-19 |
Similarly, the marriage patterns and different treatments of mixed-blood offspring revealed by Van Kirk and Brown are not particularly obvious in these records. There are few references to interracial marriages or their offspring. Donald McPherson, the Hudson's Bay Company trader in 1817, had a Canadian wife while his assistant was married to "a small metis." The German traveler Frederic Von Graffenreid revealed the outsider's prejudice toward such marriages when he remarked in his diary, "It felt odd that I had to be entertained by two individuals and their wives, one of whom was half savage and the other in no way belonged to the Canadian upper class." Fur trade historians have observed that interracial marriages were important in securing trade with neighboring Indian groups, but at Rainy Lake there is little evidence of this. Traders consistently attributed their success or difficulty to other factors such as the supply of rum or the offering of debt by rivals.
Perhaps the two companies' proximity in the Rainy Lake Region made the company cultures more alike than in other regions. Certainly the Hudson's Bay Company employed a large number of Canadians with French surnames at its Rainy Lake Fort. Lord Selkirk recognized the importance of this element in the population when he worked with the Catholic Church to send Jesuit missionaries to the area in 1816-1818. When the Jesuit missionary Joseph Norbert Provencher arrived in July 1818, he held Mass at the North West Company fort one day and the Hudson's Bay Company fort the next. Significantly, the first Mass included a baptism of nineteen children from both forts, and the families of both companies gathered again for an evening service.
Labor relations were also probably more alike at these two rival forts than was typical for the North West and Hudson's Bay companies because the employees fraternized and company officers colluded in maintaining discipline. It was not possible for a hired man, or engagé, to quit one company and go to work for the other. When a man named Gayou deserted the North West Company and sought a new place at the XY Company fort at Rainy Lake in 1804, the master of the fort cooperated in his arrest and immediate return to his original employer. "Deserters" of either company were treated harshly. When a man named Roy deserted from the North West Company fort at Rainy Lake in 1806, the master trader "made an example of him by making him stand an Hour naked on the Roof of the A. Store." When several engagés conspired to mutiny at Rainy Lake in 1794, the company arrested the ringleaders and sent them "down to Montreal in disgrace."
The traders who served the rival companies at Rainy Lake were nevertheless aware of certain differences between the companies. For example, the Hudson's Bay Company had a more structured hierarchy based on class and kinship; the North West Company was more open to risk-taking and advancement based on merit. A trader like John McKay of the Hudson's Bay Company was probably a little in awe of his counterpart, Peter Grant of the North West Company who, according to McKay, had "a share of the profits and of course must have a share of the loss." The North West Company's Duncan McDonald, meanwhile, expressed disgust at the way the more class-conscious Hudson's Bay Company promoted "drunkards" as long as they could speak and write well.
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Keating describes what the voyageurs ate Leading a laborious and hazardous life, in a country destitute of game, they generally subsist upon maize boiled with fat. The maize is first cleared of its husk and then boiled in water. One quart of prepared grain, and two ounces of melted suet, form the usual ration of an Engagé, unless pemmican can be procured. We were likewise obliged to live for a long while upon this unpalatable food; the only variety we had was a sort of hasty pudding; made with meal and buffalo grease, and seasoned with service berry. —William H. Keating, Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River, p. 139. |
If cultural differences existed in the food ways of the two companies, these are undetectable in the primary sources. Fur traders coped with a spare and monotonous diet and seem to have thought constantly about having enough to eat. To a large extent, they adopted the Ojibwe diet, relying on sturgeon and wild rice as their two mainstays. The longer a fort had been established, however, the more its occupants were able to mix some familiar garden vegetables and grain products into their diet as a result of their farming activity. In addition, the men enjoyed wild meat, as well as a certain quantity of salt pork and other food items imported from Britain or Montreal.
Traders prepared wild rice in the same manner as the natives, boiling it with a little fat, fish, sugar, or any kind of wild meat. One quart of the grain, boiled in two gallons of any kind of broth until it came to the consistency of porridge, could keep a man fed for a day. Traders prepared sturgeon in the native fashion, too. The Indians prepared this food by cutting the meat into thin flakes which they dried over a slow fire and then pounded between stones until it had the consistency of a sponge. Eaten with oil, the dried sturgeon meat afforded a "rich & Substantial Food."
Daily life at either fort revolved around physical toil, mostly outdoors. The post journals record the daily assignment of men to various tasks, usually in groups of two or three presumably as a safety measure. Tasks included hunting or fishing to secure meat, cutting wood, building and repairing structures, planting or harvesting crops, tending livestock, and looking for Indians with whom to trade. There was some degree of specialization, for example, certain craftsmen were employed in making birchbark canoes. John McLoughlin described the array of tasks on May 26, 1823: "The Men Employed making Canoes–planting potatoes–sowing wheat all at once–the Women of the fort drying sturgeon and sowing Indian corn." Work routines tended to follow a seasonal rhythm: fishing, hunting, and harvesting crops in the fall; trading and ice-fishing in the winter; planting crops, building canoes, and storing ice in the spring; transporting goods in and out of the country in the summer.
The fall harvest of crops occurred in late September and early October. First the men reaped the wheat and barley and put the grain in the barn. If harvesting was too long delayed the result could be ruinous. John Cameron reported a sad state of affairs upon his arrival at the post in late September 1826:
Had our wheat been reaped in time, we would have a fine Crop Considering the quantity Sown which was only twelve Bushels. But the late Strong winds have injured it extremely. We shall have little or no Barley. Indeed I had not Sufficient time last Spring to get the ground all Ploughed, of which it was much in want. We shall have an abundance of Turnips– But our Kitchen Garden yields nothing, every thing has been destroyed by Grubs. I am Sorry to find that there is no Hay to be got anywhere in Consequence of the High Water. A Little has been mowed about the Fort and the old Establishment, and very poor stuff it is, besides there is not enough to feed one Horse throughout the winter.
The harvest might be concluded with a celebration. John Cameron wrote in the post journal for October 2, 1824:
On the 28th ulto in the Evening Mr McGillivray gave us a Dance. This was called the Harvest Dance in Consequence of the Men having tyed a dozen Ears of Corn taken from the last Sheave put into the Barn, with a little ribbon and presented to Mr McG. as a Bousquet.
After the grain was in the barn, fall harvest activities continued with threshing in the barn and milling the grain into flour. The potato crop would stay in the ground a little longer; the men would finish digging potatoes by mid-October.
Fall fishing centered on the sturgeon migration, and the more sturgeon that could be caught or traded in the fall the better the outlook for getting through the winter without too much hunger. Another journal entry by John Cameron (November 11, 1826) fairly represents the way that sturgeon were obtained.
The two Indian Lads returned the day after they went off to let me Know that the Indians were Killing a Considerable number of Sturgeons. On Monday I Sent off the Interpreter with a man and the two Indian Lads in order to get all he can from the Indians and to Kill Some himself. On the 8th I sent off three men who takes down two Horses and a young Bull in Boat to the Little Forks where the Animals are to be left to pass the winter as there is plenty of Horse Tail Grass there. The men takes down a Canoe with the Boat. The Canoe was for the purpose of bringing up the Sturgeon that Chatelin might have collected. They arrived this evening with 94 Sturgeons besides four split one.
Fall hunts were also common, although this activity could continue into the winter especially when fall fishing was poor. John McKay described his bitter frustration during the winter of 1793-94 when a pack of wolves stole some 200 pounds of venison and he had to send his hunters out to get more meat. Killing some moose that February, the hunters slept by their kills each night till they were able to get the meat back to the fort.
Building construction took place in the fall, although it too could continue into the winter and spring. In the fall of 1818, two carpenters from the Hudson's Bay Company fort were assigned to assist "the freemen" (retired former employees) in building a house. Another man was employed digging a cellar for the officers' house, and two other men were sent down the river to build a house in which to prepare laths and timbers for canoe construction. Another task in the fall was to prepare clothing and equipment for the winter, including mittens, snowshoes, and sledges.
The winter months featured trade, for it was at this time of year that animal furs were at their best. To facilitate trade, men sometimes drew the unwelcome assignment to pass time in "watching tents" and steer Indians toward their fort. Sometimes pairs of Hudson's Bay and North West company men occupied neighboring tents, watching for Indians and hoping to see them and get out to them ahead of their rivals. Sometimes the men traveled to Indian camps to encourage the Indians to bring in their hunts. And on still other occasions the company men went to trade directly in native camps and villages. This form of trade was known as en dérouine.
Another winter activity, even more unpleasant in cold weather, was ice-fishing. Roderick McKenzie described this job: "Three men and myself, I recollect, visited six nets three times a day from under the ice . . . but no mittens can be used during that serious operation. The fingers and wrists, while occupied in managing the nets and disentangling the fish from the meshes, must be kept constantly immerged to prevent their freezing."
Undoubtedly, winter tested the men's morale more than any other season. Short days and long nights, frightfully cold temperatures, strict rationing of provisions, and stoppage of mail all tended to make the winter months an experience to be endured. Christmas and New Year's celebrations relieved the tedium and hardship somewhat and usually framed a full week of merriment, as the stern John McLoughlin recorded in 1823-24:
[December 25, 1823.] This being Christmas gave the men twenty five pounds flour and four Sturgeons to feast themselves
[December 26.] All hands [illegible] gave the men a diner and a Gallon spirits Amoung them last night this Evening Mr McGillivray arrived with Deschamps and [illegible]
[December 27.] fair but Cold all hands idle
[December 28.] fair but very cold–
[December 29.] The men bought a little liquor and are Keeping up the Holidays
[December 30.] the men unwell or rather too much [illegible] to work after their frolic
[December 31.] this Evening arrived Frozen[?] feet brought thirty odd Skins of his Debt–
[January 1, 1824.] this being the new Year gave the men a treat of twenty five pounds flour and three Sturgeons to feast themselves in the Evening as usual on this day gave them a dance invited Cote the American Clerk with the women of their [illegible]– but told him that none of his men must come none of the American people are allowed to come except Cote the Master I do this to prevent any misunderstanding arising in consequence of men going with Stories from one house to the other
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A hunting trip to Black Bay We arrived at our destination that evening, a hill between the lake and a large swamp. Behind us we were protected by a pine forest and in front of us we had an overview of the canal that connects the immeasurable swamp and the lake. As the fire was being lit, a number of bustards flew past us. Two of them we shot down and roasted on a stick. They provided an excellent evening meal. Of the uncountable wild geese that followed, we shot a bunch. Early the next morning we were awakened by an indescribable noise, which stemmed from a multitude of migrating birds that were wobbling in the melted morass. We spent five wonderful days on this hill with magnificent weather and bagged an unbelievable number of birds. —Friedrich Von Graffenreid, Sechs Jahre in Canada, 1813-1819, p. 113. |
The employees at the fort had other diversions in winter. They played football among themselves or with the men of the rival post. Sometimes they enjoyed pet animals. The Hudson's Bay Company men had a pet river otter in 1821. The otter was reportedly as tame and affectionate as a dog and had the full run of the grounds. It frequently swam in the river but always returned to the fort. The men had less success with two pet foxes in 1837. "They give us some trouble in attending them and watching their mischievous and cunning tricks," the master wrote in the post journal. "There is no hope of taming or domesticating them. They are both as wild & incorrigible thieves as their Fathers & Mothers were before them– we will most likely be under the necessity of hanging them for the safety of our poultry and young pigs."
As winter turned to spring, men were employed in chopping ice and filling the ice house. Hugh Faries noted in his diary in 1804 that he had put five men to work for two days filling the ice house. John McLoughlin wrote in the post journal on February 1, 1823, that his men had commenced this task and had the ice house about one-third full. The ice house preserved meat, vegetables, and grain through the heat of summer.
One of the most important tasks of the spring was canoe construction. The birch and cedar forests in the region provided essential raw materials for canoes, making Rainy Lake a prime location for canoe manufacture and adding to the area's strategic importance for both the Hudson's Bay and North West companies. Sometimes the men at the post secured the supply of wood for canoes, and on other occasions they traded with Indians for these materials. Two Indians in 1830, for example, brought 59 rolls of bark to the fort "which was taken on their debts." For many years, a man named Augee built all of the canoes at Rainy Lake Fort. He would build as many as eight canoes in a season.
Springtime also saw the return of water transportation, the renewal of long-distance communications with the arrival of mail packets in the light, fast canoes, and preparations for the supply of large brigades moving east or west through the country. Many of the employees of the fort undertook long journeys themselves during the summer months, leaving their wives and children behind. Sometimes, on the eve of such a mass departure, the fort would stage an all-night farewell dance.
Table of Contents | Introduction | Rainy Lake Region | Fur Trade Experience | Material Culture | Natural Environment | Bibliography
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Last Updated: 01-Oct-2001