Before the residency at Dan's Cabin, we'd visited the resting places of Omett & Nanabijou, then were hurtling off the north shore
towards Thunder Bay and our last border crossing together. Let's pick things up
there. Then we can dig into Minnesota and complete our circumnavigation of the Superior
Basin...
No activity centered on Superior is as celebrated as the fur trade.
From a 120mm transparency -- August 2012
In part that's due to its antiquity. Furs were exported to Europe from
New France in economically significant numbers as early as the 1630's.
Then there're the legendary companies involved -- The Hudson's Bay
Company, The North West Company and later the American Fur Company, which
secured a monopoly on the American trade. That monopolistic advantage set John
Jacob Astor off on the path that made him one of the wealthiest men in the
world, and that allowed Astor to
become a lasting avatar for what it means to be a successful American
businessman. Noblesse oblige, indeed.
There's also the sheer longevity of the enterprise. The fur trade ran some
250 years, give or take. No resource extraction around Superior has lasted even
near so long or made so many fortunes. And that
primarily due to the fecundity of the humble beaver, whose fascinating and most provocative impact on world
economic history can best be explored by delving into the thoroughly researched
Fashionable Felted Fur: a World History of the Beaver Hat, by Kelly Feinstein-Johnson.
Trust me, what you likely don't know about beaver hats is a whole
bunch.
Major nations battled over the fur trade. At white folk's behest,
Native tribes warred to displace each other from ancestral homes, only to
facilitate the removal of what once was theirs. Due to the world's insatiable
appetite for fur, the cultural character of the entire region changed, not once
but many times in succession.
But I think the reason the fur trade lives on in our memories even
today is due to primarily to the Voyageurs.
Their robust approach to life and work bequeathed an incredibly rich
narrative fueled by a litany of story and song, which were celebrated during
legendary Rendezvous'. This narrative recounted deeds of authentically heroic
nature and made the Voyageurs emblematic of both what we truly were and -- of more importance -- what we still prefer to see in ourselves.
Even when most all of us reside in cities a universe removed from the
ancestral trials of life led in the wild.
No matter our daily struggles, few among us today must do anything like paddle 30 miles
into a rising sea to reach safe harbor, make camp in freezing rain, then wake
up the next day and carry not one but two
90# packs on our backs while traversing a rough-hewn portage. And do it all
again the next day and the day after that for an entire season.
Thiers was, as they say, a time when men were men. I thought of that
some, when as many as four times daily I hauled my sorry self with my piddling 100#
of gear up & down the short but steep hill to make the quarter mile to and
fro between Dan's Cabin & the car...
I'll not try to distill the history of the fur trade here, as it seems
a hopeless task and the resources available to those of you who're interested
are rich. Rather, let's do the tourist gig for a bit, as the finest 'Living
History Museums' on Superior are both dedicated to the legacy of the fur trade
and the legend of the Voyageurs.
So here're a few brief sentences on each, accompanied by select images...
From a 120mm transparency -- August 2012
Fort William Historical Park is in Thunder Bay Ontario, its present site a few miles up the Kaministiquia
River from where the original fort once stood. You can't miss it, as signage
from both directions but especially when driving up from the States is positively
ubiquitous.
It's a large place, wonderfully done. When the presence of tourists is
slight, it's easy to succumb to the notion that you've been transported to
another time. Especially when sitting
in the shade beneath a tree in the sun-drenched open square, enjoying a
positively splendid late summer morning and you're unexpectedly greeted by such
delights as this:
I freely admit that having just come down the north shore from Pukaskwa
and considering everything we've seen and done over the past year, to hear this
song in this place at that golden moment misted my vision. For a moment at
least, I could almost believe...
Then later that morning a lovely young Ojibwa woman graciously
introduced me to the joys of wild rice popped in bear fat. Can't beat that with
a stick, eh?
I've worked Fort William a few times over the past 20 years or so and
the Canoe Shed is my favorite place. Not merely because it's there that fine
craftspeople still build canoes by hand just as craftsmen did 200 years ago,
though that'd be reason enough. In addition, the light in this building is some
of the most exquisite light I've ever had the pleasure to work:
Taken from vintage 35mm transparencies
Fort William Historical Park is a visual and educational delight, the
people who work there as warm and welcoming as any you'll meet at similar sites
anywhere. It's well worth the visit whether traversing the big lake by boat or
car. Give it a whole day and see if you too can step back in time...
From a 120mm transparency -- August 2012
From a 120mm transparency -- August 2012
Across the border back in the States and just 30 miles over water from
the original Fort William is Grand Portage National Monument. A much smaller facility, it
nevertheless rivals it's larger cousin in excellence of presentation.
The Grand Portage around the falls of the Pigeon River were in use by
Native Peoples for millennia before white folk discovered it's utility as a
passage from Superior into the great Northwest. There may have been a trading
post at the site as early as 1718, but with the formation of the North West
Company in 1799, the Grand Portage came to lasting economic importance.
And today that crucial role in a Nation's development is recognised through
the site's designation as a National Monument of the United States.
Should you find yourself in nearby Grand Marais MN and need an escape
from the distinctly mixed blessings of a once sleepy harbor town since transformed
into a contemporary tourist trap, be sure to take the short drive north and pay
a visit. It'll be well worth your time.
No comments:
Post a Comment