The crucible of heroes

I have to make an important distinction when I refer to fur traders paddling east from Lake Winnipeg, for it only applies to Canadiens Coureur de bois and those traders operating as the North West Company as the Hudson Bay Company shipped all of their furs through York factory at the mouth of the Hayes River on Hudson Bay. Indeed, once the two great rivals merged in 1821, all furs were henceforth shipped to Europe through Hudson Bay as the distance was shorter and the economies of scale using large sailing vessels rather than canoes were huge.

As I am demonstrating with my current trip, the distance from Montreal to the new rich fur territories averaged 5000 km and the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the merchants who used this route to supply their traders and return the furs inspires me.

One singular feature which is striking is the development of first Grand Portage and, after settling of the American border, Fort William in 1803 as the half way trans-shipment point. Canoes laden with provisions and trading goods would leave Montreal in the spring and rendezvous at these fortifications at the western end of Lake Superior with canoes full of furs from the western territories. Cargoes would be exchanged and after some apparently notorious merriment the two groups would begin their return voyages so as to arrive at their respective destinations well before freeze up. To facilitate this operation two distinct classifications of workers and canoes developed. The first being those who resided in Montreal and travelled, because of the terrain and bodies they crossed, by means of large canoes of up to twenty paddlers and room for large amounts of provisions. The others were those who wintered in the field trading for furs and collecting them at loosely prescribed forts. Travel to and fro was done by smaller canoes to accommodate both the terrain and the multiple destinations. I don't know if a suplly chain of this magnitude, given its time, has ever been equaled?

My current path takes me entirely through Canadian territory and thus I will arrive at Fort William which was amalgamated with Port Arthur in 1970 to create the city of Thunder Bay. While all vestiges of the fort were demolished over time by the CPR, I look forward to stopping at the reconstructed Fort William Historical Park on the banks of the Kaministiquia River just before it runs into Lake Superior.

To me this stuff is much more than a simple narrative of who, what, when, where, why and how. I am in awe of the forces this commerce unleashed. Amazingly, for the sake of fashion, men and woman undertook heroic acts which effectively opened up a huge and unprecedented amount of territory to first European colonization and then others from every corner of the globe that ultimately forged a country the size, complexity and possibility of Canada.