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Famous .%?en of the %order / / / IT WOULD be unfair to the reader to omit personalities in this sketch of yesteryear on the border lakes. Nowhere did leadership , courage, and resourcefulness count for more than in “darkest North America.” It is difficult to comprehend today what was involved in making a canoe journey from Lake Superior to Lake Winnipeg, especially before the days of numerous travelers in the heyday of the great fur companies. Besides the ever-present danger from Indians, there were unknown rapids and waterfalls. Food had to be carried by the traveler, who was journeying fast and could not stop to hunt and fish. There were no maps; the knowledge of islands and headlands that voyageurs carried in their heads was relied upon to get brigades of canoes though tortuous channels and between myriads of islands. Illness often overtook leaders or their men. Great storms took their toll of lives. And the mere toil of weeks and months of canoe paddling and freight portaging was enough to deter all but the strongest and most resolute of men. Only the most famous of the great men of the fur trade can be mentioned here. It must not be forgotten, however, that for every one of these there were scores of less illustrious men, any one of whom could have told many a tale of adventure and incident. ‘ 9 Famous Jrfen oj the ~order IT WOULD be unfair to the reader to omit personalities in this sketch of yesteryear on the border lakes. Nowhere did leadership , courage, and resourcefulness count for more than in "darkest North America." It is difficult to comprehend today what was involved in making a canoe journey from Lake Superior to Lake \Vinnipeg, especially before the days of numerous travelers in the heyday of the great fur companies. Besides the ever-present danger from Indians, there were unknown rapids and waterfalls. Food had to be carried by the traveler, who was journeying fast and could not stop to hunt and fish. There were no maps; the knowledge of islands and headlands that voyageurs carried in their heads was relied upon to get brigades of canoes though tortuous channels and between myriads of islands. Illness often overtook leaders or their men. Great storms took their toll of lives. And the mere toil of weeks and months of canoe paddling and freight portaging was enough to deter all but the strongest and most resolute of men. Only the most famous of the great men of the fur trade can be mentioned here. It must not be forgotten, however, that for everyone of these there were scores of less illustrious men, anyone of whom could have told many a tale of adventure and incident. ?he Voyageur’sH&hway PIERRE GAULTIER, SIEUR DE LA VBRENDRYE In 1 7 1 6 and 1717 France was trying desperately to find a substitute for its former route into the heart of the continent. From the I 650’sto I 7 I 3 the best way was considered to lie through Hudson Bay, out of which a river or sea inlet was thought to lead to the Northwest Passage. Explorers went west and northwest in search of that elusive passage, but when Hudson Bay was turned over to the English by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the “passage” had yet to be found. In order to continue the search and to maintain the fur trade with the far western Indians, a new French canoe route, which did not lie through British-held Hudson Bay, would have to be opened. So, from I 7 I 3 to I 73 I, attempts were made to find a substitute way. A post was established on Lake Pepin on the upper Mississippiin 1727 to prevent the Sioux from warring on the Cree and their western neighbors, the Assiniboin Indians. Onlythen could posts be established and a route opened via Rainy Lake, Lake Winnipeg, and the Saskatchewan and Assiniboine rivers. By 1731 an explorer from Three Rivers, the Sieur de la VGendrye, was en route to Grand Portage to find the Sea of the West. In his veins ran the blood of early Canadian explorers . Nevertheless, he had fought for France on the continent against the great Marlborough and had been left for dead at the battle of Malplaquet in 1709 when he was twenty-four years old. With him in 173I went three of his sons, a nephew, and some forty-five men. Later a fourth son joined him...

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