Lake Superior Tour 2007 – Denis Legault

This is my trip report for my Lake Superior tour (Aug 26th – Sep 5th 2007).

Tour of Lake Superior to visit Grand Portage in Minnesota and Old Fort William in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Grand Portage (and later Fort William) was the annual meeting place of the North West Company (NWC) and the voyageurs that worked for the NWC in the 17th and 18th century.

Union of Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) and the North West Company (NWC)

During the 17th and 18th century, there were 2 main fur trading company, the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) and the North West Company (NWC). The competition between these 2 companies was fierce, sometimes ending in violent clashes. In 1821, the 2 companies merged, keeping the name Hudson’s Bay Company which still exists today (2007).

The HBC took the northern route via the Hudson’s Bay to reach the Native Americans to trade various goods for furs. The NWC took a southern route via Montreal. Ships arrived in Montreal (Lachine rapids) from England. Voyageurs transported the goods to Grand Portage using 40 feet birch-bark canoes, known as the Montreal canoe or “canot du maitre”. They left Montreal in the spring and returned in the fall with furs that were then sent to England. There were 2 types of voyageurs, the Mangeur de Porc (Pork Eaters) are the Voyageurs that did the annual Montreal-Grand Portage trip. The goods were then transported to numerous forts in western Canada (and US) from Grand Portage and traded for furs. These voyageurs were called hivernais (Winterers). Once a Voyageur returned from his first foray beyond the Arctic divide, he was awarded a black feather, or plume noire to proudly wear in his hat.

After the border between Canada and US was defined in 1818, Grand Portage ended up on the US side of the border. Since the NWC was a Montreal based company and the US was going to tax all the goods being transported via Grand Portage. The NWC moved their main inland headquarters north of the border to Fort William (now Thunder Bay).

There are many good books about Voyageurs, Peter C. Newman’s “Company of Adventurers” and “Empire of the Bay”, Grace Lee Nute’s “The Voyageurs” and “The Voyageur’s Highway”.

Painting of the Voyageurs by Frances Anne Hopkins

Instead of traveling from Montreal/Ottawa to Grand Portage and back over a summer in a canoe powered by 12 voyageurs, I'll be doing the trip in 2 weeks on a Triumph motorcycle powered by a 1200 cc engine

I rode to Sudbury on my first day. The voyageurs would leave Montreal (Lachine) and start paddling up the Ottawa River. One of the first portage they would encounter is Chaudiere Falls in what is not Ottawa/Hull. There are still traces of the portage at the Museum of Civilization in Hull. The voyageurs would continue up the Ottawa river and paddle by Dunrobin Shores (where I now live, just 300 feet from the Ottawa river). They would come across many portage further up river in Beachburg, which is now a prime whitewater rafting area. In Mattawa, the voyageurs would paddle the Mattawa river to Lake Nippising.

From Sudbury, I rode to Marathon on the north shore of Lake Superior. The French river empties into Georgian Bay. The voyageurs would normally make a stop on Bustard Island and make an offering of tobacco in order to get good weather for the journey on Georgian Bay/Lake Huron and Lake Superior.

I have done 2 kayaking trips (7 days and 5 days) in Georgian Bay with Black Feather Adventures. The scenery and islands in Georgian Bay are amazing.