Educate Me

[vthompson]

Would someone care to explain to me or tell me where that I can read up on Voyageurs. I have never heard of them before becoming a member of this forum.
Who were they? and what was their purpose. Thank you for your time.

V.Thompson

[Voyageur]

First of all, one could Google the word Voyageur and come up with thousands of hits and investigate many sites, Second here is an easy reading paperback ---"Voyageur" by Grace Lee Nute available at Amazon.com, This referencehttp://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Voyageur---Grace+Lee+Nute&x=22&y=18 will get you right to the many books available re: Voyageur. Rather than a long extended session on line this is a quick way to get into what the whole skinny is on the Voyageur (Coureur du Bois). Also the Minnesota Historical Society Press will be of some help as well http://www.mnhs.org will be able to push a lot information your way. It's a great experience to put yourself into the lives of a number of interesting men in the days of the fur trade. It fascinated me many years ago, welcome to my world. "Doc"

[Uncle Russ]

In the 18th and 19th centuries, a colorful group of French Canadian men known as the voyageurs were hired by the fur trading companies to travel thousands of miles to trade for furs.....

Here you go Vernon, this should get you started.
http://www.wildernessclassroom.com/www/schoolhouse/boreal_library/voyageurs/index.htm

This link is kinda long but it seems to work. Nice picture and a lot of the ever present canoes.....

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=voyageurs+fur+trade&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGGL_en___US354&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=9c5gS6-5I5W6tgPLxIDWBQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCIQsAQwAw

This link gives you a lot of links to look thru...much has been written about the Voyageurs as they were a huge influence on the Fur Trade.

http://www.historycomesalive.ca/canadians/links/voyaglinks.htm

Uncle Russ...

[BEAVERMAN]

They be the fellas that started the North American Fur Trade, thats for certain!

[Bigsmoke]

Interesting bit of trivia I picked up on a while ago.

Do you know what the most common cause of death was for them fellas?

Hernia.

Rip in the muscle wall, intestine would poke through and get caught up, infection would set in, no antibiotics - you're toast.

[BEAVERMAN]

Yep thats from humping them 100 lb plus bales of plews on the portage!

[Longhunter]

[vthompson]

I want to thank everyone who replied to my post. You have given me a wealth of information and I plan on reading and learning as much as I can about this group of men.

[Trois Castors]

Hernia.
Rip in the muscle wall, intestine would poke through.....

....just tie that sash a little tighter then!

[Riley/MN]

Tuned in a little late today, but it looks like you have an answer...

[Double Barrel]

Awesome Longhunter!  Was this one of your creations?

[Captchee]

Interesting enough , here in the NW  the  issue  of death seems to be drowning.
 One of the big reasons for the   hiring of Islanders  .
 One would think these fellas could swim . But it seems that many could not

[Trois Castors]

...the  issue  of death seems to be drowning.........One would think these fellas could swim . But it seems that many could not

I believe this to be true.

[Pichou]

Would someone care to explain to me or tell me where that I can read up on Voyageurs. I have never heard of them before becoming a member of this forum.
Who were they? and what was their purpose. Thank you for your time.

V.Thompson

Try my website:
http://sites.google.com/site/historicalfurtradewi/

Voyageurs
http://sites.google.com/site/historical ... -voyageurs

Voyageur songs
http://sites.google.com/site/historical ... /songs-mp3

Best written account
http://sites.google.com/site/historical ... -narrative
The Narrative of Jean Baptiste Perrault , 1783-1820

[Trois Castors]

Good stuff!