Traveling into the heart of a territory peopled by Amerindian tribes was hardly an adventure without peril. Moreover, Baron de Lahontan described those who undertook such trips as ‘risk runners’. These men faced the perils of drowning, injury and, at certain points in time, fatal encounters with the Iroquois.  They worked hard and had to deal with hunger and cold. Despite everything, during the 17^th and 18^th centuries almost 14,000 men set out from Montreal on this trail. It was well worth their efforts since the coureurs des bois occasionally earned enormous profits and some voyageurs received up to ten times the wages of a soldier. When they came back, these adventurers were highly considered and greatly admired.

Many young men hoped, like them, to prove their worth by going into the woods.  They came from various backgrounds. They were the sons of farmers, tradesmen, merchants, soldiers and demobilized soldiers. They were young (generally aged from 20 to 35 years old) and, ideally, small in size. When it was time for them to retire, they would either settle in the colony or stay with the Amerindians. Some became merchants.

The period of the coureurs des bois started in the middle of the 17th century, but they were not the first French people to live among the ‘savages’.  Before them, a few individuals set out to stay with the Amerindians so as to learn, and not without difficulty, the Amerindian languages. Interpreters were of us during the fur trade and diplomatic negotiations. They helped the explorers and the missionaries. When Amerindians’ furs started to pile up, the interpreter would remind them that it was time to take them to the Whites.

The missionaries of the Company of Jesus (Jesuits) were also among the first Europeans to go into the North American forests. They were accompanied by jacks of all trades, men who took charge of transportation, construction and clearing the land. These men gave up their goods and risked their lives in exchange for what they needed for subsistence. Later, some of them would become coureurs des bois.

Around the 1650s, the French colonists started going into the territory, in the search for furs. Since the fairs gave them an opportunity to associate with the Amerindians, several colonists took advantage of the opportunity to leave with them. Thos who set off on this adventure had to be hardy as well as audacious and enterprising, so they could negotiate effectively. All of the settlers could trade with the Amerindians as long as they sold their hides and furs to the organization that held the trade monopoly. Starting in 1664, this was the Compagnie des Indes occidentales.

All too soon, the authorities realized that the colonists preferred the fur trade over agriculture. And, of course, the shortage of women did not encourage them to settle on farms.  Moreover, the perspective of growing wealthy through the fur trade was appealing. To slow this race into the woods, regulations were enacted. In 1673, people were forbidden to go into the woods for more than 24 hours. In 1676, settlers were asked to make the Amerindians come to their homes. In 1678, hunting was prohibited more than one league from a settler’s home. Despite the risk of fines and imprisonment, many coureurs des bois continued to travel to the land of the Ottawa, developing a vast trade network, with the support of the merchants. In 1680, 600 to 800 men did just that. Starting in 1681, the government decided to grant leaves, enabling some traders to go as far as the northern territories. The permit, which was obligatory, was valid for one year.

In 1680, in Montreal, 35 merchants and suppliers specialized in the fur trade. They stocked up on merchandise, obtained permits, equipped canoes and hired men. Generally, these merchants had already traveled the woods. They had money, contacts and business skills. Under the French régime, a few families dominated the organization of the fur trade. Other merchants, merchants-voyageurs, traveled to the north with their teams, working either for others or for their own behalf. Some men decided to hire out to the merchants.  They became voyageurs. These professionals were subjected to more restrictions than the coureurs des bois, who were free. They served a single master for the term of the contract and were led by a team leader called a “bourgeois”.

After the Conquest, the anglophone and francophone merchants continued the fur trade. They continued to hire the French-Canadian coureurs des bois, who were itinerant, unlike the employees of the Hudson Bay Company, who waited for the Amerindians at trading posts. For this reason, they were called peddlers. In 1783, the merchants joined together to found the Northwest Company which, at the turn of the 19th century, employed about 1000 men. The Northwest Company recruiters would go to Lachine and other villages each year.  In order to attract candidates, they would receive them in a festive situation, and relate stories in which the adventure always looked wonderful and exciting.

Since this company’s trade network included many distant trading posts, some employees spent the winter in the back country. They were better paid as a result. They were referred to as hivernants (winterers) or men of the north. Every year, they met with the voyageurs who traveled back and forth and were called lard eaters. The company also hired other workers. The clerk kept the books and was responsible for a trading post. Guards were on duty there day and night to welcome the Native Peoples. The guides, who were very influential, indicated the route and the portages for the voyageurs. Messengers carried mail. Some traveled by foot, dog sled or canoe from one trading post to another; others traveled to Montreal.  Workers at the trading posts also included armourers, who worked with iron, and coopers.

These men with their different horizons all shared the routes that lead to the heart of the continent, to the heart of a ‘savage’ universe.  To learn more about the work of the coureurs des bois and voyageurs, we invite you to return on March 17, 2009.


Sources

CARON, Diane. Les postes de traite de fourrure sur la Côte-Nord et dans l'Outaouais.  [Québec], Ministère des affaires culturelles, [1984], 150 pages. 

GERMAIN, Georges-Hébert. Les coureurs des bois: la saga des indiens blancs. Outremont, Libre expression; [Ottawa], Musée canadien des civilisations, 2003, 158 pages.

POMERLEAU, Jeanne. Les coureurs de bois: la traite des fourrures avec les Amérindiens. Sainte-Foy, Éditions Dupont, 1994, 143 pages. 


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