A Warehouse for Furs, Trade Goods, and Now—Canoes

A Warehouse for Furs, Trade Goods, and Now—Canoes. . In the 1960s, archeologists discovered here remains of a structure used between 1785 and 1802, unusual because it was built on posts. They found artifacts that match the bills of lading from bales, kegs, and cassettes (small trunks) that were canoed to wintering posts across what is now northwest Canada. There, the company men traded with Native American tribes for furs.

In 1793 alone, more than 182,000 beaver pelts were shipped via the Grand Portage, a volume that was unsustainable and detrimental to the North American beaver population. A warehouse such as this was used in summer to store goods and repack them for shipment. Each North canoe in a brigade (group of canoes) headed to the interior carried about 20 pieces weighing almost 2 tons (4,000 lbs; 3,600 kg) including trade goods, provisions, and supplies. Reconstructed in the 1970s, the warehouse today is used to demonstrate skills from the fur trade era and to display the Parks collection of birchbark canoes.

Photo captions: , Middle: Carefully packed for weight and balance, a trade good bale weighed 90 pounds (41 kg) and might contain beads, vermilion (red dye), knives, shirts, wool leggings, silver pendants and armbands, kettles, axes, ice chisels, awls, gunflints, touqes (caps), twine for nets, and needles. , Right:A bill of lading for a canoe bound to a remote interior post. The crew included the foreman (F), steersman (S) and middlemen (m). The “Agrés” refers to the equipment for the canoe. A codline was used to track the canoe up rapids. Gum (pine pitch, bear fat, and charcoal), wattap (spruce root), and bark were used for canoe repairs.