Fur Trade Canoe Routes of Canada / Then and Now

By Eric Wilton Morse

Book Overview

Before road or rail, the canoe routes followed by voyageurs formed a transport and supply system crossing a continent and covering more than a million square miles. Veteran wilderness traveller Eric Morse retraces these routes, linking them to modern landmarks and roads, and draws a fascinating picture of the history, economics, and geography of the fur trade.
This is a guide book that includes all the elements of historical adventure. The first part sketches the bruising hardships of life on the trail and describes the voyageurs' techniques for handling rapids, portages, and great lakes in the fragile canots de maitre that carried up to four tons. The second part is addressed to the modern voyageur. It traces the original routes and describes them as they exist today. The text is illustrated throughout with maps, photographs, and historical drawings and paintings.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802063845
• ISBN13: 9780802063847
• Release Date: November 1979
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A first-rate book showing the main canoe routes of the Trade

Being an avid canoeist, I looked forward to this book and found that it delivered as it promised - but nothing more. This book is written by Eric Morse, a Canadian outdoorsman who has contributed much to canoeing in Canada. When one goes canoeing throughout the Northern U.S. and Canada, it is difficult to escape canoeing's historic ties with the Fur Trade. One needs only to look at the geography of much of Canada and the midwestern U.S. to see how the canoe was well-suited to the job of delivering the furs to the ports, and trade goods (and the Mail)inland. This book shows the main canoe routes in the Canadian interior from Montreal, through Lakes Huron, Superior, and Winnepeg to the lakes, rivers and trading posts in those areas and beyond. It also contains the comments of the author, having travelled many of those waterways during his lifetime. A must for anyone interested in canoeing history or Fur Trade history,or in planning a trip over any of the waterways between Montreal, Lake Superior, and the Canadian Rockies. The scope of the book is limited to the Fur Trade in Canada, though.