CHADRON, Neb. - A 36-foot-long birch bark canoe is the latest acquisition at the Museum of the Fur Trade, and the centerpiece of the museum's new exhibit, "The Voyageurs," which opened May 1.
The canoe is about 40 years old and was built with the same materials and methods as the boats used to haul trade goods across North America from the 1600s to about 1850 by the men known as voyageurs said Gail DeBuse Potter, the Chadron museum's director.
"These are real hard to come by," she said. "In Canada, you can find some reproductions in museums."
The boat is authentic, with cords made from spruce root for lashing, a birch-bark outer skin and seams to be sealed with pine pitch, Potter said.
Potter said she isn't certain who built the canoe, but she knows it is sea worthy because it was used for some years in community celebrations in Hayward, Wis.. The boat, which absorbs some water when used, weighs about 1,000 pounds wet - and about 300 pounds dry, she said.
A canoe of that size, called a "canot de maitre," would have had a crew of six to 14 men and could carry a load of up to four tons, Potter said. The exhibit also displays two smaller birch bark canoes, one about 20 years old and the other dating from the late 1800s.
Such vessels were vital in fur trade commerce, because they were used to transport almost all trade goods, equipment and passengers to remote trading posts, and to carry furs back to the larger centers of commerce. One display in the exhibit shows items that would have been hauled to the trading posts, such as blankets, kegs of gunpowder, chests of tea and coffee, pots and pans and weapons.
A typical cargo of trade goods was worth about $10,500 in Montreal - the equivalent of $200,000 today.
The work of a voyageur was grueling and included paddling from dawn to dusk in all kinds of weather, portaging the canoe and its cargo around rapids and living on poor rations. The men were hired on contract and an 1802 voyageur contract is part of the exhibit. Most were French Canadians but some were Native Americans from eastern tribes, and blacks. Brigades of voyageurs eventually carried their trade to the Pacific coast and up the Missouri and Mississippi rivers to their sources. They are particularly celebrated today as part of the heritage of Canada, and have been depicted in many movies.
"The Voyageurs" exhibit opened May 1, the opening day of the museum's summer season. On Sunday, May 3, the museum will have free admission.
For more information call 308-432-3843.
