LU Voyageurs visit RR

Ken Johnston

A hearty band of students recreated history in Rainy River last Wednesday.
The Lakehead University Voyageurs retraced the historic route travelled by voyageurs a few hundred years ago as part of the exploration and eventual fur trade.
The voyageurs, or Lakehead University (Thunder Bay) students, were twelve strong and paddled a 36’ Montrealer canoe downstream from the Crilly Dam at Seine River and eventually down the Rainy River and on to Lake of the Woods. Their journey started Aug. 25th and ended at Sioux Narrows on Sept. 6th.
The trip is part of an annual trek made by the LU Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism class. Instructor William Mitchell, who was making the trip for the third time in as many years, said the program has really become popular. “This was the first time we had two boats in the water in several years.” However, the two groups of Voyageurs were not travelling together. In fact they were about a day apart. Mitchell said the reason was mainly that it is very difficult to find camping spots big enough for one boat, let alone two on Lake of the Woods.
The group arrived in Rainy River last Tuesday and slept under the big canoe with a tarp over them. “It was fairly warm,” said Mitchell, even though the temps. were in the 40s that night.
Wednesday morning they played host to local residents and several classes from the local schools who were back in session for the first day of the 05-06 school year.
The Voyageurs split up into groups of two or three on the Government Dock and taught their guests through practical activities.
The first station had Jen Hanna showing the route they were travelling.
From there it was off to learn about clothing worn by the Voyageurs and also about the furs that were traded way back then by Adam Gollat, Courtney Amos and Logan O’Hearn.
In the corner of the dock Ryan Howard and Nate Zahn were getting to relax and yet teach visitors about pipe smoking. They showed how pipes were made from different types of wood. Of course it was not known that smoking is bad for people back then and was used as a form of relaxation and enjoyment.
Michelle Clarke and Meg Sheepway taught the games that were used as entertainment.
Mel Gray and Scott Duncan cooked up a traditional meal for people to try. White corn was boiled and bacon was fried. Then the bacon, fat and all was dumped into the corn. RRHS teacher Jenelle Lowes’ face said it all when she tried it. “It was not very good,” said Lowes.
Charles Agrow and Shannon Birch taught the guests about the boat they travelled in. The LU Montrealer is actually a replica made from fiberglass. It weighs about 800 lbs., considerably heavier than the real thing would have, being made from birch bark.
For the LU travellers they averaged about 35-40 km per day at a rate of 60 strokes per minute. “The real Voyageurs would travel between 80-100 km per day,” said Mitchell. The group did travel 60 km in one day. In the first six days they travelled more than 200 km. averaging about 8-9 km per hour.
Once out on the lake, Mitchell said they would travel at a more relaxed pace, taking in the wild life and beauty of the lake.
He said the students worked on the trip last year, planning every aspect of it. “The trip is as much about the route as it is the group experiences. The students work on their soft skills (i.e. communication and interpersonal skills), more importantly than their hard skills like paddling.”