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Charles Lirette Sr.
By Léo Lirette
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Charles Lirette Sr. hunter, trapper and pionneer. Homesteader of Moose Lake Region 1906-1913 |
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Charles Lirette Sr. was born in Lorette, QC. on March 3,
1845 and died in Lowell, Massachussetts on December 21,
1923. Married to Elizabeth Moisan in St. Raymond, QC. on
July 7, 1874, he emigrated to Republic, Michigan in 1880
with his wife and four children.
A hunter and trapper by trade, Charles Lirette Sr. spent every winter away from home, trapping and hunting fur bearing animals in Canada, for a living, returning home every spring to sell his catch of furs.
Old trapper McGavin |
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At the turn of the century, fur bearing animals became less abundant in Eastern Canada, due to the encroachments of civilization. Therefore, Charles Lirette Sr. started moving farther and farther west every fall, with his traps and rifle until in the fall of 1906, he left Lowell, Mass., to explore an area of north-east Alberta called Moose Lake, and another one on the banks of the Beaver River at a spot called Rat Lake approximately 16 miles north-east of the present town of Bonnyville. That winter (1906-1907) he established a trap line ranging from his cabin on the Beaver River, all the way to Winefred Lake, approximately 85 miles north of Bonnyville, as the crow flies. Incidentally, the Beaver River was not randomly named. At that time it was teeming with beavers and muskrats.
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