![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|||||||||||||||
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
David Thompson: The Man Who Looks at StarsTransportationThompson did most of his travelling by canoe, on foot and horseback. Canoes were made with a wooden frame and covered with the bark from a birch tree. They were very light and could be carried easily past dangerous rapids and waterfalls. This was very important on the rough rivers he travelled. Large or Small, Canoes Do It All
Freight canoes (canots du maître), also called Montreal canoes, were 36 feet long, six feet wide, and could carry 8820 pounds of supplies (440 cases of canned soft drinks). They needed 12 voyageurs to paddle and they were used on lakes and major rivers. Smaller canoes were needed on narrow rivers. They were called North canoes (canots du Nord), measured 25 feet long, 4 feet wide, and needed only two men to paddle. Express canoes were used for urgent messages. To paddle quickly, the number of paddlers was increased to as many as 14 men in a Montreal canoe, and nine in a North canoe. Owens, Ann-Maureen and Jane Yealland. Forts of Canada. Toronto: Kids Can Press, ©1996, p. 43. Livesay, Robert and A. G. Smith. The Fur Traders. Toronto: Stoddart, ©1989, p. 28-29.
Step Lightly Fryer, Mary Beacock. Elizabeth Poshtuma Simcoe, 1762-1850: A Biography, Toronto: Dundern Press, ©1989, p. 91.
|