Saginaw Voyageurs circumnavigate Leelanau in historic canoe
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
Sun seekers tanning their hides on Empire beach were suddenly transported back in history on the afternoon of Sunday, July 31, when the Saginaw Voyageurs arrived in a birch bark replica canoe. The Voyageurs wore costumes to resemble the pre-American Revolution French fur traders, who opened up trade routes between Great Lakes Native American communities and Montreal. They were concluding the first day of a weeklong journey that began in Frankfort and ended on Aug. 6 in Traverse City.
The Saginaw Voyageurs are based out of the Castle Museum in Saginaw, Mich., and since 1986, have paddled over 4,000 miles during annual reenactment tours on the Great Lakes. According to brochures the Voyageurs distributed upon arriving at Empire beach, “The purpose of these trips is to better understand the historic Great Lakes Fur Trade, the life of the Voyageurs, and the role Saginaw played as a fur trade center for central-lower Michigan.”
“The Great Lakes fur trade opened the interior of America to the Europeans. The Indians wanted iron and cloth, the Europeans wanted furs, thus a fair trade exchange was established. The prime fur areas were crisscrossed from coast to coast by a chain of navigable rivers and lakes. Navigable, that is, by the unique birch-bark canoes of the Indians.”
According to the brochure, the original canoes were made from cedar with a birch bark skin attached with the white bark on the inside and the “olive” colored part showing on the outside. The craft were sturdy but light and could be carried on portage around obstacles, such as river rapids or waterfalls. Today’s Voyageur canoe is a fiber-glass replica of the birch bark Montreal Canoe. The fiber-glass gives safety with increased strength and durability, it weighs more than 600 pounds. The canoe is 34 feet long, 5 feet wide and is paddled by 11 to 16 men. The canoe travels very fast in the water with the men paddling 60 strokes per minute for about 20 minute stretches. They then take a “pipe” break to rest while the canoe drifts dead in the water. The men sing traditional Voyageur songs to keep their rhythm while paddling.
Over the last quarter century, the Voyageurs have canoed the entire water highway between Green Bay, Wis., and Montreal, across the northern coast of Lake Michigan, through the Straits of Mackinac and the northern channel of Lake Huron, the French River, Lake Nipissing and down the Mattawa and Ottawa Rivers to the original fur trade warehouse at LaChine near Montreal. This year’s “Leelanau Brigade” consisted of 15 voyageurs, most from mid-Michigan and ranging in occupation from retired autoworkers to attorneys to college professors to contractors and maintenance men.
For more information about the Saginaw Voyageurs, visit the Saginaw Historical Society’s website at www.castlemuseum.org.
