La Rochelle - dagenais

Voyageur
Pierre II’s last child, Laurent Dagenais, was born in Sault-au-Récollet on 11 January
1713 and baptized the following day at Notre Dame in Montréal. Laurent Lauzon and the
child’s elder sister Madeleine Dagenais stood as godparents. He spent his youth on the
property in Côte St. Michel, and by age 18 was already going upriver regularly as a
voyageur. His older brothers Jean-Baptiste and François-Marie were also heavily
involved in the trade. Between 1731 and 1754, he signs at least 10 voyageur contracts to
transport merchandise to various trading posts in the Great Lakes and return with furs. It
is likely that other expeditions he undertook either have not yet been discovered or went
unrecorded. He begins with at least three expeditions to Ponchartrain (Detroit) in 1731,
1733, and 1736 for which he was paid between 200 and 300 livres in beaver furs for each
voyage. Such expeditions were highly profitable for those willing to undertake them,
and, under the tutelage of their father, working as a voyageur became a lifestyle for
Laurent and his brothers.
The quintessence of such a lifestyle had both its romantic and realistic sides. Invariably,
voyageurs set out from Lachine on the western tip of the Île de Montréal immediately
after the ice on the rivers and lakes had melted. An early route was up the St. Lawrence
across Lake Ontario and Lake Erie to Ponchartrain, but as pelts in this region were
exhausted and English competition became too strong, the route up the Ottawa River
across Lake Huron to Kaministiquia (Thunder Bay), Sault Ste. Marie, and
Michillimakinac (St. Ignace) were soon in regular use. Later, a large post at Grand
Portage (near Marais MN) grew to serve the entire petit nord and grand nord. In general,
pelts from these colder areas fetched higher prices because they were considered of
superior quality.
Voyageurs left laden with trading supplies in large specially-designed white cedar and
birch bark canoes sewn together with watape (fine spruce roots) and caulked with resin.
These trees were plentiful in the region, and the lightweight canoes could be built in a
few days. There were several types of canoes, but two were in heavy use. For travel
across or along large bodies of water, a so-called Montréal canoe was used. Each 11-13
meter canoe could hold 8-10 men, around 65 pièces of trading merchandise weighing 40
kg each, and other supplies. The pièce was the standard unit of weight for both
merchandise going upriver and for compressed bales of pelts returning downriver. The
empty canoe weighed only about 150 kg but could carry 5 tons of crew and freight. For
smaller waterways, the shallower draft North canoe was need. It measured between 8
and 9 meters in length and could carry 4-6 men and 4 tons of cargo.
Traveling by canoe was dangerous, tedious, and uncomfortable. The canoe’s main
disadvantage was its fragility. A slight error in judgment could send it against a rock,
ripping a gash in the bottom, and evenings were often spent repairing damage sustained
by the canoe during the day. There was an experienced bowman at the front who guided
the craft, a steersman at the rear responsive to the bowman’s orders, and a milieu du
canot in the center who was in overall command of the craft. The rest of the crew rowed.
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