Hats

Women Workers
The fur trade wouldn’t have existed without nonstop
work by Aboriginal women. They repaired
canoes, made snowshoes, moccasins and all
kinds of clothes. And they made the all-important
pemmican — dried bison meat pounded into a
powder and mixed with melted fat and sometimes
berries. Pemmican was high in calories for hard
days of paddling, it was easy to carry and slow to spoil.
European traders and voyageurs often married Aboriginal
women, known as “country wives.” While some marriages survived (the
children were the first Métis), many men simply left these women and children
behind when they returned to Europe, and married again.
Coureurs de bois usually worked on their own. They
were experts at travelling the wilderness, whether on
water or land, and also traded for furs. Voyageurs
usually worked for a company, and mostly just paddled
others, who did the actual trading.
“Henceforth all Gentlemen’s hats shall be
fashioned of beaverskins.” –King Charles II, 1670
1825 1653
1831 1653
1870 1653
1881 1653
Library and Archives Canada, HBC Archives
HBC sets up
its first post on
the west coast,
Fort Vancouver
in what is now
Washington state
HBC
establishes
Lower Fort
Garry, just
north of
Winnipeg
Rupert’s Land
becomes part
of Canada when
HBC signs
the Deed of
Surrender
HBC opens
its first
department
store in
Winnipeg
Kayak #54 december 2015
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