Name:__________________ Hr: _______

Voyageur Diary

It’s early May in 1789. In Montreal, agents and voyageurs are getting
ready to leave for the rendezvous at Grand Portage. The agents are
deciding what trade goods to pack into the huge canoes and are hiring
voyageurs. Back at the trading posts in Minnesota, clerks, traders, and
voyageurs who stayed over the winter are packing up the year’s pelts
to take to the rendezvous at Grand Portage. Cooks are busy, too.
Many Ojibwe and Metis women have left for the sugar camps. Some
cooks are helping prepare pelts and food for the canoe brigades that
are leaving for Grand Portage. You are a voyageur that is about
to head out on this year’s voyage. Along the way, you will
keep a diary about every day life on the Fur Trade.

Follow the steps to complete this project!

Diary Entry 1: Describe your background and how you got the job
you have. What do you expect to happen in the next few months?
What are your hopes and worries?

Diary Entry 2: Describe what you see and hear in a typical day.
What work do you do each day? What decisions do you need to make?
Who are your friends?

Diary Entry 3: Consider why the voyageurs might leave a donation at

the church. How do you feel as you paddle away from this outpost to
an unfamiliar land? What would this leg of the journey be like?

Diary Entry 4: Even in the calm summer months, the journey across
the Great Lakes was sure to have some rough days. Imagine that you
are trying to get across a rough area of water in bad conditions, similar
to the ones Perrault (in Ch 5 of your text) wrote about. Describe what
goes through your mind and tell what your leader decides to do.

Diary Entry 5: Describe the activities at Grand Portage that interest

you the most and tell what makes them interesting. What are the
sights, smells, and sounds of Grand Portage?

Diary Entry 6, Final Entry: It is time to leave Grand Portage and

head back to Montreal. What are your thoughts about being a
voyageur now that you have almost completed your first year?

Vocabulary words to use in your diary:

trader clerk extinct Quebec

voyageur brass,
trading post beaver tin, and steel
social mink rapids
status France,
St. Lawrence River portage Great Britain, Holland
trade goods bales
rendezvous
Grand
Montreal
Portage
Atlantic Ocean Lake
missionary felt hats
Superior St. Croix
Montreal canoe Métis
R. 1804
pelts

Resoures to help you with your diary:

1. Your Northern Lights textbook

2. Keyword Notes from Chapter 5.
3. The book, The Broken Blade.
4. White Oak Society website at www.whiteoak.org
5. Diary Research Worksheet
 Name:_______________ Hr:_____

Checklist and Requirements for your Diary: Circle Y

(yes) or N (no) after each requirement listed below.

1. Each diary entry had at least 2 vocabulary words. Y or

N

2. Each journal entry is at least 4 to 5 sentences. Y or N

3. 4 of the 6 journal entries have a sketch or a drawing. Y or

N

4. One voyageur song (either made up or taken from another source is

included in one of your diary entries. Y or N

5. A map of your journey with the route you took and your stopping
points along the way. Y or N

6. Your diary looks authentic, burned edges, tea or coffee stained

paper and a cover. Be creative. Y or N

7. Cover page has your French or Native American name and your real
name. Y or N.

8. Each diary entry has a date that makes sense. Y or N

9. Your diary includes historical facts about voyageurs and the fur
trade that we learned in class. Y or N

10. Your diary shows why you made the choices or decisions you did.
Y or N

11. Attach this sheet to your diary. Y or N