[Footnote 193: On this company see Mackenzie, Voyages; Bancroft,
Northwest Coast, I., 378-616, and citations; _Hunt's Merch. Mag._, III.,
185; Irving, Astoria; Ross, The Fur Hunters of the Far West; Harmon,
Journal; Report on the Canadian Archives, 1881, p. 61 et seq. This
fur-trading life still goes on in the more remote regions of British
America. See Robinson, Great Fur Land, ch. xv.]
[Footnote 194: Wis. Hist. Colls., XI., 123-5.]
[Footnote 195: Mackenzie, Voyages, xxxix. Harmon, Journal, 36. In the
fall of 1784, Haldimand granted permission to the Northwest Company to
build a small vessel at Detroit, to be employed next year on Lake
Superior. Calendar of Canadian Archives, 1888, p. 72.]
[Footnote 196: Besides the authorities cited above, see "Anderson's
Narrative," in Wis. Hist. Colls., IX., 137-206.]
[Footnote 197: An estimate of the cost of an expedition in 1717 is given
in Margry, VI., 506. At that time the wages of a good voyageur for a
year amounted to about $50. Provisions for the two months' trip from
Montreal to Mackinaw cost about $1.00 per month per man. Indian corn for
a year cost $16; lard, $10; _eau de vie_, $1.30; tobacco, 25 cents. It
cost, therefore, less than $80 to support a voyageur for one year's trip
into the woods. Gov. Ninian Edwards, writing at the time of the American
Fur Company (_post_, p. 57), says: "The whole expense of transporting
eight thousand weight of goods from Montreal to the Mississippi,
wintering with the Indians, and returning with a load of furs and
peltries in the succeeding season, including the cost of provisions and
portages and the hire of five engages for the whole time does not exceed
five hundred and twenty-five dollars, much of which is usually paid to
those engages when in the Indian country, in goods at an exorbitant
price." American State Papers, VI., 65.]
[Footnote 198: This distinction goes back at least to 1681 (N.Y. Col.
Docs., IX., 152). Often the engagement was for five years, and the
voyageur might be transferred from one master to another, at the
master's will.
The following is a translation of a typical printed engagement, one of
scores in the possession of the Wisconsin Historical Society, the
written portions in brackets:
"Before a Notary residing at the post of Michilimakinac, Undersigned;
Was Present [Joseph Lamarqueritte] who has voluntarily engaged and doth
bind himself by these Presents to M[onsieur Louis Grignion] here present
and accepting, at [his] first requisition to set off from this Post [in
the capacity of Winterer] in one of [his] Canoes or Bateaux to make the
Voyage [going as well as returning] and to winter for [two years at the
Bay].
"And to have due and fitting care on the route and while at the said
[place] of the Merchandise, Provisions, Peltries, Utensils and of
everything necessary for the Voyage; to serve, obey and execute
faithfully all that the said Sieur [Bourgeois] or any other person
representing him to whom he may transport the present Engagement,
commands him lawfully and honestly; to do [his] profit, to avoid
anything to his damage, and to inform him of it if it come to his
knowledge, and generally to do all that a good [Winterer] ought and is
obliged to do; without power to make any particular trade, to absent
himself, or to quit the said service, under pain of these Ordinances,
and of loss of wages. This engagement is therefore made, for the sum of
[Eight Hundred] livres or shillings, ancient currency of Quebec, that he
promises [and] binds himself to deliver and pay to the said [Winterer
one month] after his return to this Post, and at his departure [an
Equipment each year of 2 Shirts, 1 Blanket of 3 point, 1 Carot of
Tobacco, 1 Cloth Blanket, 1 Leather Shirt, 1 Pair of Leather Breeches, 5
Pairs of Leather Shoes, and Six Pounds of Soap.]
"For thus, etc., promising, etc., binding, etc., renouncing, etc.
"Done and passed at the said [Michilimackinac] in the year eighteen
hundred [Seven] the [twenty-fourth] of [July before] twelve o'clock; &
have signed with the exception of the said [Winterer] who, having
declared himself unable to do so, has made his ordinary mark after the
engagement was read to him.
his
"JOSEPH X LAMARQUERITTE. [SEAL]
mark.
Louis GEIGNON. [SEAL]
"SAML. ABBOTT,
Not. Pub."