Pioneer Travel

Traveling was difficult two hundred years ago. “By land” meant walking, riding on the back of a horse, mule, steer or riding in a wagon pulled by an animal.

This photo is an example of an oxen-drawn wagon which might be used to transport merchandise, produce, household goods or people.

Most of the roads people traveled were raw, dirt trails. At times, they were choked with mud, clogged by fallen trees, rock slides or drifting snow.

Rivers and streams had to be crossed. Rarely was a bridge available. In some places, a raft might be available to float your animals, wagon and family across a river. Or, if you really had to get to the other side, you could always swim. Often, animals and people drowned during these swims. In fact, in early New France, drowning was a leading cause of death! Very few people knew how to swim.

East of Quebec city, road-building was especially difficult. The landscape was mountainous with thick stands of trees and sometimes six feet of winter snow on the ground.

Instead of roads, the people of New France relied on the St Lawrence river. Every farm was a thin, long ribbon of land touching the river. The farmers built their log cabin homes close to the river and near their neighbors. This proximity provided them with a few more helping hands in case of fire or attack.

They all had a small pier and a few boats and canoes that they used to fish and take their produce to market. In the winter, the Habitants used horse-drawn sleighs to swiftly travel on the frozen St Lawrence River.

Some farmers cut many trees in the winter which they dragged to the river. In the springtime, they transformed the logs into large rafts. When the St Lawrence river thawed each spring, they floated their rafts to Quebec city. The wood was purchased and used to build ships, barges, buildings, furniture and possibly a small wagon like this.