New France Highways

Traveling was difficult in New France. “By land” meant walking, riding a horse, mule or ox or riding in a cart or wagon pulled by one of these animals. 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. 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. Instead of roads, the pioneers of New France relied on the St Lawrence river. Almost 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 few boats or canoes that they used to fish or take their produce to market. In the winter, the Habitants used horse-drawn sleighs to travel on the frozen St Lawrence river. Some habitants cut many trees in the winter which were dragged to the frozen rivers. In the springtime, the logs were transformed into huge rafts. When the St Lawrence river thawed each spring, the habitants floated their log rafts to Quebec city. The wood was purchased and used to build ships, barges, buildings, furniture and possibly a small wagon like this.

Pea Soupers

Canoe Manned by Voyageurs Passing a Waterfall (Ontario), 1869, by Frances Anne Hopkins.

Frenchmen in the Old Northwest (lands around the Great Lakes) had little opportunity to prepare a hot meal during the day. Yet, men paddling and portaging birch-bark canoes, hauling bales of furs and supplies from dawn to dusk needed nutritious food. Here is one early recipe for a hot, satisfying stew that was enjoyed by the voyageurs. "The tin kettle in which we cooked our food, a trader wrote, would hold eight to ten gallons. At the end of a long day paddling our canoes, the cook hung our kettle over the fire, nearly full of water. Nine quarts of dried peas- one quart per man, the daily allowance - were added to the heating water. When the peas had all burst, two or three pounds of salt pork, cut into strips, where added for seasoning, and the kettle was allowed to simmer all night. At daybreak, the cook added four biscuits, broken up, to the mess, and invited all hands to breakfast.The swelling of the peas and biscuits filled the kettle to the brim and was so thick that a stick would stand upright in the stew. The hungry Voyageurs squatted in a circle around the kettle. Each man used his wooden spoon to ladle the hot meal from the kettle to his mouth, with lightning speed, and soon all had filled their belly.Pea Souper, a nickname for French-Canadians, originated because of this daily breakfast repast.

It was early in the Spring of 1673. Father Marquette, Louis Jolliet and five French voyageurs pushed their Birch bark canoes away from the misty shore of what is now the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and dipped their paddles into the frigid water. Their goal was to find and explore the mighty river the Native Americans had been describing. The French paddled down the western shore of Lake Michigan, into Green Bay and took the Wisconsin River to the Mississippi River. This small group of voyageurs explored the Mississippi River as far south as Arkansas, stopping at Native American villages along the way to exchange gifts, gather information and speak of trade.On their return trip, the Frenchmen were told of a shorter route home up the Illinois River, the Des Plaines River and Portage Creek thru Mud Lake to the Chicago River, which emptied into Lake Michigan. Taking this route, the Frenchmen swiftly returned home. Incredibly, the entire round trip had taken just five months. For eons, countless Native Americans had traveled this route. For 150 years after Marquette and Jolliet, the Chicago Portage was used by thousands of French explorers, British traders and American pioneers traveling to other parts of the country. When the water was high, it was possible to paddle the entire way. If the water was low, Mud Lake became a mosquito-infested swamp and the travelers had to drag their canoes and goods through waist-deep muck. If the weather was very dry, the travelers might be required to carry their canoes and baggage on the Long Portage Trail for up to 95 miles!Incredibly, a section of this important portage (pictured) remains in its' natural state.