
Last year, I started http://www.oldquebechistory.com/ to share the history I’ve learned about Canada. Because my ancestors were among the few Europeans who settled New France (Quebec) prior to 1650, I've read many history books about how the settlers of New France lived, what they ate, how they traveled, what they accomplished. I learned that nearly half the population of Quebec immigrated to the USA between 1850 and 1900. Many settled in New England, especially manufacturing towns in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. But these were not the first French to settle in what is now the United States. "The Louisiana Purchase" was a vast land originally discovered by Father Marquette and Louis Joliet in 1673 and claimed for France by La Salle when he explored the lower Mississippi River. French forts dotted the Great Lakes at Detroit, Duluth, Niagara and Mackinaw long before English settlers had penetrated the Appalachian mountains. French men traveled by canoe as far as the Rockies, naming the Grand Teton range near today’s Yellowstone Park. The Great Lakes, the St Lawrence, Ottawa and many rivers were the super highways of French Voyageurs. These men carried tons of trade goods, by canoe, into the wilderness. At times, they could paddle 70 miles per day. At other times, they were required to carry their birch bark canoe and up to 3 tons of cargo from one waterway to another. On their return trips, the voyageurs carried bundles of valuable skins from wild animals that flourished in the interior. The economy of New France depended on these skins arriving in Montreal and Quebec each year. The native peoples trapped, prepared and traded these skins for metal tools, kettles, needles, ribbons, blankets, beads, guns, gunpowder, lead shot and brandy. Shiploads of these animal skins were shipped from Quebec to France, each year, where most of them were processed into felt and fashioned into stylish, expensive hats.





