Article 9 – Woman’s Involvement in the Fur Trade

by Mason McDowell

When the European traders first came to North America “colonization was not envisaged”1 by them, so the traders brought no white women from Europe over to North America. This made it much harder for the European traders to practice their own culture and start families in North America so “instead, the traders were forced to come to terms with an alien, nomadic culture,”2 a culture that the Europeans traders’ own livelihoods depended on. The Aboriginals culture and way of life had given them “distinct advantages with coping with the wilderness environment,”3 and the fur traders knew that having the knowledge of the land would be crucial to their survival in the harsh conditions of North America. The traders also knew that the Aboriginals had distinct and valuable techniques in hunting, trapping, tracking, and navigating. So, European men started turning to Aboriginal women for companions on their long journeys. The Aboriginal Women educated the European men with their ways of living on the land and practicing their own culture while, helping traverse and navigate the harsh wilderness of North America.

When it came to Aboriginal women and European men, their encounters together were not usually “casual promiscuous encounters, but the development of marital unions which gave rise to distinct family units.”4 Even though “there were differences in attitudes and practices between the Europeans and the Aboriginals; the fur trade society developed its own marriage rite, marriage a la facon du pays, which combined both Aboriginal and European marriage customs.”5 When a European man married an Aboriginal woman in fur trade society, the European men would gain and strengthen trade relationships with Aboriginal men, and would “secure the trade of the tribe or band”6 that the Aboriginal woman belonged too. This tradition soon caught and became accustomed to European traders, with many marrying Aboriginal women to create the social ties to improve their access trade opportunities and gain better knowledge of the aboriginal culture and way of life. Many intermarriages between Aboriginal women and European traders became more and more popular, with both sides of the marriages having a lot to gain from the courtship. With the increased intermarriages the fur trade society began to grow, creating new and strengthening the existing relationships among traders and Aboriginals almost everyday.7

The European traders had gained a lot by marrying into an Aboriginal family as the Aboriginal women were “trained in the skills necessary for survival”8 in the harsh wilderness of North America. The Aboriginal women helped the European traders navigate and traverse the wilderness and taught them many survival skills, crafted snow shoes to make it easier to travel through the deep snow, and provided traditional Aboriginal clothing for the traders to keep from freezing in the sub-zero temperatures. Aboriginal women would also cook, preserve food, and prepare camp while their trader husbands were off either trading or trapping furs. One major food contribution that Aboriginal women made was “preservation and manufacturing of pemmican,”9 which was a very important and nutritious staple food in a fur trader’s diet. European traders also enjoyed the presence of Aboriginal women in their everyday lives as they kept the company on the long journeys between trading posts; for the traders the aboriginal women also filled “the role of a wife and mother left void by the absence of white women.”10 The men of the North West Company, a Montreal-based company at time of the fur trade in particular, “had always appreciated the economic advantages to be gained by forming alliances with Aboriginal women.”11 European traders’ marrying into an Aboriginal family helped them “secure the trade of the Aboriginal women’s tribe or band.”12 Besides helping the European traders strengthen and secure trade relationships, the Aboriginal women “did much to familiarize the European men with the Aboriginal way of life.”13 The Aboriginal women also taught the European traders trapping techniques, fur preparation, and even going as far to teach the traders a bit of their language. By teaching the traders their language Aboriginal women “greatly contributed to the men’s effectiveness as a trader,”14 and helped further close the cultural gap between Aboriginals and Europeans. Intermarriages in the fur trade were very beneficial for European traders as they learned many valuable skills and techniques used by Aboriginals for hundreds of years. At the same time those parties filled the void that the lack of white women left in their lives, and greatly increased the success of their livelihoods by creating and strengthening trade relationships between them and Aboriginals.

Aboriginal women were also benefiting from the intermarriage during the fur trade, with the influx of European technology that they were enjoying the luxuries of goods from Europe and the courtships by the European men. Many Aboriginal women were anxious to keep trade flowing, so they could have more access and the ability to use more “European goods such as kettles, cloth, knives, needles, and axes to help alleviate their sometimes-onerous work roles.”15 Their working roles often included cooking, preparing and dressing furs, and crafting clothing and snowshoes, and making other tools. During the early years of the fur trade “many Aboriginal tribes and bands actively encouraged the formation of marriage alliances their women and traders.”16 In Aboriginal society “marriage was seen in an integrated social and economic context.”17 So, the European traders and Aboriginals made an agreement that if the Aboriginals allowed European traders marry and begin families with their women the Aboriginals would have “free access to the trading posts and provisions.”18 This would give the Aboriginals full trading capabilities at trading posts across British North America, and it would also give the Aboriginals more access to European technology. The European traders, in turn, would strengthen and gain better access to trade relationships with the Aboriginals, while simultaneously gaining knowledge of Aboriginal techniques and culture to further increases their profits. Even though Aboriginal men and European traders were more dominate when it came to being hunters and trappers, some Aboriginal women were trapping, preparing, and trading their own furs. Kees-Jan Waterman and Jan Noel outline that “fur transactions were the norm for people of both sexes”19 rather than just being confined to men. When it came to the act of trapping itself “men were the hunters of beavers and larger game animals, and the women were responsible for trapping smaller fur-bearing animals, especially the martin whose pelts were highly prized.”20 Aboriginal women and the Aboriginal population in general benefited greatly due to intermarriages in the fur trade, with gaining more access to trading posts and European technology, which greatly impacted their lives and made their traditional ways of hunting and fur preparing easier.

Even though white women did not come to the predominantly fur trading areas of British North America until later when the fur trade society was already greatly established, and when they did arrive, they also had great contributions to the fur trade as well. The white women played a largely subsidiary role in fur trade society often being compared to a modern-day house wife. The majority roles of white women who were married to traders were “as suppliers of food and other supplies,”21 which means they often cooked and set up camp for the traders if they travelled with them, so that their trader husbands could focus on the trapping and hunting rather than setting up his camp and cooking meals. If a white woman did not travel with her trader husband, she often stayed at home to take care of the children, whilst the trader was out making money to support the family.22 Even though white women did not serve the major role and exert the same impact as Aboriginal women did in fur trade society, they still made contributions by helping the traders on their long journeys for the business.

In conclusion, women were very impactful and important in fur trade society and were one of the reasons that the fur trade was as successful of and economic trend as it was. If women had not been as involved so much, many European traders would not have had such strengthened social relationships with Aboriginals tribes and bands at that time. The traders also wouldn’t have had the knowledge of the land and Aboriginal culture if it wasn’t for the intermarriages with the Aboriginal women. This also proves that major companies in the fur trade such as The Hudson’s Bay Company and The North West Company may not have been as successful as they were, with The North West Company outlining the many “economic advantages to be gained by forming alliances with Aboriginal women.”23 Even if women didn’t travel on trade routes with their trader husbands, they were able to stay home and care for their families and raise the next generation of traders. In the end women really were one of the major reasons that the fur trade was as profitable and successful as it was, and greatly benefited both Europeans and Aboriginals alike.

Endnotes
1 Sylvia Van Kirk, “The Impact of White Women on Fur Trade Society,” in Visions Pre-Confederation, P.E. Bryden, Maureen Lux, Daniel Samson, Colin Coates, Marcel Martel, and Lynne Marks, eds. (Nelson Education, Toronto, Ontario, 2015) 338.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Sylvia Van Kirk, Many Tender Ties: Women in Fur-trade Society, 1670-1870 (University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 1980) 5.
5 Ibid, 4.
6 Van Kirk, ”Impact,” 338.
7 Sylvia Van Kirk, “The Role of Native Women in the Fur Trade Society of Western Canada, 1670-1830” Woman of the Western Front. (University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1984) 9-10.
8 Van Kirk, “Impact,” 338.
9 Van Kirk, “Role,” 10.
10 Van Kirk, “Impact,” 338.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Van Kirk, “Role,” 9.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Kees-Jan Waterman, Jan Noel, “Not Confined to the Village Clearings: Indian Women in the Fur Trade in Colonial New York, 1695–1732” New York History Vol 94. (Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York, 2013) 40.
20 Van Kirk, “Role,” 9.
21 Bruce M. White, “The Woman Who Married a Beaver: Trade Patterns and Gender Roles in the Ojibwa Fur Trade,” Ethnohistory Vol 46. (Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina, 1999) 109.
22 Ibid, 109-112.
23 Van Kirk, “Impact,” 338.

Bibliography
Van Kirk, Sylvia. Many Tender Ties: Women in Fur-trade Society, 1670-1870. Norman, Oklahoma:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1980.
Van Kirk, Sylvia. “The Impact of White Women on Fur Trade Society.” Visions Pre-Confederation (2015): 338-351.
Van Kirk, Sylvia. “The Role of Native Women in the Fur Trade Society of Western Canada, 1670-1830.
” Woman of the Western Front (1984): 9-13.
Waterman, Kees-Jan. Noel, Jan. “Not Confined to the Village Clearings: Indian Women in the Fur Trade in
Colonial New York, 1695–1732.” New York History Vol 94 (2013): 40-58.
White, Bruce M. “The Woman Who Married a Beaver: Trade Patterns and Gender Roles in the Ojibwa Fur
Trade.” Ethnohistory Vol 46. (1999): 109-47.

About the Author: Mason McDowell was born and raised in The Pas, Manitoba, and graduated in 2017 from Margaret Barbour Collegiate Institute. Mason is currently in his first year of a Bachelor of Arts degree from University College of the North. He plans to pursue an education degree. When Mason isn’t at school, he works at the local school division and a local grocery store. In addition to the two part-time jobs, he also runs his own Music and DJ business.

Instructor’s Remarks: History 1000 “Canadian History: Pre-Confederation” is a survey course exploring various histories of the territories and peoples who would eventually go on to form Canada in the post-1867 period. The students in the course are encouraged to develop a research paper in an area of interest to them in the pre-1867 period. Mason McDowell chose to write a paper on the often overlooked yet vital and important roles women played in the fur trade that brought together Indigenous and European players in economic and cultural exchange. Starting in the late twentieth century scholars began to accept that without the cooperation of Indigenous people there would have been no fur trade; more recently they have acknowledged that without the participation of Indigenous women the trade would have been a much smaller enterprise. Mason McDowell has produced a highly readable paper that utilizes this growing body of literature and highlights the key and vital roles women played in this foundational trade that has profoundly shaped the histories and peoples of what is now Canada. (Dr. Greg Stott)