For My Friend Grimbo, An English Woodsrunner. The Coureur De Bois.

The Couriur De Bois.

The French "Coureur de bois" entered the Illinois country to trade French manufactured goods to the Native Americans for fur skins. Common items included knives, tomahawks, vermillion, mirrors, beads, wool and linen cloth, gunpowder, lead, guns and numerous other items were traded for: Beaver, mink, muskrat and fox pelts, bear and racoon skins, and deer skins.

Jean Cadieux
Jean Cadieux, a “coureur des bois” founded a family with an Algonquian wife, named Marie Bourdon. He was born in Boucherville, March 12, 1671, with father Jean Cadieux and mother Marie Valade, where he was the youngest son. Hunter and trapper, he would trade with the natives and exchanged the furs for provisions and manufactured products, which permitted him to survive winter in his small cabin in the middle of the woods. On a beautiful day in May 1709, he went from Morisson Island to Montreal with a couple natives to sell some furs. During one of their stops at one of the seven falls at Grand Calumet Island, one of his companions, a young Algonquian, went out to do some scouting, and spotted a group of Iroquois warriors. They were setting up a trap for any unfortunate traveler so that they could steal their furs. In order to escape, they would have to go over impassable rapids and under a volley of arrows! In order to insure the safety of his men and family, Cadieux decided that he would, along with a young Algonquian, divert the Iroquois and attract them far from the rapids so that they could cross them in safety. All of them hid in the bottom of the canoes upriver, and waited on the appointed signal, which was a shot of the gun, in order to leave.


An hour later, Cadieux and his friend surprised the Iroquois and brought them away from the rapids. A shot was fired: it was the awaited signal that Cadieux’s companions were waiting for to affront the terrible rapids that awaited them. None of the Iroquois noticed them, for they were too busy trying to catch Cadieux and his companion. With an amazing dexterity, the Algonquian paddlers guided the frail bark canoes in the middle of the crashing waters, trying to stay away from the rocks, which would have ripped the fragile oak bark, and led the travelers to a certain death. For two days straight, they navigated the rough waters with a hellish pace and finally reached the Two Mountains Lake where they found refuge at the fort.


Not seeing him come back, three of his companions, after having put his family and the furs in security, left to try to find Cadieux. The Iroquois had left the island and the Algonquians found a small shelter made of branches near the seven falls portage. The Algonquian warriors left to find their companions, reading the tracks left by the aggressors and the fugitives like in a great book. The young Algonquian had been killed and, for three days, the Iroquois searched the island trying to find Cadieux who continued to wage war, as uncatchable as a ghost!


After two days of fruitless searches, having lost all hope of finding Cadieux, they discovered a wooden cross planted in the ground close to the shelter that they had found on their way up. And there, half dead, lay the body of Jean. He held in his hand a long piece of bark on which, before dying, he had written as if in complaint, his story.


He had managed to escape the Iroquois, but tired, and out of strength after three days of guerrilla and of deprivations, he had seen his companions arrive, but he couldn’t find the strength to call them. He prepared himself to die, digging his tomb, and sticking a cross in the ground after having written his complaint. Then, with his last bit of strength, he buried himself, waiting for death to come in a place called the Petit Rocher of the Haute Montagne.

… for the sum of 1,213 livres, 17 sols, 2 deniers to trade in Villemarie for merchandise to send him to the Ottawa country. 1697.

…it is almost 27 years that he has been acquainted with the said Dupuis (and affirms) that he is a man of great company, of menial condition and great expenses… passing entire weeks in reckless spending and he also affirmed that he knew that after the two last voyages that he made to the Ottawa country before this last one from which he has just returned, he had no sooner returned to this city that he pitched his camp in a cabaret and that he did not come out again until he had eaten (spent) all that he had brought with him, having no thought at all of going to his family nor providing them with any of the revenue from his voyage by which they could subsist, desiring more to spend it all in debauchery as he had always done before and since and finally that he is a bad provider, capable of spending above and beyond what he could afford…1706.

That he knew the said Dupuis well and that he was a drunkard who drinks and eats everything in sight without paying any attention to saving (his money) for his family and also knowing that six years ago coming back from the Ottawa country to this city he brought with him 1,800 livres in profits from his voyage and that he went to the home of the wife of Laporte, the inn-keeper of this city, and had come out only when he had spent all the 1,800 livres and that since his arrival lately from the Ottawa country no day has passed that he did not drink wine and finally that he is a man capable of spending above what he can earn and incapable of correcting himself and never wasting any time when he returned, loving (always) debauchery as much as always 1706.

they acquired something of the Indian's stoical fatalism, his superstitions, his secrecy, and savagery in battle. When the triumphant war-parties returned, dragging their helpless prisoners, they saw and heard the unbelievable extreme horrors of cruelty. A History of Canada, Donald Creighton, page 83.

The coureurs des bois and the voyageurs were often wet, whether that was a result of sweat, rain, or the times they had to get out of their canoes. As a result, they preferred clothing made of fabric rather than skins, since it dried better. The coureur des bois’ outfit included a cotton or linen shirt and knee-length canvas pants. On his head, he would wear a wool toque or a scarf to keep the sweat off his face. He also wore a brightly colored wool belt, from which he could hang a cup or a bag containing his pipe, tobacco, and tinderbox. On cold days, the coureur des bois would don a woolen capote or, occasionally, a coat made of moose or caribou hide. He would store his black powder in a well-sealed horn. He also carried a few knives and a gun.

The voyageurs and coureurs des bois also wore Amerindian clothing, which was well-suited to life in the forest. In the summer, the breechcloth occasionally replaced pants. Instead of socks, they used leggings that protected their legs from insects, thorns and brambles. Occasionally, the leggings would be made of deer skin. For their feet, the coureurs des bois opted for moccasins, which they lined with wool in the winter. In order to protect themselves against mosquitoes, the Whites copied the Amerindians, coating their skin with bear fat.

Every evening, the crew would set up camp. The fire would be lit and the meal prepared. For shelter, they would use an overturned canoe, which could be covered with a tarpaulin Some evenings, they slept under the open sky. One man would always keep watch over the fire and the merchandise, waking his companions well before dawn. During winter expeditions, the men would bundle up and sleep close to the fire. Occasionally they would dig a hole under the snow for protection against the wind, and cover the ground with pine branches. Like the Amerindian peoples, the voyageurs occasionally made caches to store supplies and merchandise.


Sources: GERMAIN, Georges-Hébert. Les coureurs des bois: la saga des indiens blancs. Outremont, Libre expression; [Ottawa], Musée canadien des civilisations, 2003, 158 pages.
POMERLEAU, Jeanne. Les coureurs de bois: la traite des fourrures avec les Amérindiens. Sainte-Foy, Éditions Dupont, 1994, 143 pages.
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