Saturday, April 20, 2019

Voyageur Culture and Pipe Smoking: A Lecture by Dr. Rob Mann




Dr. Brandão, Dr. Mann, Dr. Nassaney, and myself
after Dr. Mann's lecture. Photo courtesy of Cameron Youngs.
Hi everyone, this is Cameron again, and I’m a senior here at WMU. This week I’m writing to you about a public lecture I listened to a few weeks ago, given by a visiting archaeologist, Dr. Rob Mann from St. Cloud University. The presentation was about his research about the North American fur trade, but more specifically about the voyageurs and their pipe smoking habits. To me this presentation was 
really informative because it taught me more about the voyageurs, their occupation, their life ways, and the various dimensions that pipe smoking meant aside from its leisurely connotations. Which is a subject that I have found to be interesting, and it is my intention to share what I have learned with you guys!

As many of you probably know, the voyageurs were French Canadians who transported furs and trade goods along waterways, between forts or trading posts to Native Americans, who exchanged the furs for the European trade goods. But to the voyageurs, this was not merely just an occupation, but a way of life in which they had a deep sense of pride. Navigating along the rivers in the backcountry was dangerous and took its toll upon those who had the grit to pursue such an occupation. The average life expectancy for an individual that survived the day to day hazards was short for today’s standards, and the typical voyageur did not live past their forties or fifties. Their prowess in navigating the backcountry and braving the dangerous rapids along their trade routes meant voyageurs were highly sought after by many fur trading companies.

But what I didn’t know before this lecture, was that being a voyageur was not just an occupation, but it was also a unique class-based ethnic identity within the broader spectrum of French-Canadian culture. Within the class-based hierarchy of the French fur trade industry, most voyageurs would have occupied the lower echelons. This status hierarchy is salient while glancing at the roles and seating placement of the voyageurs within a canoe among its other occupants. Most voyageurs would paddle in the middle and were designated as the milieau, and thus they were at the bottom of the status hierarchy. And above them was the gouvernail, which translates to rudder, directing the boat at the back, and the avant in the front, who would lead the occupants in call and response songs. But also, in the middle were the bourgeois, who were the big wigs inside the fur trade business, and who traveled with the voyageurs to and from the forts and trading posts. But, everybody in the boat was subordinate to the bourgeois, and fortunately, when the French were in control of parts of North America, the milieu could ascend upward in status to the position of gouvernail or avant, and in some cases to bourgeois. And one way that this could be done was through an individual's skill in singing and memorizing songs, who could eventually lead the paddling pace and rhythms of the canoe. This is one-way that work and leisure was blended into the daily lives of the voyageurs, who could spend almost eighteen hours a day paddling.

Along with an individual’s skill in singing and memorizing songs, pipe smoking was another aspect of how the voyageurs blended work and leisure throughout their busy days. After 1763, the British expanded their control over North America, and the French-Canadian voyageurs had little choice but to work for British fur trading companies, who looked upon them with disdain. Despite their contempt, the British continued to hire the voyageurs because of their prowess in navigating and traversing the North American waterways. And during this period, there was very little chance for upward class mobility for the voyageurs. But, amidst their oppression, the voyageurs were able to maintain some sense of control through leisurely pipe smoking habits. As some of you may know, the voyageurs measured the distances they had traveled in pipes. But what I didn’t know, was that they were not smoking their pipes while they were traveling, but rather they used their habit to control how often they could take a break.  Which is believed to have lasted about ten minutes for every two to six miles traveled. So, an activity that was strongly associated with voyageur culture, which the British used to characterize them with as lazy, gave them some sense of power over the oppressive forces that sought to control every aspect of their day to day lives.

After hearing this from Doctor Mann, he began to present archaeological data which corroborated with these activities. Since the voyageurs occupied a maritime occupation, many of the artifacts associated with them are found underwater, where some unlucky individuals either crashed or sank their boat. But, one of the artifacts that was presented during the lecture was a pipe bowl with the inscription “T.D”. And I immediately drew a connection to my summer at Fort St. Joseph, because one of the artifacts that my peers had uncovered, was a pipe bowl with the “T.D.” inscription (Figure 1). I felt ecstatic after, seeing how Dr. Mann’s research made that connection to my time excavating in Niles. I mean, we know that the site was occupied by people in the past, because the materials are there, and the documentary sources tell us bits of what happened, but this connection really made it seem real to me. The voyageurs occupied a space which is now the city of Niles. In my mind, it brought the past to life through making that connection to the object. And it makes me happy to have had the feeling, and that I could share Doctor Mann’s research with you all.
"T.D." pipe bowl fragment.
Photo courtesy of Kaleb Kahler.

Thank you for reading,
Cameron

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