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North West Company Fur PostJul 27, 2007
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What big teeth!!!
The inside museum at the Fur Post
The living quarters at the Fur Post
| Still from Grand Casino RV Resort in Hinckley, Minnesota, 80 miles north of Minneapolis. Long term, long term, long term........you remember that chant, right?? From that entry that I wrote a couple of weeks ago about our investment strategy.....the one that said that our investment strategy is to be fully invested in equity (stock) mutual funds. And I presume that you have seen what the stock market has done this week.......TANKED....GONE DEEP SIX......HAD A MAJOR CORRECTION. Yes, long term, long term, long term. But even with the very significant downhill run that the market has taken this week, it has simply taken back a portion.....not all, just a portion..... of the gains that have been made this year. Given the quirkiness of the markets, I would not be surprised at all if the market made some significant recoveries next week......but of course I was hoping that the rebound would have started today. Long term, long term, long term~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OK, now that I have gotten that off of my chest, let's get back to discussion of the mpore fun parts of the last couple of days. Yesterday we went a few miles down the road to the town of Pine City to see the North West Company Fur Post, a fur trading post reconstructed to be as it was in 1804. In the original times, the American Indians, the French & the English worked together to mutually benefit from the commerce related to the demand in Europe for furs. The reconstructed fur post is now managed by the Minnesota Historical Society, which manages 20-25 other properties throughout the state. After considering the other properties & how many of them that we will likely want to visit, we purchased a state-wide pass that hopefully will save us money over paying the individual admissions. The American Indians' role in the business relationship was to "secure" the furs from the wilds, while the French & English then became the middle-men to trade for the furs & pass them up the distribution chain towards their ultimate market. The Indians in the local area then & now were of the Ojibwe tribe. We learned that a trading post such as this typically had a commercial lifetime of 3-5 years before the animals in the area were so eradicated that it was no longer economically feasible. The post had a "voyageur" (grunt-worker for the trading company) in full period attire & speaking the language of the day that gave us our own personal tour & explanation of much of the facility. Due to a storm that was moving-in for which we were not prepared, we aborted our visit to return to the bus. Upon arrival we found that neighbors who we had not even met yet had already rolled-in our awnings for us. The awnings are always vulnerable during a storm if they are not retracted. We finished the job of storing chairs & a few other things that were out just moments before the storm hit. We had planned to see the movie "Chuck & Larry" after we came back from the Fur Post, but by the time that the storm subsided, it was too late in the afternoon & we had lost interest in the movie for the day. We did catch the movie today at a 12:55 PM showing......good movie, worth seeing. We considered also going to the Hinckley Fire Museum, but did not think that it would be worth the $10 admission price. The Hinckley Fire apparently is a very significant event in this town's history. According to a monument that we saw, 419 people in the town were killed in a forest fire in 1894. While sitting outside after returning from the movie, one "hello" yell across the campsite to a new neighbor turned into a two-hour conversation with Woody. As we learned during the chat, Woody has a proud heritage of having been born amongst a Mohawk Indian family. He is very clear that he does not know or care to know what percentage Indian he is, simply that he was born amongst the family & that that makes him legally a citizen of the Mohawk nation is sufficient for him. He spent 30 years in the U. S. military, before working a few more years within the Civil Service system before fully retiring. The years following his military career have allowed him to be very active in the Indian culture & to participate in many events throughout the U. S. & Canada. It was simply a good afternoon sitting under the shade of the canopy chatting with a person of a different background than we to better understand their traditions & lifestyle. I've included photos of this campground & particularly the bathhouse. I don't recall posting any other pictures from the inside of a bathhouse, but this one is simply the nicest one that I have ever encountered in a campground. Two more days for us; a few more adventures as we enjoy life at our pace. Have a good weekend. |
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