The Call of the Wild Waters: Voyage to Lac de la Pluie

 

Travelling on Kaministiquia River by William Armstrong

In the brisk autumn air of 1803, as the leaves of Quebec's maple forests blazed in fiery reds and golds, Jean-Baptiste Meunier dit Lagassé stood before notary Louis Chaboillez in Montreal, his callused hand pressing a quill to parchment. At 27, with a young wife, Marie-Angélique, waiting back in St-André-d’Argenteuil, and dreams of a growing family tugging at his heart, he signed his name to the North West Company's contract. The ink sealed his fate: a voyage to Lac de la Pluie, the distant Rainy Lake, where rivers whispered secrets of untamed frontiers. His father had walked this path before him—paddling the Mississippi's muddy veins, trading with the Ponca under starlit skies—and now, the wild called to Jean-Baptiste, promising fortune amid peril.

The brigade assembled at Lachine, Montreal's bustling canoe yards, where the air hummed with the scent of birchbark resin and tobacco. Eight men to a canot du maître—a 36-foot behemoth of cedar and birch, laden with 3,000 pounds of trade goods: bolts of scarlet cloth, gleaming muskets, strings of glass beads, and hatchets forged for bartering pelts. Jean-Baptiste, a sturdy milieu paddler with shoulders honed from years of farm labor and prior Mississippi runs, gripped his paddle like an old friend. "Allons-y, mes amis!" the bowsman bellowed as they shoved off into the St. Lawrence's swirling currents, the city fading behind like a half-remembered dream.

The journey unfolded like an epic chanson, each stroke a verse in the voyageurs' unending song. Up the Ottawa River they surged, battling whitewater rapids that roared like thunder, portaging over slick rocks where blackflies swarmed in bloodthirsty clouds. Jean-Baptiste's muscles screamed as he hoisted two 90-pound packs—fumbling through mud-choked trails, sweat mingling with rain. Nights brought campfires under towering pines, where tales of ghost canoes and wendigos danced with the flames. They devoured pea soup thickened with lard, washing it down with spruce beer to ward off scurvy, their laughter echoing against the wilderness.

Weeks blurred into a rhythm of water and wood. Through the Mattawa's narrow gorges, across Lake Nipissing's wind-whipped waves, down the French River's cascades to Georgian Bay's rocky shores. Lake Huron's vastness tested them—storms whipping waves into frothy giants, canoes pitching like bucking stallions. At Sault Ste. Marie, they portaged around the thundering falls, the mist soaking their woolen capotes. Then, Lake Superior, the great Gitche Gumee, its icy depths a graveyard for the unwary. Paddling day after day, they hugged the north shore, singing "À la claire fontaine" to keep spirits high, voices rising over the crash of breakers.

By mid-summer, they reached Kaministiquia Fort, the NWC's new bastion on Superior's thunderous bay—a hive of wooden palisades, barking dogs, and fur bales stacked like fortresses. Here, Jean-Baptiste's contract sharpened into focus: two grueling shuttles to Portage de la Montagne, hauling goods upriver through dense forests and over boulder-strewn carries. Six days of drudgery—felling trees for repairs, mending canoes with spruce gum, shoulders raw from straps. If needed, a detour through Michilimackinac's straits, but the direct path called: up the Kaministiquia River, portaging past foaming chutes, across Savanne Lake's mirrored calm, to the Height of Land where waters divided—east to the Atlantic, west to the Arctic.

Finally, after portages that felt like climbing the spine of the world, the brigade crested into Rainy Lake's embrace. Lac de la Pluie sprawled before them, a sapphire expanse dotted with pine-cloaked islands, its shores alive with the calls of loons and the splash of sturgeon. Fort Lac la Pluie rose on the Rainy River's high bank—a sturdy depot of log buildings, smoke curling from chimneys, surrounded by Ojibwe camps where wild rice fields swayed in the breeze. No mere trading post, it was the fur trade's beating heart: a place to stockpile pemmican from bison fat and berries, craft kegs from local oak, and build fresh canoes from birch groves. Voyageurs like Jean-Baptiste unloaded their burdens, exchanging stories with winterers fresh from Athabasca's frozen wilds—tales of beaver dams thick as walls, auroras painting the night sky.

Here, amid the fort's clamor, Jean-Baptiste labored through the season: fishing nets heavy with whitefish, harvesting manoomin (wild rice) with Indigenous allies, repairing gear for the return brigades. Rivals from the Hudson's Bay Company lurked nearby, their posts a stone's throw across the river, breeding whispers of sabotage and stolen furs. Winters bit deep, snow blanketing the land in silence broken only by cracking ice and howling wolves. Yet, in quiet moments by the hearth, Jean-Baptiste thought of home—of Marie-Angélique's warm smile, the promise of children like young Marie-Emélie, who would one day carry his bloodline forward.

When spring thawed the rivers, he turned eastward, canoes now piled with glossy beaver pelts destined for London's hatmakers. The return was no easier—swollen waters, aching limbs—but it forged him, this voyageur's odyssey. By 1825, settled in Châteauguay's fertile fields, surrounded by family, Jean-Baptiste's tales of Rainy Lake echoed through generations, a testament to the men who canoed the veins of a continent, binding a nation in sweat and song.

Expanded Information on Jean-Baptiste Meunier dit Lagassé:

Based on the provided details, Grok xAI reviewed and cross-referenced them with historical records, fur trade archives, and contextual sources. Jean-Baptiste Meunier dit Lagassé (also spelled Mignier, Minier, or Lagacé) was a classic example of a French-Canadian voyageur—a hardy fur trade worker who navigated vast wilderness waterways in birchbark canoes. Born on April 24, 1776, in Terrebonne, Quebec, to Jean-Baptiste Mignier dit Lagassé (1749–1828) and Marie-Angélique Brunet dit Letang, he grew up in a family steeped in the voyageur tradition. His father was himself a seasoned voyageur, with contracts dating back to 1778, including trips to the Mississippi River region where he encountered Indigenous groups like the Ponca people (as referenced in related family lore).

Jean-Baptiste married Marie-Angélique Barette dit Courville on October 21, 1799, in La Prairie, Quebec. They had several children, including Marie-Emélie (Mary) Meunier dit Lagassé (born 1808), who later married Gabriel Pinsonneau (or Passino) and became the mother of Lucy Passino (1836–1917), our 2nd great-grandmother. Jean-Baptiste's life was marked by the demands of the fur trade, which pulled him away from family for months or years at a time. He died sometime before 1835 in St-Laurent, Quebec, likely in his late 50s, after returning to a more settled life in the Châteauguay region, as evidenced by the 1825 census showing him living near his daughter and son-in-law in Huntingdon, Lower Canada.

1803, Oct 6, McTavish, Frobisher & Co. (North West Company)
hired Jean-Baptiste Meunier voyageur de St-André-d’Argenteuil
to go to Lac De La Pluie

Voyageur Contracts and Career Expansion

Our provided contracts align with Quebec notarial archives (e.g., from notary Louis Chaboillez, preserved in the Archives of Quebec under M620/1200). These were standard "engagements" binding voyageurs to Montreal-based merchants or companies like the North West Company (NWC). Expanding on them:

• 1800 Contract (February 14): Hired by James & Andrew McGill (prominent Montreal merchants linked to the fur trade), Jean-Baptiste, then residing in Chambly, Quebec, agreed to travel to the Mississippi River region and overwinter. This likely involved a grueling route via the Great Lakes, potentially passing through Michilimackinac (modern Mackinac Island), a key hub for trade with Indigenous nations. Overwintering meant enduring harsh winters in remote posts, hunting, trapping, and trading furs like beaver, otter, and muskrat. Compensation was typically around 600-800 livres per year, plus equipment like blankets, axes, and kettles, but deductions were common for a "Voyageurs' Fund" to support injured or retired workers.
• 1803 Contract (October 6): Engaged by McTavish, Frobisher & Co. (a core partnership of the NWC), from St-André-d’Argenteuil, Quebec, for a trip to Lac de la Pluie (Rainy Lake). This contract specified routing via Michilimackinac if needed, two round trips between Kaministiquia Fort (renamed Fort William in 1807, on Lake Superior's north shore) and Portage de la Montagne (likely a key portage on the route westward, possibly near modern Dog Lake or Height of Land Portage), six days of "drudgery" (unskilled labor like camp setup or repairs), and assisting in portaging three canoes over land. This reflects the NWC's shift in operations; in 1803, they relocated their Lake Superior depot from Grand Portage (on the U.S. side after the 1783 border treaty) to Kaministiquia to avoid U.S. tariffs. The role was that of a "milieu" or middle paddler in a canoe brigade, emphasizing the physical toll of the job.

Additional research reveals Jean-Baptiste may have had earlier or related engagements, as voyageur contracts often built on family networks. His father's 1778 contract with Ezechiel Solomon for the Mississippi suggests a hereditary trade path. By the early 1800s, the NWC dominated the fur trade, competing fiercely with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). Rainy Lake was a vital midpoint depot, not a frontline trading post, where voyageurs like Jean-Baptiste shuttled goods westward and furs eastward, supporting the expansion into Athabasca country.

Historical Context of Rainy Lake and the Fur Trade

By 1800, Rainy Lake (Lac la Pluie) and the Rainy River were bustling with fur trade activity, as the user's notes indicate. This was the "voyageurs' highway," connecting the Great Lakes to the Northwest interior. The NWC established Fort Lac la Pluie around 1775–1787 on the Rainy River's west bank (near modern Fort Frances, Ontario), downstream from rapids and the old French Fort Saint Pierre (1731–1758). It functioned as a logistics hub:

• Operations: Voyageurs met here to exchange Montreal-bound furs for trade goods (beads, guns, cloth). It produced essential supplies like wild rice (harvested by local Ojibwe), fish (sturgeon, whitefish), pemmican, canoes, and kegs. Brigades couldn't carry enough food from Montreal, so the fort alleviated starvation risks.
• Route Details: A typical journey from Montreal to Rainy Lake spanned 2,000+ miles and took 6–8 weeks. It involved: Ottawa River, Mattawa River, Lake Nipissing, French River to Georgian Bay; then Lake Huron, Sault Ste. Marie rapids (portaged), Lake Superior to Kaministiquia/Grand Portage; finally, up the Kaministiquia or Pigeon River, through a series of lakes and portages (e.g., Savanne, Height of Land) to Rainy Lake. Portages were brutal—carrying 180-pound loads (two 90-pound packs) over muddy trails, battling mosquitoes and blackflies.
• Rivalry and Decline: The NWC and HBC both operated posts nearby, leading to tensions (e.g., 1792 killings at the fort). After the 1821 merger, the HBC took over, renaming it Fort Frances in 1830. By then, overhunting depleted beaver stocks, shifting trade northward.

Life as a Voyageur

Voyageurs in the early 19th century were predominantly French-Canadian men, aged 20–40, known for their endurance. Standing about 5'4" on average (better for canoe balance), they paddled 14–16 hours daily at 50 strokes per minute, covering 50–80 miles. Diets included cornmeal, peas, salted pork, and biscuit—caloric but monotonous. They sang rhythmic chansons (folk songs) to maintain pace, wore colorful sashes and caps, and formed tight-knit brigades of 8–12 men per canoe. Risks included drowning, exhaustion, hernias from portaging, and conflicts with Indigenous peoples or rivals. Many, like Jean-Baptiste, balanced this with farming back home, using earnings to support families. Indigenous alliances (e.g., with Ojibwe at Rainy Lake) were crucial for guides, food, and marriages, blending cultures.

The narrative is courtesy of Grok xAI. Thank you.

From Normandy's Shores to Montana's Frontiers: A Voyageur's Legacy

Picture the damp, fog-laden docks of Rouen in 1601, where the Seine's murky waters slapped against weathered wooden piers, and the air hung heavy with the briny scent of salt fish and tarred ropes. Here, Robert LeBer drew his first breath amid the clamor of merchants haggling over bolts of cloth and the distant clang of shipbuilders' hammers. A man of callused hands and quiet resolve, he married Colette Cavelier, born in 1605 under the shadow of towering cathedral spires, her veins carrying the adventurous blood of her cousin, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle—whose future odysseys would plunge down the Mississippi's churning currents, claiming swaths of wilderness for the French crown. Together, they wove a life in Haute-Normandie's narrow streets, where the flicker of oil lamps danced on plastered walls and the aroma of baking bread mingled with the chill evening mist. But tragedy's swift blade fell around 1625, claiming Robert and leaving Colette to face the world's tempests alone, her steadfast gaze enduring until 1694, as empires rose and her progeny set sail for horizons unknown.

Their sons became the bridge to the wild unknown, trading the stone-hewn certainty of France for New France's raw, untamed symphony. Francois LeBer, born in 1626, answered the Atlantic's roar as a voyageur, his birchbark canoe slicing through white-capped waves that tasted of salt and promise. Landing in Quebec's rugged embrace, he married Jeanne Testard de Laforest, born in 1642, a woman whose lineage whispered of nobility—niece to interpreters Jean Godefroy sieur de Linctot and Thomas Godefroy de Normanville, who had knelt beside Samuel de Champlain in smoke-filled longhouses, translating alliances amid the crackle of ceremonial pipes. In La Prairie's mud-churned paths, they battled howling blizzards and the gnawing hunger of lean winters, trading glossy beaver pelts by the glow of tallow candles until Francois's final breath in 1694, echoed soon by Jeanne's in 1723. His brother Jacques LeBer dit Larose, born in 1633, chased the same fierce dream, arriving in Montreal's palisaded frontier where the St. Lawrence's icy grip met the forest's shadowy maw. 

Partnering at Lachine's trading post with Charles Le Moyne de Longueuil et de Chateauguay—brother-in-law to your 8th great-granduncle—he bartered amid the acrid tang of gunpowder and the rhythmic thump of Iroquois drums, his life a tapestry of frozen portages and hard-won furs until 1706.

The flame leaped to Francois and Jeanne's daughter, Marie Le Ber, born in 1666 beneath Montreal's timbered roofs, where the distant howl of wolves pierced the night. She wed Francois Bourassa, a coureur des bois from Luçon, born in 1659, whose spirit burned like wildfire—those rogue runners vanishing into the emerald labyrinth of pines, their canoes groaning under pelts as they forged pacts with Algonquin and Huron amid the sweet haze of maple smoke and the sting of blackfly swarms. In La Prairie's sod-roofed cabins, they endured Iroquois raids and the bone-deep cold, the sizzle of venison on spits mingling with children's laughter, until Francois's demise in 1708. Marie's unyielding heart carried her through to 1756, a sentinel of survival.

Their daughter Marie Elisabeth Bourassa, emerging in 1695 under La Prairie's frost-laced dawn, bound her fate to Jean dit Jacques Pinsonneault dit Lafleur, born in 1682—a pioneer whose ax felled ancient oaks to raise stockades against the encroaching British, the metallic ring of hammers echoing across the river's glassy surface. As war drums throbbed and cannon smoke choked the air during the fall of New France, Jean persisted until 1773. Marie Elisabeth's brother, Rene Bourassa dit LaRonde (1688–1778), blazed into legend as a coureur des bois, allying with Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye—paddling through thunderous rapids where water roared like lions, camping under aurora-veiled skies amid the thunder of bison herds, questing for furs and the phantom Western Sea.

The voyageur vein surged in Joseph Pinsonneau, born in 1733, who clutched his oar for Michel Laselle, navigating the Great Lakes' storm-tossed fury to Detroit's mist-shrouded forts, where the oily sheen of furs met the sharp bite of rum. He married Marie Madeleine Duquet, born in 1734, daughter of Etienne Duquet dit Desrochers—a canoe craftsman whose vessels, sealed with steaming pine pitch and echoing with the scrape of adzes, bore dreams across foaming whirlpools. Their bond weathered imperial gales until her passing in 1791, his in 1799.

Son Gabriel Pinsonneau, born in 1770, inherited the restless current, voyaging for the Laselle brothers through cannon-scarred waters, the splash of paddles syncing with his heartbeat. He anchored with Marie Louise Vielle, born in 1780, sister to voyageurs Joseph and Michel Vielle dit Cosse, whose tales of post-Revolutionary tempests filled smoky taverns. Gabriel's abrupt end in 1807 cast Marie Louise, gone by 1813, as the lone guardian, her lantern a flicker in the gathering dusk.

The exodus south ignited with their son Gabriel (Gilbert) Passino dit Lafleur, born in 1803, who slipped across borders to Vermont's verdant valleys before 1830, his name softening like river stones amid Yankee accents and the lowing of cattle in misty pastures. He wed Marie Emélie Meunier dit Lagacé, born in 1808, daughter of North West Company voyageur Jean-Baptiste Meunier dit Lagacé, whose treks through Rocky Mountain blizzards left trails of frozen breath and echoed legends. In Jefferson County's fertile soils, they plowed furrows under sun-dappled leaves, the earth crumbling rich and dark beneath their fingers, until Gilbert's rest in 1877 and Emélie's in 1883 across the border.

Their daughter Lucy Passino, born in 1836 amid New York's blooming orchards, seized the pioneer blaze, marrying John Galloway Brown, born in 1833 in Philadelphia, New York—a yeoman whose gaze pierced westward like an arrow. In Montana's Flathead Valley around 1900, they claimed homesteads where the Rockies' jagged teeth gnawed the sky, battling dust devils that whipped grit into eyes and grizzlies whose growls rumbled like thunder, erecting log walls scented with fresh-cut timber amid the golden rush of railroads and vein-laced mines. John's twilight came in 1915, Lucy's in 1917 at Creston, their imprints etched in the land's unyielding clay.

This vivid odyssey, from Rouen's fog-shrouded docks to Montana's sun-baked prairies, pulses with the heartbeat of explorers—men and women who braved roaring rivers, forged ironclad bonds, and chased the horizon's gleam, transforming a family's fate across oceans and eras. My voyageur family had at last canoed the entire North American continent by the time I began paddling in their ghostly wake 300 years later.

Our Fur Trade Family Tree: Why I Passionately Study the Fur Trade

GENERATION Z

Robert LeBer

Birth 1601 • Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France

Death ABOUT 1625 • Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France

9th great-grandfather

AND

Colette Cavelier

Birth 1605 • Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France

Death 20 MAY 1694 • Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France

9th great-grandmother

(cousin of René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle)

GENERATION 1

i. Francois Leber (Le Bert, Lebert)(Voyager)

Birth 1626 • Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France

Death 19 MAY 1694 • La Prairie, Monteregie Region, Quebec, Canada

8th great-grandfather

AND

Jeanne Testard de Laforest

Birth 1642 • Rouen, Departement de la Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France

Death 18 JAN 1723 • La Prairie, Monteregie Region, Quebec, Canada

8th great-grandmother

(Nice of Jean Godefroy sieur de Linctot 1607–1678 & Thomas Godefroy de Normanville 1610–1652, who served under Champlain in the capacity of interpreters)

ii. Jacques Leber (Lebert) dit Larose (Lachine Trading Post partnership with Charles Le Moyne de Longueuil et de Chateauguay 1626-1685

brother-in-law of 8th great-granduncle) 

Birth 1633 • Normandie, Eure, Haute-Normandie, France

Death 25 NOV 1706 • Montréal, Quebec, Canada

8th great-granduncle

GENERATION 2

Marie Le Ber

Birth 6 DEC 1666 • Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Death 23 DEC 1756 • La Prairie, Quebec, Canada

7th great-grandmother

AND

Francois Bourassa (Coureur des bois)

Birth 1659 • Luçon, Eure-et-Loir, Centre, France

Death 9 MAY 1708 • La Prairie (Notre-Dame-de-LaPrairie-de-la-Madeleine), Montréal, PQ, Canada

7th great-grandfather

GENERATION 3

i. Marie Elisabeth Bourassa

Birth 25 FEB 1695 • Laprairie, Quebec, Canada

Death 19 NOV 1766 • La Prairie (Notre-Dame-de-LaPrairie-de-la-Madeleine), Québec

6th great-grandmother

AND

Jean Dit Jacques Pinsonneault dit Lafleur (La Prairie pioneer)

Birth 13 MAR 1682 • Saint-Ours, Monteregie Region, Quebec, Canada

Death 19 MAR 1773 • La Prairie, Roussillon, Quebec, Canada

6th great-grandfather

ii. Rene Bourassa dit LaRonde 1688–1778 (famous Coureur des bois who partnered with Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye for trading and exploration)

GENERATION 4

Joseph Pinsonneau (Pinsono) DNA Match (Voyageur, for Michel Laselle, to Detroit)

Birth 10 APR 1733 • La Prairie, Quebec, Canada

Death 8 AUG 1799 • Longueuil, Quebec, Canada

5th great-grandfather

AND

Marie Madeleine Duquet DNA match (d/o Etienne Duquet dit Desrochers--La Prairie Canoe Builder 1695–1753)

Birth 25 AUG 1734 • La Prairie, Quebec, Canada

Death 10 NOV 1791 • Longueuil, Quebec, Canada

5th great-grandmother

GENERATION 5

Gabriel Pinsonneau (Voyageur, for Laselle brothers, to Detroit)

Birth 5 AUG 1770 • LaPrairie-de-la-Madeleine (St Philippe), Quebec, Canada

Death 19 AUG 1807 • LaPrairie-de-la-Madeleine (Notre-Dame), Québec

4th great-grandfather

AND

Marie Louise Vielle DNA match (s/o Voyageurs--Joseph Vielle dit Cosse 1767–1797 & Michel Vielle dit Cosse 1771–1850)

Birth 23 FEB 1780 • Chambly, Québec

Death 10 APR 1813 • La Prairie, Quebec, Canada

4th great-grandmother

GENERATION 6

Gabriel (Gilbert) Passino (Passinault) (Pinsonneau) (Parsneau) dit Lafleur (immigrant to Vermont bef. 1830)

Birth 3 MAR 1803 • La Prairie (Notre-Dame-de-LaPrairie-de-la-Madeleine), Quebec

Death 16 DEC 1877 • Natural Bridge, Jefferson, New York, USA

3rd great-grandfather

AND

Marie Emélie Meunier dit Lagacé (Lagassé)(d/o of NWCo Voyageur Jean-Baptiste Meunier (Mignier) DNA match  dit Lagacé (Lagasse)

Birth 28 MARCH 1808 • Chateauguay, Monteregie Region, Quebec, Canada

Death 28 JUNE 1883 • Huntingdon, Monteregie Region, Quebec, Canada

3rd great-grandmother

GENERATION 7

Lucy Passino (Pinsonneau)(Montana homesteader)

Birth 17 JUN 1836 • Jefferson County, New York, USA

Death 3 FEB 1917 • Creston, Flathead County, Montana, USA

2nd great-grandmother

AND

John Galloway Brown (Montana homesteader)

Birth 8 AUG 1833 • Philadelphia, Jefferson, New York, United States

Death 28 MAR 1915 • Creston, Flathead, Montana, United States

2nd great-grandfather