Ripples from La Prairie Voyageur Canoes: Genealogy Roadtrip to Voyageurs National Park

Day Three

The weather forecast was 60+ percent rain with possible snow flurries, so a two hundred mile roundtrip drive to Lake of the Woods seemed like a good way to spend a day, and see some new country.

The highway between International Falls (or Fort Frances) and Lake of the Woods basically parallels the 85 mile long Rainy River. The river flows west northwest from Rainy Lake (French: lac à la Pluie) to Lake of the Woods (Ojibwe: Couchiching), and is the international boundary between the United States and Canada along the Minnesota/Ontario border.

Rainy River has a lengthy fur trade history, and in over more than a hundred year span it was home to trading posts for the French, the North West Company, the American Fur Company, and the Hudson’s Bay Company. Several of my French-Canadian voyageur ancestors paddled its course.

The drive from International Falls to Warroad on the American side of the river is just about 100 miles. The scenery is a delightful mix of boreal forest and well maintained small farms as you can see in this vintage postcard of Baudette, Minnesota. Everything in late September is green with a hint of the yellow-orange fall colors.

There are two border crossings (international bridges) on the river, one at International Falls, and a second at Baudette, Minnesota.

A hundred years ago steamboats regularly ran between Rainy Lake and Lake of the Woods. I wonder if anyone ever fished from one because Rainy River offers one of the best walleye and sturgeon fisheries in all of North America. A prehistoric monster sturgeon, can sometimes exceed 100 lbs!

They claim, when spring fishing begins at first ice out, it is not uncommon for a fishermen to catch multiple trophy walleyes in a single day. Baudette even brags about their walleye population with this amazing sculpture.

When I arrived at Warroad, Minnesota, I took the well marked road to Lake of the Woods. As expected the lake is enormous and the stormy weather caused everything to blend in shades of gray.

About Warroad from https://visitwarroad.com/history/:

Warroad was once one of the largest Chippewa villages on Lake of the Woods. The Chippewa fought a long and fierce war against the Sioux for the lake’s rice fields. Occupying the prairies of the Red River Valley, the Sioux would frequently invade the territory by way of the Red and Roseau Rivers, a route which ended at the mouth of the Warroad River. This was the old “war road” from which the river and village derived their name.

Near the Warroad Fishing Pier on the Lake of the Woods I was both surprised and delighted to find a marker about Fort St. Charles established in 1732, by Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Verendrye, explorer and leader of a fur brigade which Rene Bourassa (my 7th Grand-Uncle) was part of.

After debating with myself, long and hard, I decided to cross into Canada at Baudette. I really wasn’t looking forward to more harassment by the CBP, but as an American I refuse to be intimidated by a few misguided young thugs. Hopefully what happened at the border two days before was a fluke and today would bring a better outcome.

At the international bridge between Fort Frances and International Falls I once again came to the CBP checkpoint. This time I encountered another young officer, but this one had a thick foreign accent. Perhaps I thought to myself this will go better. It didn’t — he grilled me with a suspicious countenance, and I’m sure he was about to detain and search me when another young officer from two days earlier walked in. I asked him if he remembered me, and after a quick confab, I was waived through. The bitter taste of my CBP treatment will take a longtime to heal.

At Last Storm Clouds Part, and My Luck Returns

After a quick lunch in International Falls I decided to drive out to Rainy Lake, and inquire at a few Lodges if they had a small canoe I could rent for a few hours.

After a couple rejections I encountered an absolutely delightful young woman who is the owner of Island View Lodge on Rainy Lake. She didn’t have any rentals, but after explaining to her my mission of canoeing with the voyageur spirits of my ancestors, she offered to let me borrow a kayak for the afternoon.

I admit I was a little overawed by the kayak. I have canoed all over North America for more than 60 years, but this was my first time in a kayak. It went better than I expected, aside from being harder to get out of, and the constant drip of water on my pants from the double bladed paddle, it was a pleasant ride. I had read the water in Rainy Lake is dark, but to me it was almost black.

At last I was paddling with Grandfather Spirits with breathtaking views of the islands on magnificent Rainy Lake — part of the Vouyageur’s Highway between Montreal and the Athabasca Country — where the best beaver pelts in North America were to be found.