History

Part 16

For many wintering partners, wives and families were the most important helpers they had in the interior. Fur trade marriages, known as a la façon du pays, or "in the custom of the country," brought Native women and company men together. 

For the traders, marriage offered relief from the extreme isolation and loneliness. Wives were companions who could make moccasins, tend house and and cook. They shared their knowledge of native languages and customs. 

And they could help negotiate business with their Native families. . . . it is customary for all the Gentlemen who come in this Country to remain any length of time to have a fair partner, with whom they can pass their time at least more sociably if not more agreeably than to love a lonely, solitary life, as they must do if single.

 —Daniel Harmon, 1806 Native wives also made important contributions to the economics of the trade. Many necessary tasks, like butchering meat, skinning animals and preparing hides were the results of their labor. Despite their importance, country wives are rarely mentioned in trader's journals or accounts. 

John Sayer spent the winter of 1804 with a woman he mentions only once in his journal. Obemau-unoqua was likely with Sayer when he settled at Fort St. Louis in 1793. The daughter of the important Ojibwe chief Ma-Mongazida, Obemau-unoqua gave Sayer social importance as well as political allies among the Ojibwe. With Sayer, she raised at least three sons, one of which later became a clerk with Hudson's Bay Company.

The fur trade was made-up of individuals of vastly different backgrounds and experiences—wealthy partners, hard-working clerks, colorful voyageurs and skilled Native men and women. Each had an important role in the operation of the business and was dependent on one another. Montreal agents made their profits from selling the hides native women cleaned. 

Voyageurs relied on the clerks to keep accurate account books to ensure they received the proper pay. All of these people struggled to navigate the complex economy of the fur trade. In the minds of businessmen, on the backs of working men and in the hands of native men and women the fur trade was built. 

Most voyageurs were hired because of their skill and strength as paddlers. Finally, there were the Native men, women and families. While not employed by the company, they nonetheless played important roles in the trade as interpreters and diplomats. And since the Nor'westers did not hunt for themselves, almost all their food was provided by Native men and women. Traders also depended on Native men and women for their traditional skills such as skinning animals and building canoes.