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H.A. Ogden
At the Portage: Hudson's Bay Company's Employees on Their Annual Expedition
From Picturesque Canada, vol. 1
(Toronto, 1882)
Hudson's Bay Company Archives
(RB FC 51 vol. 1, opp. p. 309 [N13764])
Provincial Archives of Manitoba
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 his drawing gives us some idea of the size and shapes of bales, barrels, boxes, and other articles transported by fur trade canoes.
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W. H. Bartlett
Working a Canoe up a Rapid, c. 1842
National Archives of Canada (C2390)
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 n addition to pulling the canoe ashore and hauling it around the rapids, the crew carried as much as three tons of freight or equipment in relays across the same distance.
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n 1826 the ideal voyageur was described: "[he is] short, thick set, and active and never tire[s]." But to carry 270 pounds (122 kilograms) while moving as fast as five miles (eight kilometres) per hour on a portage surely led to exhaustion, as this painting shows.
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William G. R. Hind
Voyageurs in Labrador, 1861
Geological Survey of Canada
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