Special History:
The Environment and the Fur Trade Experience in
Voyageurs National Park, 1730-1870

Chapter Four
The Natural Environment in the Fur Trade Era (continued)

Climate

Historians of climate use historical documents to trace climate change and extreme weather events in the past. For periods of time prior to the advent of weather stations in the late nineteenth century, historical documentation consists primarily of anecdotal comparisons between different places and points in time and unscientific observations of extreme weather events. For the fur trade era in the Rainy Lake Region, historical documentation consists almost solely of observations by fur traders and explorers augmented by occasional climatic data recorded by a geographer such as David Thompson. Despite the limitations of the historical documentation, data drawn from sources like these have been used in other contexts to reconstruct past climatic influences on both the natural and cultural environment.

Fur traders and explorers who recorded their observations on climate in the Rainy Lake Region had a variety of practical concerns in mind. The long, cold winters had a profound effect on local travel as well as on long distance commerce between Fort Chipewyan and Montreal; therefore, traders often noted when the surface of the lakes and rivers froze or thawed. Weather events such as unusually high water affected animal populations, so fur traders sometimes noted these as well. A third practical concern was the climate's effect on crops–the vegetables and grain that were planted around the post and the wild rice that the Indians harvested and traded. Finally, weather was a frequent source of discomfort or strangeness; consequently, post journals and travel diaries provide almost daily weather reports and are sprinkled with complaints about excessive cold, rain, or heat. In general, historical documentation of climate conditions falls into two categories: observations that reveal weather patterns, and descriptions of extreme weather events.

One could examine the Hudson's Bay Company post journals and assemble a substantial set of data for the period 1793-1870 on various indices of seasonal weather patterns: first hard frost, first snow, beginning of freeze-up, snow depth in mid-winter, beginning of spring thaw, water depth after spring thaw, frequency of summer storms. Some traders kept more consistent records on the weather than others. Most traders began every entry with a weather report. On September 29, 1796, John McKay recorded a "hard frost." Over the following weeks, his daily observation of the weather went as follows:

September 30	Wind NE fine clear weather.
October 1	Wind SW fine day.
October 2	Wind West clear warm weather.
October 3	Wind West blowing a storm a head with rain most part of the Day.
October 4	Wind West blowing an hurricane with dreadful rain and hail.
October 5	Wind NW with snow.
October 6	Wind North blowing cold and hard.
October 7	Wind blowing a storm.
October 8	Wind East blowing hard.
October 9	Wind South blowing hard.
October 10	Wind South cloudy weather.
October 11	Wind North blowing a strong breeze.
October 12	Wind NW clear weather.
October 13	Wind West fine day.
October 14	Wind SE blowing a perfect storm.
October 15	Wind NW blowing a perfect storm, as it always [does] at this place in the fall.
October 16	Wind West blowing hard.
October 17	Wind SE cloudy weather.
October 24	Wind NE cloudy weather.
October 25	Wind East with snow.
October 26	Wind East with rain all day.
November 4	Wind West blowing a storm as usual.

Most of the post journals follow McKay's format of beginning each entry with a brief weather report. Indeed, the post journal for 1840-1841 consists solely of weather reports from October 1, 1839 to May 29, 1841. Most of these post journals have been transcribed by Thomas Thiessen of the Midwest Archaeological Center in Lincoln, Nebraska and these transcriptions are included in the documentation filed with this report.

The post journals contain numerous references to the thickness of the ice. Thin ice inhibited travel just as solid ice facilitated travel. On February 18, 1818, Donald McPherson reported that the ice on Rainy Lake measured 2 1/2 feet thick. On February 16, 1819, Robert Logan noted that McPherson and a companion had attempted to cross the river but the ice was drifting so much that they could not get over–a description that suggests the beginning of spring break-up. In late January 1820, Roderick McKenzie reported several days in a row of "amazing cold," and on January 30 he noted that the ice had once again "set fast below the fall." This type of information could be gathered in a weather table to compare climate patterns in the fur trade era with what they are today.

Lac La Pluie District reports are another good source of climatic data for the fur trade era. In these reports, fur traders tended to describe their impressions of the local climate. John Cameron noted in his report for 1826 that winters generally lasted from November 1 to May 1, heavy rains fell in the spring and fall, and hard frosts were known to occur in the summer which often destroyed the crops. Post trader John McLoughlin summarized his impressions of the local climate in a report, probably written about 1805, on "Indians from Fort William to Lake of the Woods." He wrote:

The climate is not colder than about Quebec and perhaps not so cold. On the 16th of April, we saw bustards; the 22d, all the snow was off the ground; the 4th May all the ice broke up in Vermilion Lake, which is about ten leagues in length and four in breadth and from fifteen to ten fathoms deep. Moreover, this is thought to be a late spring. Last year, the ice broke up on the 25th April and this year, on the 25th of the same month we saw wild pigeons and it must likewise be observed that in Canada the lakes are much smaller while the rivers are smaller here and the ice is rather carried away by the force of the current than melted by heat of the sun, while here it is the reverse. There is no sudden swell of water sufficient to raise it and no current strong enough to break it. It must melt till it comes into flakes and, being loosened along shore, the least impulse of wind is sufficient to break it, so that often a lake is entirely open in the evening which, in the morning, was an extensive field of ice.

Sometimes traders wrote about the climate based on considerable personal experience. Peter Grant noted that in the course of some eighteen years in the country he had never seen more than three feet of snow depth and in many winters he remembered not more than a foot. Grant's memory of snow depth, however, may be contrasted with two later accounts. In 1820, Roderick McKenzie estimated that the snow depth had reached 4-1/2 feet. And in 1857, the post trader at Fort Frances informed Henry Youle Hind that snow characteristically accumulated to a depth of four feet. The trader also remarked that he had never known the Rainy River to freeze over between the falls and the Little Fork, nor between the falls and the river's source in Rainy Lake. When this information is compared with Robert Logan's note in February 1819 and Roderick McKenzie's weather reports through the winter of 1819-1820, it suggests that the 1850s were a period of relatively warm winters or that the winters of 1818-20 were unusually cold.

In some cases, weather extremes are stated, not just suggested, in the historical sources. In 1824, John McLoughlin wrote that the winter was so mild, with so little snow, that "martens do not bait." The following winter was also mild. On March 23, 1825, John Cameron noted that the Rainy River was open half way down, and on April 23 he reported that no ice remained on the lakes–"a most extraordinary circumstance" according to one of the local Indians. Cameron's Indian informant also stated that most of the muskrats had died in the course of the winter, many perishing inside their lodges. "There is not within the Memory of the oldest People in the Country, Such an other instance of an early Breaking up of the Ice," Cameron wrote. "The Great and Sudden heat which took place with the beginning of this Month Such weather as according to the Natives of the Climate and Country (at least generally Speaking) we should have expected only in May."

Cameron gleaned other climatic and ecological information from the Indians. As heavy rain fell and the Rainy River rose rapidly in early May, Cameron learned of the disastrous effects the high water would have on the wild rice crop. "From the Great rise of the water, we may bid adieu to Rice for this year," he wrote. The next day he added, "I am afraid this high water will Cause a Scarcity during Summer." In his district report for that year, Cameron blamed the high water for poor fishing, too. "The water was so high in the autumn that McMurray at White Fish Lake caught few fish and his winter fishery was far from being productive." The following year, Cameron further explained that the wild rice was vulnerable to high water in summer and again when the water was low, which caused the stalks to break and the whole crop to fall into the water. Besides the two extremes of high or low water, the wild rice crop was frequently destroyed by high winds, heavy rains, or showers of hail.

Regulated water levels in the twentieth century Dams constructed at the outlets of Rainy and Namakan Lakes in the early 1900s also have influenced park ecosystems. Periodic reports by Canadian and U.S. engineers (park files) show that yearly water level fluctuations with the dams have averaged 1.1 meters (3.6 feet) in Rainy Lake and 2.8 meters (9.3 feet) in adjoining Namakan, Kabetogama, Sand Point and Crane Lakes. Calculated "natural" fluctuations over this same 1909-1980 period averaged 2.0 meters (6.7 feet) in Rainy Lake and 1.9 meters (6.4 feet) for the Namakan chain of lakes....Regulated fluctuations also have differed from natural fluctuations in timing by their usually having lake levels rising through, instead of peaking, in June and usually having July peaks; by having stable instead of generally declining levels over summer and fall; and, in the case of the Namakan chain, by having declines of about 1.8 meters (6 feet) instead of about 1.1 meters (3.6 feet) over winter (November-March). In the Namakan chain of lakes, the once extensive beds of wild rice have been replaced by other aquatic vegetation in response to the changed water regime, and the greater over-winter water level declines leave beaver and muskrats without shelter or food and dewater northern pike (Esox luscius) spawning areas. In all four lakes, the rapidly rising lake levels through June regularly flood the nests of shore and marsh nesting birds, and the stable lake levels over summer and fall allow sand or silt to accumulate on walleye (Stizostedian vitreum) spawning areas. —From "A Boreal Forest Park: Problems and Approaches," Park Science, 1982.

Fur traders commented often on unusually high or low water levels, because they recognized that the water regime influenced three environmental factors that were perhaps of greatest consequence to them: navigability of waterways, animal population fluctuations, and the wild rice crop. In 1835, Cameron reported that the water level was unusually high throughout the route from Lake Winnipeg to Fort William and as a consequence there was a complete failure of rice across the entire region for the third summer in succession–a rare circumstance. Two years later, the Fort Frances post journal recorded yet another wet year. In October the hay stacks were under water and Rainy Lake was so high as to form a bay six feet deep where there had once been an extensive field of hay. Henry Youle Hind reported extreme low water in 1858–lake levels were four to five feet below water lines on the rocky shores–and he noted that Indians attributed this condition to the light snowfall in the winter of 1857-58.

Some historical data could be useful to natural resource managers for establishing what was within the usual range of high and low water levels during the fur trade era, rather than providing examples of high and low extremes. Several travelers commented on the water lines observable along rocky shores. John Bigsby wrote, "Every one of the series of lakes we have been passing through has its own set of water-levels, from one to five horizontal lines, usually green or yellow, and formed of the surface-scum of the waters, which, by the bye, are almost always of the most excellent quality. The larger the lake, the greater the range of water-lines." Bigsby noted that the water line was highest on the north shore of Rainy Lake, opposite Brule Narrows, where it appeared five feet above the current water level. Many years later, the Second Red River Expedition's Justus A. Griffin noted that the water lines around Namakan Lake were seven feet above the current water level. The party did not take the usual portage between Namakan Lake and Rainy Lake (New Portage or Bear River) because the water was too low.

Others commented on water levels with regard to portages. William Keating described the same low water conditions encountered by Bigsby in 1823:

There can be no doubt that the level of the water changes much, even at this elevated summit, for we find that the routes followed by canoes vary frequently. We are informed that that which we pursued is often so dry as to admit of an easy portage of a mile in the bed of a river which at that time contained sufficient water to float our canoes, even with their heavy loads. As these routes are not all equally long, the shortest and easiest are selected whenever the level of the water admits of their being traveled.

Portages and Decharge between Namakan River and Rainy River Portage du lac de la Pluie..................320 yards Decharge du petit Rapide du lac de la Pluie Portage Neuf (2)...............................320 yards, 180 yards —William H. Keating, Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River, p. 141.

Some travelers described the portages in detail, giving lengths and heights for each. A systematic review of such descriptions could be done to determine variations in water levels at these geographic points.

The geographer David Thompson recorded yet another type of data: lake water temperatures. During a trip in July and August 1839, Thompson obtained the following temperature readings in degrees Fahrenheit:

July
Lac La Croix		74.5°
Rainy Lake		72°
Rainy River		69°
Lake of the Woods		75°, 70.75°, 72.75°, 71°
August
Rainy Lake		71°
Namakan Lake		76°
Vermilion Lake		76°
Lac La Croix		72°
Sturgeon Lake		71°

Historical sources from the fur trade era are not helpful for determining average lake levels prior to the development of dams. This problem is more complicated than one might expect, because at the time hydroelectric dams were constructed at Kettle Falls and International Falls in the early 1900s, natural conditions had already been altered for several years by numerous logging dams. Around 1915, the International Joint Commission sponsored a study aimed at determining lake levels in a "state of nature." The consulting engineers who undertook the study assembled considerable historical data on annual precipitation and runoff from the 1880s through 1910. Their final report highlighted changes in the amount of fluctuation before and after the dams were built, but did not disclose average lake levels prior to the development of dams.

On January 6, 2000, the International Joint Commission issued a new Supplementary Order for the management of Rainy Lake and Namakan Reservoir in Voyageurs National Park. The impetus for this change came from work by U.S. and Canadian representatives, including the National Park Service, concerned about the ecological effects of the water management regime adopted in 1970. NPS research in the 1980s and 1990s was a significant component of the analysis and final report that petitioned the International Joint Commission in 1993. The change in management will have the greatest impact on Namakan Lake where both the magnitude and timing of water levels will more closely approximate natural conditions. The changes on Rainy Lake, although minor, still hold the potential for some environmental restoration, which has been the park's principal objective in over twenty years of involvement.

Historical sources are much less adequate in their coverage of other types of weather events such as hail, wind, and lightning storms and forest fires. In general, such disturbances were more localized than high or low water conditions. Fragments of information may be gleaned from post journals or travelers' diaries, but one imagines that many such weather events occurred without being recorded. Traversing Rainy Lake in August 1794, John MacDonell described a summer storm: "Rained hailed and thundered in loud peals accompanied by a tempestuous wind, some of the hail stones we picked up were as big as the yolk of an egg." Simon M'Gillivray described the weather in that same month of August 1794: "Scarcely a day passes without producing violent storms of thunder lightening & rain, so that we are up to the knees in mud in most of the carrying places."

Forest fires, or the evidence of recent forest fires, are occasionally mentioned. Hugh Faries described a forest fire in the vicinity of the North West Company fort below the outlet of Rainy Lake in late October 1804. Fire was all around, he wrote, and a high wind from the southwest nearly caused the fort itself to catch fire. On the following day, the vegetation was still burning around the fort. This was evidently a part of the "great fires" that blew up during the summers of 1803 and 1804. Local inhabitants–probably voyageurs as well as Indians since the actual years were remembered–still recalled those terrible fire seasons more than twenty years later. They described to John Cameron how the whole country had been in a continual blaze nearly from one end to the other and that the fires only died when snow fell in the autumn. Cameron speculated that the great fires of 1803-1804 had caused a reduction in the beaver population.

There were later reports of forest fire. John Bigsby noted that the uplands surrounding the northwest arm of Rainy Lake were largely burned over in 1823. Sir George Simpson reported the beginning of a forest fire on the portage between Namakan and Rainy lakes in 1841. "As we were passing down this narrow and shallow creek, fire suddenly burst forth in the woods near us," he wrote. "The flames, crackling and clambering up each tree, quickly rose above the forest; within a few minutes more the dry grass on the very margin of the waters was in a running blaze; and, before we were well clear of the danger, we were almost enveloped in clouds of smoke and ashes." Simpson's account underscores the problem of researching fire history in the records of the fur trade, for it was sheer coincidence that Simpson's party passed through this locality when the fire began. Records of fires may be found in these historical sources, but the evidence of fire is anecdotal.

Table of Contents | Introduction | Rainy Lake Region | Fur Trade Experience | Material Culture | Natural Environment | Bibliography