The Cadottes: A Fur Trade Family on Lake Superior

The early history of the Great Lakes depicts the interactions between Europeans hoping to exploit the natural wealth of the New World and the indigenous population. The first to establish permanent trading posts were the French Canadians. They took native wives in "the Indian way" to cement relationships and enhance trade. Later, the British replaced the French. When the Europeans returned to the East they broke off with the native wives.

But some traders' families remained intact and flourished. Silbernagel offers us the Cadottes whose family presence on Madeline Island in western Lake Superior were important figures for two hundred years.

The Cadottes: A Fur Trade Family on Lake Superior is an interesting family history that also illuminates the history and geography of the region, the Ojibwe culture, the life of the colorful voyageurs and early fur traders, and the rise of the lucrative fur trade that produced the first multimillionaire in America.

When Silbernagel viewed the gravestone of Michel Cadotte on Madeline Island he became motivated to learn more about his life and the history of the area. He spent fifteen years researching five generations of Cadottes fur traders and interpreters for business and political ventures.

I was particularly interested in learning more about the interactions between Europeans and the Ojibwe. My husband recently donated an heirloom bible to a museum; the book had been given to his second-great-grandmother by John Riley whose father was a New York State-born trader and his mother an Ojibwe chief's daughter. I was very interested to learn that the Cadotte children were sent East for their education since one oral tradition said Riley was educated in New York State.

I enjoyed learning more about wild rice and maple syrup. I was horrified to learn about the Sandy Lake Tragedy, the forced migration of Great Lakes natives that resulted in more deaths than the Sand Creek Massacre or Wounded Knee.

The Cadottes is more than a family history. It will appeal to a wide range of readers. Through the history of one family, readers gain a well-rounded and detailed understanding of the times, people, and culture of the Colonial Great Lakes.

The book's illustrations include maps; historical depictions of voyageurs, Ojibwe, and the settlements; photographs of places, events and personages; and even snowshoe styles and beaver hat styles by era.

I was given access to a free ebook by the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

from the publisher:
The Great Lakes fur trade spanned two centuries and thousands of miles, but the story of one particular family, the Cadottes, illuminates the history of trade and trapping while exploring under-researched stories of French-Ojibwe political, social, and economic relations. Multiple generations of Cadottes were involved in the trade, usually working as interpreters and peacemakers, as the region passed from French to British to American control. Focusing on the years 1760 to 1840—the heyday of the Great Lakes fur trade—Robert Silbernagel delves into the lives of the Cadottes, with particular emphasis on the Ojibwe–French Canadian Michel Cadotte and his Ojibwe wife, Equaysayway, who were traders and regional leaders on Madeline Island for nearly forty years. In The Cadottes: A Fur Trade Family on Lake Superior, Silbernagel deepens our understanding of this era with stories of resilient, remarkable people. 

About the author:Robert Silbernagel studied journalism at the University of Wisconsin and spent his newspaper career in Colorado. He writes a bimonthly column for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel and has published on Aldo Leopold and Colorado history.

To learn more visit
http://thecrite.com/coloradomesau/criterion-advisor-signs-book-deal/

The Cadottes: A Fur Trade Family on Lake Superior
by Robert Silbernagel
Wisconsin Historical Society Press
May 29, 2020
Hardcover $28.95 USD
ISBN 9780870209406, 087020940X

Novels with a Sense of Place

I have recently two books that offer a wonderful sense of place. Vacationland by Sarah Stonich is set in the far north of Minnesota, along Lake Superior. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is set in the North Carolina marshes. 

Vacationland with quilt Michigan Autumn by Nancy A. Bekofske

Reading Laurentian Divide through Bookish I fell in love with Hatchet Inlet and the people of Naledi lodge. I learned that the novel is based on Sarah Stonich's set of interconnected short stories Vacationland and found a copy through my local library.

If anything, I would say that Vacationland is even better than the novel. And that's saying a lot, folks. I feel like I know so much more about these characters and their experience. Hatchet Inlet becomes more "real" and vivid in these stories. The depth of human experience in all its varieties that Stonich elicits from a small group of people is profound. The stories left me heart sore and some will stay vivid in my mind for a very long time.

The sense of place comes alive through the character's love of this far north land where Chicagoans come to summer but few have the stamina to stay year round. And in descriptions that leave a visual image.

Much of the resort is pocked with neglect: a sack of mortar left leaning near a wall has hardened to its own shape, with tatters of sack flapping; a tipped wheelbarrow has a maple sapling sprung through its rusted hole. Flat stones form a run of stairs have eroded to a jumble below, and high on the plateau old cabins lean like a trio of gossips, their eaves and sills lushly bumpered with moss...Bunchberry has berried and the sumac has gone bright. A fork in the path leads to a bog, where each footprint fills with water and spindly tamarack drop yellow needles. At her feet are colorful pitcher plants looking tropical and misplaced amid the hair-cap and hornwort...Water hyacinths, leatherleaf, bog rosemary--soft and woody plants in various stages of growth and bloom and rot make for a heady decay. from short story Hesitation in Vacationland by Sarah Stonich 

Bunchberries in bloom, Upper Peninsula of Michigan near Lake Superior. Photo by Gary L. Bekofske

stones near the Lake Superior shore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Photo by Gary L. Bekofske

I heard so much about Delia Owen's first novel Where the Crawdads Sing. I had high expectations, based on reviews by Goodreads friends. 

I found it to be a good page-turner read, with a vivid sense of place. The author's love of the North Carolina marshland shines in lovely descriptive passages. I enjoyed this aspect of the novel.

The further I read into the book, the less satisfied I was with the plot which stretched my credulity. And the supporting characters were standard stereotypes: good boy, bad boy, drunk father, a mother who has run off, the victim of societal prejudice.

It is the story of an abandoned child who shuns society and manages to survive with the help of a kindly African American family who offers her covert charity. There is a boy who loves her too much (and teaches Kya to read) but leaves her, and a boy who loves himself more and leaves her. The girl grows up to become an expert on marsh flora and fauna, illustrating and writing scientific books about the marsh. There is a suspicious death, a trial, and an unexpected reveal.

I am in the minority in rating this as an average read. Entertaining enough. The marsh is memorable and the best-drawn 'character' in the novel. But it is hard to believe that a small child would be left alone to raise herself, ignored by society, survive without incident, and grow up to become a self-educated scholar and science writer. There was foreshadowing but no real lead up for the twisted ending.

I recalled the quote from Alice in Wonderland:

“There's no use trying,” she said: “one can't believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven't had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

If you are willing to believe the impossible, Kya's story will tug your heartstrings.

The novel is filled with wonderful observations of the flora and fauna of the marsh. Kya is so connected to the land, her boyfriend knows she could not survive penned up into "civilization" and the teeming human life of the city. It is this wild world that feeds her soul.

Sandhill Crane in the Seney National Wildlife Preserve marsh, Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Photo by Gary L. Bekofske
This is the setting for The March King's Daughter by Karen Dionne

Other novels I have read this year with a sense of place include:

The March King's Daughter by Karen Dionne, set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula near Seney Wildlife Preserve

Virgil Wander by Leif Enger, set in Minnesota along Lake Superior

Marlena by Julie Buntin set in Northern Michigan near Lake Superior

Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell set on and near the Kalamazoo River in Michigan

Hard Cider  by Barbara Stark-Nemon set in the Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan

A Collar for Cerberus by Matt Stanley set in Greece

Historical fiction

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Our Homesick Songs by Emma Hooper set in Newfoundland

The River by Starlight by Ellen Notbohm set in Montana

The Winter Station by Jody Shields set in Manchuria

The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason set on the Eastern Front of WWI