AGAINST THE CURRENT: A HISTORICAL NOVEL AND TEACHING UNIT AUTHORED FOR USE IN AN INTEGRATED JUNIOR HIGH CLASSROOM DAN RYDER B.A.IB.Ed., University of Lethbridge, 1989 A One-Credit Project Submitted to the Faculty of Education of The University of Lethbridge in Partial FulfIllment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF EDUCATION LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA September, 1995 For my family Education is not the answer. It helps you identify the questions. Against the Current is the story of a young voyageur with the Hudson's Bay Company. He travels with Governor George Simpson on his famous 1828 journey from York Factory on the Hudson Bay to Fort Langley on the Fraser River. When he begins the 3000 mile canoe voyage he is a boy, fifteen years old, and full of energy and independence. But paddling against the current sixteen hours a day takes its toll on him, and he recognizes that physical strength is not enough to get him through the journey. Along the way, he is confronted by murderous voyageur, who threatens both him and his friends. He must take action to save lives and prove the guilt of his aggressor. The conflict in the wilderness of Canada's fur trade teaches him about the importance of friendship and cooperation. It complements Social 8B, Canada to 1860 well. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS PROLOGUE ..................................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER ONE: THE INHERITANCE .......................................................................... 7 CHAPTER TWO: THE HUDSON'S BAY CO ............................................................. 11 CHAPTER THREE: YORK FACTORY ....................................................................... 17 CHAPTER FOUR: GOVERNOR SIMPSON ................................................................ 30 CHAPTER FIVE: MISSING .......................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER SIX: THE DEPARTURE ........................................................................... .41 CHAPTER SEVEN: THE REQUIREMENTS ............................................................... 45 CHAPTER EIGHT: THE LESSON ............................................................................... 49 CHAPTER NINE: TEST OF STRENGTH .................................................................... 52 CHAPTER TEN: THE SURPRISE ................................................................................ 63 CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE MASSACRE ..................................................................... 68 CHAPTER TWELVE: NOTTINGHAM HOUSE ........................................................... 76 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE BUTTERTUB ................................................................ 82 CHAPTER FOURTEEN: ANNA ROWN ...................................................................... 93 CHAPTER FIFTEEN: THE DEPARTURE ................................................................... 97 CHAPTER SIXTEEN: PEMMICAN ........................................................................... 105 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: PORTAGE ........................................................................ 113 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: NEW CALEDONIA ............................................................ 121 3 CHAPTER NINETEEN: ASSAULT ................................................ · .. · .. ·· .. ·· .. · .. ·· .......... 125 CHAPTER TWENTY: FORT ST. JAMES .................................................................. 132 FACT AND FICTION ................................................................................................... 137 TEACHING UNIT ........................................................................................................ 139 RATIONALE ................................................................................................................ 140 ABOUT THE NOVEL FORMAT ................................................................................. 140 ABOUT WRITING A NOVEL ..................................................................................... 140 ABOUT INTEGRATION OF LANGUAGE ARTS AND SOCIAL STUDIES ............ 140 ABOUT THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIT ................................................................ 140 OBJECTIVES OF THE NOVEL UNIT ........................................................................ 141 THE UNIT ..................................................................................................................... 142 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................... 148 BIBLIOGRAPHy ......................................................................................................... 154 4 Prologue August, 1828 "Harder! Harder! You need to paddle a damn might harder than that if we're going to keep up with the Governor's canoe," the Steersman yelled. Sweat from a hard day's work streamed from my face. My muscles ached from yesterday's portage, but yet I needed to push my sore arms more to keep up the Governor's break-neck pace. His canoe was in front of us about seventy-five feet, and you could see his frustration every time he turned his head and saw our canoe drop farther back. "What's your problem, Taylor? You gotta use those little lumps in your arms you call muscles!" The Steersman focused his anger on me for the first time today. I knew he was right. I wasn't able to pound out the sixty strokes per-minute rate. A hard pace called for us to paddle forty strokes every minute. That was the pace set for every other voyageur journey that anyone in my canoe could remember. Maybe you'd get up to sixty in a race with another canoe to see which crew was faster. To attempt to keep this pace up for a voyage from York Factory in Hudson's Bay to Fort Langley on the mouth ofthe Fraser River on the west coast was outrageous. I pleaded with my fatigued arms to keep up the pace by tightening my grip on the oar, but they could do no more. Yesterday's carrying of two ninety-pound packs across the twelve mile portage had sapped my body of all its energy. My arms, numb from the pain of paddling hung like hundred-pound weights at the side of my body. They would no longer follow my command. 5 The Steersman eyed me with a bloodshot glare. "The only dead weight we need on this canoe is the stores we can eat," he raged. Before I could increase my pace I heard his paddle leave the water and crash against the left side of my face. I dared not look back as I felt the blood trickle down my cheek. I didn't dare to let my hands leave the paddle to comfort my face. If! stopped to soak up the blood, I would certainly get another blow from the Steersman's oar. I re-focused on the rhythm the rest of the crew was setting, and dug my oar into the cold morning water of the Athabasca River. The air was unusually crisp for early August. Being this far north the trees along the bank would soon start turning colour. Out of the comer of my eye I saw Archibald McDonald, one ofthe leaders of the voyage, counting the number of beaver swimming along shore. He was muttering something to himself about a good season in pelts. I quickly returned my attention to the rhythm of my oar before I received another swipe from the Steersman's paddle. When we started our journey on July 12, 1828, the air was wann and our bodies were fresh. All of the voyageurs in the canoe were eager to be part of the Simpson voyage to the outer reaches of the Hudson's Bay Company's territory. The bowsman at the front of the canoe and the steersman at the back were supposed to be the best in the country. Even the four Mileux, who sat in the middle of the canoe and supplied the lion's share of power, were hand picked by the Governor himself. Now 18 days and 1200 miles later, I was regretting my decision to join up with Governor George Simpson's voyage. We were not even halfway through the 3000 mile journey. As my body found cadence in the water, and the Steersman found someone else to terrorize, I thought about my brother. I wondered how he was doing with the fann my parents left to him. Did he 6 still think of me? Did my parents think about that night six months ago when I left the safety of their home to become a voyageur? Chapter One: The Inheritance December, 1827 "Why can't we each have half of the farm?" I questioned my parents. This discussion obviously pained my father as he faced the window, his back towards me. I didn't know if anger or the bite of cold turned his face and cheeks red. The single pane glass did little to keep out December's harsh wind. Especially since the house was unsheltered from the freezing winter gusts. Our farm was located twelve miles North of Montreal. A dirt cart track allowed only infrequent visits to the city. Never in winter. Once a month when it was warm. Freezing Arctic winds had long since made travel impossible, trapping the four of us in our home for the long, cold winter. Only my father ventured out to the barn to feed the livestock, and to bring back some firewood that my older brother chopped last October. My brother Terrance turned into a man last summer. His slender frame took on bulk as he worked alongside of our father. I knew that my mother was proud of my brother. It was in the way she looked at him, not as a son who needed to be directed or checked up on. There was more admiration in her glances now. Terrance started to say things about needing more hay for the animals this winter, and mother would listen to him. With me it was always the same response,