The First Canadian Capots

Capots were originally a kind of a hooded coat or gown worn by French sailors in wet or bad weather. Capots were first used in Canada by Natives ; as early as 1606, French sailors were trading their capots to the Micmac on the Atlantic coast. They seem to have become popular trade goods ; by 1620, a French captain found it necessary to order his sailors not to trade away their capots until all the other trade goods had been used up [1].

It didn't take long for French settlers to adopt the sailor's capot also. By 1619, it was suggested that French settlers travelling to Quebec be outfitted with capots [2]. The habitants soon made the capot more fashionable than the sailor's utilitarian garment. From about 1650 to 1720, Canadian capots were made to imitate the fashionable justaucorps coat by adding long 'boot' cuffs, which sometimes were secured with a row of decorative buttons at the top of the cuff. Unlike the justaucorps, however, the capot had no buttons down the front ; instead, it was closed with a sash. These early capots were almost always made from serge (a kind of wool) ; linen, leather, and beaver skin capots are also recorded [3].

Capots made from blankets and blanketing were used by Indians as early as 1644, although other fabrics were also used. By the middle of the eighteenth century, voyageurs had also adopted the blanket capot [4]. In 1761 and 1764, when Alexander Henry the Elder wished to dress like a voyageur, a 'molton, or blanket coat' provided part of his costume [5].

A number of visitors to Canada and the United States wrote detailed descriptions of the capot. In 1776, a German officer serving in Canada described it as 'a Canadian hooded overcoat of white sheeps wool edged with light blue stripes. The hood itself is made of a whitish grey cloth ; a kind of melton. The coat is trimmed with light blue woolen ribbon, and is fastened at three places extending down in front to the waist with rosettes, the latter being made of the same blue ribbon.' [6] The 'rosettes' were probably three pairs of ribbons sewed onto the front of the capot, to be tied in a bow to close it ; this style of closure is shown on a 1778 drawing of a habitant [7]. This drawing shows a capot which is white with a blue stripe just above the hem and the ends of the sleeves. Also in 1776, Baroness Von Reidesel described her husband as 'dressed in Canadian fashion in a sort of cassock made of woolen blankets, from which the red and blue borders had not been removed, and which were heavily trimmed with ribbons.'[8] Canadian peasants were described wearing 'a blanket coat which they fasten around the body with a worsted sash' by Thomas Anburey in 1776 [9].

In 1804, a North West Company fur trader described Native men wearing 'a molton capot, or coat, in the Canadian fashion, which comes down to the knees ; a gun screw or a small peg of wood is sufficient to fasten it about the breast and serve in place of buttons ; they tighten it around the waist with a worsted belt.'[10] In 1807, traveler John Lambert noted that 'the dress of the Habitant is simple and homely ; it consists of a long-skirted cloth coat or frock, of a dark gray color, with a hood attached to it, which in winter or wet weather he puts over his head. His coat is tied round the waist by a worsted sash of various colours ornamented with beads. His waistcoat and trowsers are of the same cloth.' [11]

George Heriot was a Canadian postmaster and painter. He painted scenes of the everyday life of French Canadians from about 1799 to 1810 ; one of his favorite subjects was dances. Heriot's paintings show dozens of men and women from a variety of angles. The men usually wear a particular style of coat. This coat has no collar, and no buttons on the front ; instead, it is closed with a sash, usually in a contrasting color. It has long sleeves, which fit close to the wrist. The coat hem is a few inches above the knee. Most are light brown or olive-colored, although a few are red or blue. Just one of these coats has a hood. The drape of these coats suggests they are made from a relatively light coat material, but of course this is hard to judge from a painting. In fact, it should be noted that it is hard to tell exactly what weight of cloth was generally used for capots (aside from blanket capots) ; it is quite possible that capots were made from both light and heavy fabrics.

Heriot's painting from 1799, La Danse Ronde, shows cuffs on most coats, but the style seems to have changed, since his later pictures don't show cuffs [12]. Heriot's oil painting, The North West Part of the City of Quebec, Taken from the St. Charles River, made c. 1804-1811, shows a man in the foreground wearing a heavy dark brown coat with a single button hole in top of lapel ; it is fastened with a dull-colored sash [13].

What's Wrong With This Picture?

a) The sleeves are too wide at the cuff. b) The capot is too long, it should be knee length. c) There shouldn't be any fringes. d) The bead work on the shoulder would be uncommon. e) Clerks did not wear beards. Note the authentic use of a gun worm to close the capot at the top.

Heriot's paintings also show two other types of coats, but the coat described above is by far the most common. In La Danse Ronde, Heriot shows two men who wear a different style of coat which is double-breasted with buttons down the front, cuffs, and collars. In La Danse Ronde à l'Interieur, Heriot again shows two men in a different style of coat [14]. These coats have pocket flaps and lapels, and are a little longer than knee-length. Both of the men are wearing their coats open. I think it rather unlikely that either of these two styles of coat just mentioned would have been a capot [15].

Always keep in mind when looking at historic artwork that anything other than original sketches (e.g. paintings, engravings) can be subject to artistic license as the artist tries to please his patrons. See 'Making a Better Impression…', by William Stewart for further examination of this subject (Northwest Journal, Vol. XI, pp. 14-21).

A traveler to Louisiana in 1803 described the capots he saw there :

'This capot is made of a single blanket and is loose enough to look like our greatcoat ; ther is no seem on the back ; they have simply cut on the blanket's length enough cloth to make the sleeves, the collar or the hood ; around the skirt is a blue stripe, and at the extremity of the sleeves is another blue stripe placed there to look like a cuff. The Negroes instead of having a collar have a hood as those of our Chartreux or Trappist monks...The masters' capots differ because they are a little bit fuller, made of a finer cloth and without hoods...'[16]

When we examine all the evidence above, we can begin to build up a basic picture of the habitant's capot : a woolen coat which fastens with a sash instead of a row of buttons down the front, has long, fairly close-fitting sleeves, and is just short of knee-length. Cuffs, a hood, and a collar were sometimes added, as was a toggle closure at the neck. If the capot was made from a blanket that had a stripe at either narrow end (a common blanket style during that period), the stripe could be tastefully placed just above the hem and at the ends of the sleeves. The capot was sometimes decorated with ribbons, at least at the beginning of the period.

Natives sometimes also added their own decorations to capots. In 1807, the NWC's W. F. Wentzel described the dress of Beaver Indian men in the Mackenzie River area. 'Their robes and capots are ornamented with several bunches of leather strings garnished with porcupine quills of different colours, the ends of which are hung with beaver claws.'[17] This is the only information I have found regarding fringes on capots prior to 1821.

Now that we have a picture of what capots may have been like in the more settled parts of North America at this time, it's time to turn our attention to the capots that would have been used in the Northwest. Where did these capots come from?

Some may have been imported from England, as so many other trade items were, but some (perhaps most) were made in Canada. An XY Company account book from 1800 notes that the 'Seurs Grises' (Grey Nuns) sewed twenty-six 'Melton Capots' for them, at a cost of 156 livres [18]. The North West Company (NWC) also probably had capots made back east for the fur trade. David Thompson's 1806-1807 'Journal of Occurrences' includes his extensive 1807-1808 order for the Columbia Department. This order includes three different kinds of capots, in seven different sizes [19].

Capots and other clothing were also sewed in the Northwest, under a wide range of conditions. Both HBC and NWC posts sometimes had tailors, whose job was to provide clothing for trade and for the men. Voyageurs also sometimes sewed their own capots. In October 1808, David Thompson noted that his people had were spending the day at camp, 'making Socks, Mittens, Capots &c for Winter clothing as the colde is severe & the Snow about mid Leg deep.'[20] Thirteen years later, Midshipman George Back said that voyageurs on the first overland Franklin expedition were busy 'making trains— blanket coats— and socks for our journey.'[21] The style and quality of capots probably varied widely, depending on where they were made and by whom.

Capots were a common trade item at North West Company posts. A large variety and number of capots were part of the NWC's Athabasca trade, as recorded in a 1786 account book [22]. The size of trade capots was given in 'ells', a unit of measure for cloth. The English ell was 45 inches and the French ells was 54 inches. Cloth woven on hand looms before the invention of the flying shuttle generally was about 30" wide. So I suspect that a one ell capot, for example, would be made from a piece of cloth measuring roughly 45" by 30". Trade capots came in half-ell sizes from 1 ell (for boys) all the way to 4 ells (for a large or tall man). Trade capots were made most commonly made from 'molton' (melton cloth), but 'ratteen' (a thick twilled woolen cloth) and 'swanskin' (thick wool flannel) capots are also mentioned in fur trade journals [23]. Sometimes capots were lined ('cased') [24].

There is quite a bit recorded about the capots worn by NWC voyageurs. In his memoirs, David Thompson wrote that, in 1786, the men who were working for the North West Company 'were all french canadians...they wore grey capots or blanket coats belted round their waist.'[25] I haven't found any paintings or sketches of NWC voyageurs that were made between 1774 and 1821 ; but shortly after the 1821 merger of the HBC & NWC, a number of paintings and sketches of voyageurs were made. In 1822, the HBC's John Halkett made a watercolor sketch of a Montreal canoe being paddled by voyageurs [26]. The bowman in the canoe wears a close-fitting blue coat which is fastened with a light-colored sash ; there is white trim on his sleeve cuffs, and a white stripe extends from the cuff about halfway up the outside of his forearm. This man seems to be quite a dandy, since he's also wearing a white ruffled shirt and top hat. The steersman of the canoe wears a bulky buff-colored coat fastened with a red sash ; it has blue bands at the hem & sleeve cuff. The back of this coat is clearly visible ; it is entirely plain, without pleating or other decoration. The fronts of these coats are not visible, so it isn't possible to tell if they have buttons down the front. Capt. Basil Hall, of the second overland Franklin expedition (1825-1827), made a sketch of three voyageurs [27]. Two of these men wear coats which hang down to just below their knees. No buttons are shown, and both coats have sleeve cuffs about 4"-6" long.

The young Swiss artist Peter Rindisbacher moved to the Selkirk settlement near Red River in the early 1820's, and a number of his paintings show men wearing capots. In one painting, a man on snowshoes wears a dark capot with contrasting wrist cuffs. The capot is tied with a contrasting sash, and the hem falls to just above the knee [28]. A Rindisbacher sketch of Red River colonists includes three men wearing long coats. Two men have coats which are fastened with sashes ; one has long turned-up sleeve cuffs. These coats are just short of knee-length. The third man seems to be wearing a lightweight frock coat with a high collar ; the back of the coat has a pleat and two buttons. It seems to have a narrow sash tied over top [29]. This could easily be the back view of a formal coat such as the ones worn by men in other Rindisbacher sketches & paintings [30]. This might also be the kind of coat being worn by the bowman in the Halkett painting. I feel that it probably isn't a capot. Finally, a winter fishing scene by Rindisbacher shows about twenty figures, of which about a dozen are wearing winter coats [31]. Two figures wearing European clerk's caps have coats which are about mid-calf length ; all the other coats are about knee-length or shorter. A figure in the foreground wears a brown hooded coat which seems to have a short cape or wide collar falling about 6" down from the back of the neck. Another figure in the foreground wears a white hooded capot which is fastened with a red sash.

Where did the voyageurs' capots come from? Although the NWC agreed to supply shirts, trousers, and blankets to voyageurs, a capot was not part of the standard contract [32]. As mentioned above, voyageurs sometimes made their own capots ; one journal entry from 1802 suggests that leather was occasionally used [33]. Voyageurs might also have brought their own capots from home, in which case they would be the same as the habitant capots, or they could buy one from another voyageur [34]. It was also possible to buy capots from the Company. (Getting voyageurs into debt was a technique the NWC used to ensure that the men would continue to work for the company after their contracts had ended ; voyageurs' debts were often forgiven in return for renewing their contracts. [35])

The clerks, bourgeois, and wintering partners of the NWC also wore capots. In October 1800, NWC bourgeois Alexander Henry the Younger noted in his journal that he was forced to 'cut off the skirt of my capot to serve me as mitts.'[36] Ten years later, Henry's journal noted that 'Mr. Rocque' had his capot torn by a buffalo bull [37]. Not all the gentlemen of the NWC wore capots ; clerk Daniel Harmon wore a 'Great Coat' when he first traveled to the Northwest in 1800 [38]. Wintering partner A. N. McLeod. McLeod was forced to part with his great coat as partial payment for 30 beavers in May 1801 [39].

Although the HBC traded cloth coats to the Indians, I've been unable to determine whether the early HBC coats were capots. David Thompson noted in his memoirs that 'the Indians are fond of long clothing, one of our men was a tailor and made a great part of the cloth into coats that came to the knee.'[40] This was when he was at an HBC post on the Saskatchewan River in 1786. On October 19, 1801, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) tailor at Chesterfield House (near Medicine Hat, Alberta) was busy cutting out fifty '1-skin' and '2-skin' coats for Indians ; he and another man continued working on them for next few days [41]. A few weeks later, the men were busy making sixty '1-skin', '2-skin', & '3-skin' coats to trade [42]. It's quite unlikely that the coats were actually made from skin (i.e. fur or leather) ; instead, the number of skins probably refers to the price of the of the finished coats in 'made beaver', sometimes called 'skins.' HBC tailors also made coats for boys [43]. It's very difficult to say what these coats may have looked like ; they may have been made like the NWC capots, in order to compete with them. A painting made by HBC employee William Richards shows a man wearing a coat that looks like a capot. It is made of leather or beige cloth, and is tied with a red and white sash. It falls to just below his knees. This coat has a fur collar, but no hood or cuffs [44]. On the other hand, David Thompson was familiar with capots, and his memoirs describe the winter clothing of the HBC men in 1786 as a 'leather coat', and contrasts them with the capots worn by the voyageurs [45]. By the winter of 1821-1822, the HBC was definitely trading a wide variety of capots : red cloth chief's lace capots trimmed with orris lace (military metallic lace), '2^nd cloth' capots, superfine capots, ratteen capots, 'blue Hosely' capots, molton capots in sizes from 1 ell to 4 ells, and blanket capots all appear on that year's 'outfit' [46].

One rather cryptic kind of winter coat worn by HBC employees was the 'toggy' . When Samuel Hearne was at Cumberland House in October 1774, he 'gave each of the People a Dresst Moose Skin to mak[e] them a Toggey for the Winter.'[47] In October 1791, Peter Fidler complained that he was 'in a very bad situation for the want of [Leather] having neither Toggy nor Shoes.'[48] On January 24, 1792, he was still looking for 'either a drest Moose skin or a Deers Skin Coat to make me a Toggy off''[49] ; later that day, he receives 'a Deer [i.e. caribou] Skin robe with the Hair on to make me a Coat which I did very soon having very frequently been near perishing by the Cold when we pitched along for want of such a useful piece of clothing.' I have not been able to find any more information about this garment.

Certain valued Native trading partners of the HBC and NWC were honored by gifts of clothing. One piece of clothing was meant as a particular token of esteem : the 'chiefs coat'. The chief's coat could be an actual British army coat, like the 'red coat, New Brunswick Regiment 104th' that was given to Chief Concomly at Fort George (Astoria) in 1814 [50]. Sometimes chief's coats were specially-decorated scarlet capots, like the 'scarlet laced coats' that the NWC's Henry the Younger gave to three Natives [51], or the sixteen red cloth chief's capots trimmed with orris lace ordered for the HBC's Mackenzie River and New Caledonia districts for the winter of 1821-1822 [52].

I do not know of any surviving capots made between 1774 and 1821. This means that, to get a good idea of the pattern that was used, it is necessary to study the drawings and sketches of capots of the period. Unfortunately, drawings rarely show seamlines or other construction details. However, some details commonly seen on reenactors' capots are definitely absent. Figure 1 shows a typical reenactor's capot. Features such as the fringes and the way the sleeves are very loose-fitting at the wrist are more typical of the capots worn by Natives around the turn of the 20^th century than of the pre-1821 capots. More historic aspects of this capot are the way the capot is closed at the neck with a gun worm, and the sash wrapped twice around the capot to keep the end from getting caught. None of the pre-1821 illustrations that I found show capots with fringes, tasseled hoods, or contrasting stitching.

Capot patterns were probably fairly simple, since voyageurs (or their country wives?) sewed them while at camp. The paintings show that the sleeves fit closely at the wrist, yet sleeves probably weren't too tight-fitting, since voyageurs were able to chop wood and shoot buffalo while wearing capots.

The paintings of pre-1821 capots do not show any seamlines, so it isn't possible to know whether these capots were square-cut (all pattern pieces square or rectangular) or tailor cut (pieces cut with curves, sleeves set in). The first piece of reproduction clothing sewn by many beginning reenactors is a square-cut capot [53]. More recently, the square-cut capot has been strongly associated with Natives [54].

It has been argued by some reenactors that fur trade capots must have been tailor cut, not square cut, because they were sewn by Europeans, who were familiar with tailor cut clothing. However, several basic European garments of the period were square cut or cut very simply. Men's shirts and hunting shirts were square cut ; so were women's petticoats (skirts) and shifts. Women's shortgowns (jackets) were sometimes square cut, or cut from a single simple pattern piece.

Fur traders married Native and Mixed-blood women. How did these women dress for the cold?

I have found many descriptions of Native and Mixed-blood women wearing buffalo robes or blankets for warmth. In the 1780's, fur trader Edward Umfreville described Cree women as wearing 'a blanket or buffalo skin over all.'[55] This meshes with Alexander Mackenzie's 1804 description of Cree women wearing 'an upper garment [which] is a robe like that worn by the men.'[56] Around 1808 or 1809, Alexander Henry the Younger also described Cree men and women wearing a buffalo robe thrown over their clothing, 'which serves as covering day and night.'[57] Henry later describes Assiniboine and Sarcee people as dressing 'like the Cree.'[58] In 1820, Cree women were again described as having 'a blanket…constantly worn about the neck.'[59] In his 'General Account of the Indians on the East Side of the Rocky Mountains', Daniel Harmon made some general statements about the tribes he had dealt with during his sixteen years with the North West Company [60]. He stated that Native men occasionally wore 'a sort of robe or blanket…over the rest of their dress', and that the dress of the women included an 'upper garment [which] is a robe or garment, similar to that worn by the men.'[61] In the early 1840's, Native women at Red River were described as wearing 'the never-failing blanket.'[62] Below the 49^th parallel, between 1806 and 1808, Lewis & Clark described Sioux, Shoshone, and Nez Percé men and women wearing robes over their clothing. I did not find any descriptions of Native women wearing capots before 1821.

Paintings of Native and Mixed-blood women also show them wearing blankets and robes rather than capots. The woman in William Richards' c. 1809 painting A Man and his Wife Returning with a load of Partridges from their Tent wears a blanket over her shoulders [64]. It is held shut at the neck from the inside. This woman is well-protected from the cold by a scarf which covers her mouth and chin ; a second blanket serves as a skirt. In the Rindisbacher painting of the Cree family mentioned earlier, the father wears a chief's coat, but the mother wears a blanket [65]. The blanket covers one shoulder, and is falling off the other one. It is clearly held in place at the waist by a hand holding it shut from the inside. Two Mixed-blood women are shown in Rindisbacher's sketch A Man and Two Women. One has a Paisley-style shawl which covers her from the top of her head to her knees. This shawl seems to be held from the inside by her hand at chest height. The second woman is also wearing a large printed Paisley shawl, which she holds loosely over her hips with her hand. (In the watercolor painting A Halfcast and His Two Wives based on this sketch, this shawl has changed to a blanket.[66]) Another Rindisbacher painting shows a Native woman wearing a blanket draped over one shoulder which has the corner tucked under her other elbow [67]. Karl Bodmer's 1843 painting of a Plains Cree woman shows her wearing a robe wrapped loosely over her shoulders [68].

Some later visitors to the Northwest were struck by how Mixed-blood women usually wore blankets rather than European-style coats or cloaks. While at Fort Edmonton in 1841, Rev. Robert Rundle described daily life at the fur post. 'You seldom see the [half breed] women here with bonnets. Most of them wear blankets over their cloth dresses when they go out, and the blanket is drawn also over the head and serves for both purposes.'[69] About ten years later, at the Red River settlement, Alexander Ross was struck by the same thing. 'The blanket as an overall, is considered indispensable ; it is used on all occasions, both at home and abroad ; if a stick is wanted for the fire, or a pleasure party is to be joined away from home, the blanket is called for. This invariable habit gives them a stooping gait while walking, and the constant use of the same blanket day and night, wet and dry, is supposed to give rise to consumptive complaints…' [70]

I did not find any descriptions of Native women wearing capots before 1821. This common practice of female reenactors does not seem to have any historic basis in the 1774-1821 period. I would be interested in hearing from any club members who have found evidence of women wearing capots from primary sources (i.e. journals & memoirs).

In my portrayal of a Mixed-blood country wife, I have usually worn a blanket tied around my waist with a sash. I've found it quite a comfortable, warm and water-repellent garment. Since a sash is quite helpful for the novice blanket-wearer, I will describe how to wear a blanket with a sash. However, there are also some reasons why you may not wish to use a sash.

To wear a blanket and sash, start by holding the blanket crosswise behind your back. Drape it over your head, so that the middle of one of the top edges is just above your eyebrows. Wrap it around your waist (the bottom end should be about knee height). Tie the sash around your waist. You can now bring the top of the blanket down from your head to drape over your shoulders. Adjust the blanket within the sash so that you're able to walk freely. You are now wearing a blanket that is arranged so that it falls naturally to cover your shoulders and chest, and which may be lifted to cover your head in case of rain. If the weather warms up, the blanket may hang from the sash like a skirt, until the weather cools off again. I recommend practicing this whole procedure at home before trying it out in public.

When I had completed the research for this article, I found no evidence for the use of sashes or blanket pins by women wearing blankets in the Northwest before 1821. Instead, period illustrations showed women wearing blankets draped over their shoulders and apparently held closed by hand from the inside. This technique also takes practice, and I don't yet have enough experience to make many suggestions. However, I have found that it helps to drape the blanket in folds over the neck and shoulders. The 'stooping gait' referred to earlier by Rev. Rundle also helps to keep the blanket from falling off.

In summary, my research suggests that men's capots should be knee-length and tied with a sash. Capots were most often made from melton cloth or blankets, but leather capots are also recorded. I found no evidence of women wearing capots ; it was more usual for Mixed-blood women to wear blankets, while Native women wore either blankets or buffalo robes.

Thanks to John Powers for digging into the White Oak Society's fine library and finding the sewing nuns for me.

Notes

[1] F. Back, 4

[2] F. Back, 14n

[3] F. Back, 4-9

[4] F. Back, 10

[5] Henry the Elder, 35, 154

[6] F. Back, 10, citing Stone, 93-94

[7] F. Back, 13

[8] F. Back, 10 ; citing M. L. Brown, 38

[9] F. Back, 10 ; citing Anburey, 70

[10] F. Back, 6 ; citing Masson, 2:317

[11] Waite, 73

[12] Heriot, La Danse Ronde, in Finley, 110

[13] C. Brown, 224-225

[14] Heriot, La Danse Ronde à l'Interieur, in Finley, 111

[15] The other Heriot paintings consulted are : Minuets des Canadiens, c. 1801,  shown in  Finley, 53 ;  Minuets of the Canadians, c. 1806, in Hannon, 109,  C. Brown, 249 ;  La Danse Ronde ; Circular Dance of the Canadians, c. 1806, in Hannon, 102, C. Brown, 248

[16] F. Back, 10, citing Robin, 2:103

[17] Masson 1:86-87

[18] Pendergast

[19] Dempsey, 37-41

[20] Thompson, Columbia,  97

[21] G. Back, 191

[22] Duckworth, 116, 117-118, 120-122, 124

[23] Dempsey, 37-41 ; Thompson, Columbia, 255-257

[24] Duckworth, 191, 117,120

[25] Thompson, Narrative, 40

[26] Halkett, Canot de Maitre, watercolor, in Gilman, 44, 71 ; also in Newman, 112

[27] Hall, c. 1825, in Newman, 112

[28] Rindisbacher, c. 1822-1823, Winter Voyaging in a Light Sledge, pencil sketch & watercolor, in Josephy, 34, 35

[29] Rindisbacher, c. 1825 Colonists on the Red River in North America, pen & ink sketch, in Josephy, 32 ; G. Williams, 47 ; Van Kirk, 181

[30] e.g. Rindisbacher,  The Red Lake Chief with some of his follower..., c. 1823, in Josephy, 42 ; Captain W. Andrew Bulger saying farewell..., c. 1823, in Josephy, 43 ; Two young men hunting, c. 1823, in Josephy, 51

[31] Winter Fishing on the Ice of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, 1821, in Ray, facing page 143.

[32] Mackenzie, 84 ; Innis, 240, 240n ; but cf. Thompson, Columbia, 240, where a voyageur renewing his contract is to receive '1 Capot of fine Cloth'

[33] Henry the Younger, 1:206

[34] Duckworth, 24

[35] Duckworth, xxviiii-xxix

[36] Henry the Younger, 1:115

[37] The bull was trying to gore him ; Henry the Younger, 2:594

[38] Harmon, 14

[39] Gates, 183

[40] Thompson, Narrative, 42

[41] Johnson, 297

[42] Johnson, 299

[43] Johnson, 299

[44] Richards,  c. 1809, A Man and his Wife returning with a load of Partridges from their Tent, in Van Kirk, 74 ; Newman, 73 ; Gilman, 86 ; G. Williams, 69

[45] Thompson, Narrative, 40

[46] Simpson, 145-146

[47] Tyrrell, 119

[48] Tyrrell, 514

[49] Tyrrell, 539

[50] Henry the Younger, 2:850, 914n

[51] Henry the Younger, 1:56

[52] Simpson, 144

[53] See Tearney, 45-48, for detailed instructions

[54] Conn, 92-93

[55] Umfreville, 96

[56] Mackenzie, 133

[57] Henry the Younger, 2:514-515

[58] Henry the Younger, 2:517, 532

[59] Hood, 72-73

[60] These tribes were the Saulteaux, Cree, Assiniboine, Gros Ventre, Blackfoot, Blood, Sarcee, Kootenay, Muskegon, Ojibwa, Beaver, Sekani, Carrier, Shuswap, and Nataoten.

[61] Harmon, 202-203

[62] Finlayson, 37

[63] Lewis & Clark, 1:140, 2:567 ; 3:1016

[64] Van Kirk, 74 ; Newman, 73

[65] G. Williams, 33 ; Van Kirk, 44 ; Newman, 86

[66] Ray, 142-143 ; Peterson & Brown, plate 13 ; Josephy, 53

[67] Winter Fishing on the Ice of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, 1821, in Ray, facing page 143

[68] Conn, 85

[69] Rundle, 84

[70] Van Kirk, 102, citing Ross, 191

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Brown, Craig (ed.). The Illustrated History of Canada. Lester & Orpen Dennys : Toronto, 1987.

Brown, M. L. Baroness Von Reidesel and the American Revolution and Correspondence of a Tour of Duty, 1776-1783. U. of N. Carolina Press : Chapel Hill, 1965.

Conn, Richard. 'Blackfoot Clothing Style,' in The Scriver Blackfoot Collection : Repatriation of Canada's Heritage, pp. 79-101. Philip H. R. Stepney and David J. Goa, eds. Provincial Museum of Alberta : Edmonton, 1990. ISBN 0-7732-0427-X.

Dempsey, Hugh A. 'A History of Rocky Mountain House,' in Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History, no. 6, pp. 8-53. National Historic Sites Service, National and Historic Sites Branch, Dept. of Indian Affairs and Northern Development : Ottawa, 1973.

Duckworth, Harry W. (ed.) The English River Book : A North West Company Journal and Account Book of 1786. McGill-Queen's University Press : Montreal, 1990. ISBN 0-7735-0714-0

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