North West Company Fur Post visit
Wednesday Aug 15, 2007
We left Bloomington, Minnesota on Monday August 6 and headed north to Pine City. I would have gone north on I-35W and eventually hit I-35 where I-35W and I-35E come together, but with the bridge collapse the week before, I took I-494 east to I-35E and then headed north.
So, what's in Pine City? The North West Company Fur Post, a re-enactment of an 1804 Ojibwe encampment and nearby fur trading post. Our guide, Winona, an Ojibwe squaw, showed us the encampment and explained how her group moved to six different places in a circle over the course of a year. After this, she took us to the fur company wintering camp, where she showed us the various living quarters and store. We discussed the roles of the different workers, intermarriage between the fur traders and Ojibwe, and Winona demonstrated starting a fire from a flint and steel. Nick was quite enthralled (as many 9-year-olds are) with starting the fire, and he bought himself a fire starting kit at the gift shop.
While some Minnesota Historical Society historic sites are not at locations of actual historic sites, this site actually was a fur trading site in the early 19th century.
I hadn't visited this site before, and I thought it was quite nice and informative.
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