One Township's Yesterdays Chapter XIII  

THE GAY VOYAGEUR "Alouette, gentille Alouette, Alouette, jete plumerai."

...Old French-Canadian Song BY THE WATERWAYS, the voyageur came singing into the wilderness. From far-off Canada came the boatman, threading the streams of Indiana. Skillfully managing the shallow-draft bateau of those ear13 [early] days, he brought explorer, missionary, and trader into a country rich in resources. He, the expert navigator, conqueror of rivers, hastened the opening of a vast western domain to the civilization of the white race.

The streams echoed to the gay songs of the French-Canadians.. Paddles dipped and flashed, as strong, lithe bodies bent and pulled in unison, keeping time with the lilt of rollicking voices in a picturesque patois.

Perhaps they sang Alouette as they ascended the Tippecanoe, where two centuries later the Woodcrafters of the Culver summer camp lustily sing the same rhythmic air as they sway to the paddles and speed their canoes down the river.

French Popular.
The French were popular among the Indians. "There seems to be something wild and roving in the French character, which gives them greater sympathy with savage races," says W. L. GRANT. So the great fur trading companies called a large number of them to the service. They were Indispensable in navigating the streams, in running the rapids, and many were the deaths of those gay and cheerfu toilers. Numbers of explorers used them. Explorer MACKENZIE said that they "are so expert that few accidents happen." They knew the land, conditions of climate, and were versed in wood-lore. They were intrepid helpers, and very reliable. But they gained little in the way of wealth. That was the harvest of those who hired them.

"These Canadian voyageurs," said HUGH GRAY, in 1809, "are hardy, strong fellows: they have been known to carry at once five packages, weighing about eighty pounds each over a portage of nine miles." In any case, most of them rendered important services.

So came by the waterways into this region an outstanding figure in the white man's pageant, the voyageur. And so passed, no doubt by the waterways also, as he had come, the voyageur, never to be seen again in this part of the country.