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A voyageur's tale
Journal survives almost two centuries

Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 23/00) - Jean Steinbruck went to his grave almost two centuries ago, a casualty of the vicious fur trade competition of his day.

Though his bones are now dust, part of Steinbruck's life remains alive in a journal he kept while wintering at Fort Yellow Knife.

Excerpts from a Journal

Arrival at Fort Yellow Knife 1802

Oct. 12: I arrived at the Fort in the afternoon. I found everyone in good form. I found a good trout stew made with something. I had quite a feast even though it had not been made for me.

Oct. 13: Today I took stock of the provisions. I found 410 pounds of pounded meat, 226 lbs. of fat, 236 pounds of meat in pieces. After I had done that I traded with three groups of Indians whom I was forced to pay two plus each and then take them back again against their will.

Oct. 14: I sent Bostonais and three young men with 80 pounds of provisions and 60 pounds for the Indians. I set a net in the river.

Oct. 15: I visited the net and found it broken in half from the force of the ice that had built up. This evening three Indians arrived to charge on credit.

Oct. 16: This morning they left. I gave them the ammunition I still had free, three measures of powder, 15 balls and 10 buckshot in the hope of getting a little fresh meat.

(Excerpts from The Yellowknife Journal, Nuage Editions, 1999)




A North West Company trading post, the Fort was perched on the shores of Great Slave Lake, not far from present-day Kakisa.

What remains of that journal, written in French on birch bark patches from a canoe repair kit, will be the centrepiece of a new display opening at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre Oct. 29.

"It's a rare and amazing artifact to have, one of the few originals we have of that age," said Erica Tesar, who did the research that went into the display. "It leads to a much greater understanding of the beginnings of the Metis here and the beginnings of the fur trade life, of settlements."

The contents of the journal were published last year by Nuage Editions under the title The Yellowknife Journal.

With help from BHP Diamonds, Diamet Minerals Ltd, The McLean Foundation and the Department of Canadian Heritage, the territorial government purchased the original birch bark version.

Opening up the North

Steinbruck had already led a pretty adventurous life by the time he reached Yellow Knife Fort, said Tesar.

He immigrated from Germany as a mercenary to fight on the side of the British in the American War of Independence.

In 1783, when the war ended, he travelled North, eventually joining up with Sir Alexander Mackenzie for his famous 1789 trip down the river we now know as the Mackenzie.

Steinbruck was later recruited to help the Northwest Company establish the first trading posts in the Northern interior.

"They were really breaking into new grounds," said Tesar. "These voyageurs were going into unknown territory."

Previously, trappers had carted their furs across the barrens to Hudson Bay posts on the shores of Hudson Bay. The North West Company was looking to cut into the Hudson's Bay fur supply by establishing posts more convenient to the trappers.

Ruthless competition

In addition to being unknown, the territory Steinbruck was entering was also very dangerous. Other trading companies, most notably the XY Company, were competing to establish posts in the area.

Travelling up the Slave River from Athabasca, along the shores of Great Slave Lake and Eventually on to the Mackenzie, parties from competing companies often crossed paths.

When they did, traders treated each other as threats and enemies. Sabotage, bloodshed and murder were not uncommon.

That's how the life of Jean Steinbruck came to an end. In the fall of 1804 he was shot by XY Company clerk John McDonald at Great Bear Lake. It took Steinbruck three weeks to die.

"During that same month the North West Company and the XY Company had amalgamated," said Tesar. "But he was unaware of it because, as usual, we were the last people to know because we were such a long way away."