The Fatal Journey

By Quinn Smilgis

The Laurents own one of the most well respected carpentry business in all of New France. Living in Quebec City they have built many of the local houses. They were some of the first settlers to come over to New France. Now more then 100 years later in the year 1715 they still built most new log cabins.

Victor was hewing his 10th log of the day. They were building a house for a seigneur. His house had recently burnt down and they had been called out to build a new one. His grandfather, uncle, 3 of his cousins, his father, and his dad were all building working on this house together. They were getting close to being finished. All they had to do was the roof and a couple more of the logs for the walls. “Come on slaves, the trees aren’t just going to cut themselves” his Uncle said. They needed more wood for the house and their Indian slaves we’re cutting the trees down to slowly.

After two more days of hard work they finished the house for the seigneur. Louis Laurent the third was very happy. As the patriarch of the family and the leader of the carpentry business he knew they weren’t making as much money as they used to. With the population boom slowing down they needed to build less new houses, and that was hurting business.

Oh Summer I’m so happy to see you summer said victor. He love horseback riding and he can’t wait to ride home. Summer is his horse, he his a very powerful and fast horse.

Once we arrived back in the city grandpa or Abelard Laurent sold the Indian slaves and bought them 3 strong Africans. They were much quicker at cutting down the trees, and transporting the logs back to us.

After two more days of hard work they finished the house for the seigneur. Louis Laurent the third was very happy. As the patriarch of the family and the leader of the carpentry business he knew they weren’t making as much money as they used to. With the population boom slowing down they needed to build less new houses, and that was hurting business.

Oh Summer I’m so happy to see you summer said victor. He love horseback riding and he can’t wait to ride home. Summer is his horse, he his a very powerful and fast horse.

Once we arrived back in the city grandpa or Abelard Laurent sold the Indian slaves and bought them 3 strong Africans. They were much quicker at cutting down the trees, and transporting the logs back to us.

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The Africans were great workers but after a few weeks, 2 of Victor’s cousins, his uncle, and father got super sick. One day his grandfather came to me and said, “Victor, you have proved yourself a wonderful carpenter, I’m getting old, I would like you to take over the family business, here is our family’s broadaxe which the leader of the business always owns. This was brought over by the original settler of our family, you take this and take good care of the family, and the business.

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After Victor looked over the finances of the business he realized that they were not making nearly enough money. Then an idea came to him. Victor figured out he could trade carpentry products with the Indians for furs. Then if he sells those furs, it could help the business get through this rough time along with the large Laurent family which it supports. Tomorrow Victor will get a license, prepare himself, go buy a canoe, and an arquebus.

Victor walked into that office and tried to get a license but they refused to give one to him. As He walked back to my house he decided that even though he couldn’t get a license he would still go out into the woods and trade for some furs.

The next day he packed up his stuff, some carpentry products, and tools. Then he went and put all this on summer and rode west down the St. Lawrence.

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After Victor looked over the finances of the business he realized that they were not making nearly enough money. Then an idea came to him. Victor figured out he could trade carpentry products with the Indians for furs. Then if he sells those furs, it could help the business get through this rough time along with the large Laurent family which it supports. Tomorrow Victor will get a license, prepare himself, go buy a canoe, and an arquebus.

Victor walked into that office and tried to get a license but they refused to give one to him. As He walked back to my house he decided that even though he couldn’t get a license he would still go out into the woods and trade for some furs.

The next day he packed up his stuff, some carpentry products, and tools. Then he went and put all this on summer and rode west down the St. Lawrence.

After many days of riding he found an habitant who he bought a canoe from and left summer in their stables. Victor paddled down the rivers, and finally found some Indian villages, their he offered them some of his tools in exchange for furs. They accepted the offer. After many more days of trading he had made his way quite far north. He had traded away all his tools. All he had left was an arquebus, a bow and arrow, and his family’s broadaxe.

Normally Victor would travel on small relatively unused rivers as they have less of a chance of having licensed traders on them. But here the only river was a large, and quite used one. So he waited until just after nightfall to depart but along the way he went towards shore. Then his broadaxe fell out of his canoe onto a rock making a loud clang. Then the traders in the camp next to the river came to investigate as they saw him, a coureur de bois, they came and beat him up and stole all his stuff.

Then they threw him in the cold, fast flowing river and left him there to die. After a couple of minutes they came back, to do one last check of the area, to see if there was anything else. As the trader carrying his arquebus came by him he reached for him broadaxe and swung it. The broadaxe went straight through his leg and he fell to the ground. Then he took his arquebus and started firing at the other traders. He hit two of them, injuring one badly, and killing the other. There in the full moon glinted the blood spilling from the one he hurt with his broadaxe and he decided to kill him out of mercy. One clean swing of his broadaxe to cut through his neck, was all it took. He gathered all his furs and went home.

At home he discovered his father had survived the sickness but the cousins both died. He never went on another fur trading mission after that. He just hewed wood with broadaxe, and built houses. The next year Victor married Juliette Laurent and had 7 children in the next 16 years. After being the leader of the business for 34 years he gave it to his eldest son. Then he lived tell 62 years and peacefully died.

Then they threw him in the cold, fast flowing river and left him there to die. After a couple of minutes they came back, to do one last check of the area, to see if there was anything else. As the trader carrying his arquebus came by him he reached for him broadaxe and swung it. The broadaxe went straight through his leg and he fell to the ground. Then he took his arquebus and started firing at the other traders. He hit two of them, injuring one badly, and killing the other. There in the full moon glinted the blood spilling from the one he hurt with his broadaxe and he decided to kill him out of mercy. One clean swing of his broadaxe to cut through his neck, was all it took. He gathered all his furs and went home.

At home he discovered his father had survived the sickness but the cousins both died. He never went on another fur trading mission after that. He just hewed wood with broadaxe, and built houses. The next year Victor married Juliette Laurent and had 7 children in the next 16 years. After being the leader of the business for 34 years he gave it to his eldest son. Then he lived tell 62 years and peacefully died.

About the Artifact

The artifact in this story was the broadaxe. It was a very important carpentry tool in colonial times. It’s use is to hew wood. Either to make a flat edge, or it was used to make the corner of log cabins. This was very important when making the original settlements. The broadaxe is still used today. It’s design includes one flat edge, and one rounded edge, also know as a beveled edge. The flat edge cuts then wood flat, and the beveled edge helps take off excess wood and guide the axe. It’s blade would’ve likely been made out of iron. With some sort of hickory/oak handle. These were some of the best woods in the St. Lawrence area.

Quinn is a student at Seycove secondary in the performance learning program, or PLP. This is an inquiry based alternative learning stream. This book was for a project done in May/June 2020, about New France. Quinn enjoys playing basketball. He plays for Vancity Basketball Academy. He also enjoys to ski, swim, and spend time with his dog Moxy.

About the Artifact

About the Author

Quinn is a student at Seycove secondary in the performance learning program, or PLP. This is an inquiry based alternative learning stream. This book was for a project done in May/June 2020, about New France. Quinn enjoys playing basketball. He plays for Vancity Basketball Academy. He also enjoys to ski, swim, and spend time with his dog Moxy.