Table Of ContentRemarkable
creatures!
Nor t h A m eric a n
September 2022
Discover American History
Meg Chorlian, Editor
John Hansen, Art Director
Pat Murray, Designer
Emily Cambias, Assistant Editor
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Research Associate, Williams College
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Frances Nankin and Hope H. Pettegrew, Founders e e
32 22
Advisory Board
Eric Arnesen,
Professor of History
The George Washington University
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Director (retired)
Curriculum Frameworks and
Instructional Resources Office
California Department of Education
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Florentine Films
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Milford, New Hampshire
Maryann Manning, Professor
School of Education
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Alexis O’Neill, Author and
Museum Education Consultant
Lee Stayer, Teacher
Advent Episcopal Day School
Birmingham, Alabama
Sandra Stotsky,
Professor of Education Reform
21st Century Chair in Teacher Quality
University of Arkansas
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p ag
e ABOUT THE COVER
9
2020
WW !!
NN EE
The beaver fur trade was a profitable industry
2020 2020 that dominated North American history for
more than 200 years. The background image
provides an example of the much-sought-after
2020 Parents’ Choice Magazine
thick, rich beaver pelt, while the framed image
Gold Award Winner
captures, as Colonel Crow remarks, those
2019 Parents’ Choice Magazine
remarkable creatures.
Gold Award Winner
2018 Parents’ Choice Magazine
Gold Award Winner
2017 Parents’ Choice Magazine
Gold Award Winner
2016 Parents’ Choice Magazine
Gold Award Winner
Join us on
George Washington Honor Medal
Award Winner
Indexed and/or Abstracted in:
Children’s Magazine Guide www.facebook.com/cricketmedia
Primary Search and Middle Search
Readers’ Guide for Young People
Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature
F E A T U R E S
D E P A R T M E N T S
4 2 Getting Started
A Land of Waterways
24 Did You Know?
by Laurel Sherman
38 In Other News
6
The Legend of Wishpoosh by Emily Cambias
40 Going Global
retold by Elizabeth M. Tenney
by Bryan Langdo
9
The Beaver Trade Begins 42 Say What?
by Jack Rudolph 44 Freeze Frame
45 Your Letters
12
Adventure Is Out There! 46 Spotlight On . . .
by Mark Clemens by Ebenezer
47 Dr. D’s Mystery Hero
14
Big Business on the Frontier
by Dennis Denenberg
by Randy L. Bixby 49 Just for Fun
18
Nature’s Master Builders
page
by Ellen Hardsog
24
22
Just the Facts
by Ebenezer and Colonel Crow
26
Rendezvous!
by Mary E. Allen
28
Dramatic Changes
by Elizabeth Howard
32
The Way the River Flows:
p ag
e
An Interview With 18
Dr. Rebekah Levine
by Emily Cambias
I don’t know, Colonel. But it’s
amazing to imagine the wilderness
that once was the Americas!
Do you think
there are any
more frontiers
out there to
discover, Eb?
p ag
e
14
Getting Started
P
eople have worn furs for was removed from the beaver skin.
centuries. The ancient Moisture, heat, and pressure were
Chinese used furs for applied to the hair to form it into
personal decoration 3,500 years ago. thick, pliable felt. The felt was then
A thousand years later, Greek kings shaped into all sorts of headwear,
Scandinavia is a region
sent fur-trading expeditions to Asia. from military hats to everyday and
of northern Europe
consisting of several And Roman leaders inherited from formal hats.
countries with close
the Greeks the custom of wearing Hats were not simply a luxury.
cultural ties, including
Denmark, Finland, furs. They were a necessity in the bitterly
Iceland, Norway, and
During the Middle Ages (roughly cold and wet northern European
Sweden.
500 to 1500 C.E.), luxurious furs winters. Beaver felt hats were warm,
Edicts are official orders
were imported to western Europe water-resistant, and long-lasting, so
or proclamations made
by a person in authority. from Russia and Scandinavia. the demand for them grew.
Pelts are animal skins, They were used as symbols of By the 1600s, that high demand
fur and all.
status and social rank. Royal edicts resulted in European beavers being
Pliable means flexible or
enforced who could wear specific overhunted. Exports of beaver
easily bent.
furs. England’s King Edward I, for hats from Russia and Scandinavia
The Northwest Passage
is a sea route between example, reserved ermine, sable, stopped. Around that same time,
the Atlantic and Pacific
and marten furs for the noble class. word spread that a “new” land dis-
oceans that goes
Families of the merchant middle covered across the Atlantic Ocean
through the islands of
northern Canada in the class could wear any other furs that might offer the richest source of fine
Arctic Ocean.
they could afford. The less desirable furs the world had ever known.
pelts of sheep and rabbit were left to That discovery was made dur-
the lower class of society. ing the Age of Exploration. From
European beaver pelts in the 1400s to the 1600s, Europeans
A store advertisement touts
its beaver hat particular became extremely learned about continents beyond
products. popular. Beaver pelts their borders. By the early 1500s,
were fashioned into the first European ships had sailed
warm articles of eastward around the southern tip
clothing such as of Africa and had reached present-
coats, muffs, day Asia. European explorers then
and mittens. hoped to find a more direct route
But the most to Asia’s riches and spices by sailing
popular use west. But instead of finding the
of a beaver desired Northwest Passage, they
pelt was for “discovered” North America. The
the felt that land was vast and filled with lakes,
could be made rivers—and streams full of beavers.
from its fur. To The fur trade that resulted opened
make felt, the down hair the continent to settlement. N
2
Often used as a warm inner
lining for a robe, luxurious furs
once were worn exclusively by
monarchs and nobles.
3
LEFT: This trail through the woods
once was part of the fur trade
“highway” to northwestern Canada.
BELOW: Portaging was possible with
the use of birchbark canoes.
AA LLaanndd ooff
WWaatteerrwwaayyss
by Laurel Sherman
But sections of Canada and the
United States were not protected
by layers of sediment, and the
Canadian Shield gradually was worn
Sedimentary rocks
are formed from down by wind and rain.
many other small
Two million years ago, great
rocks or pieces
of once-living glaciers—enormous rivers of solid
organisms. They
ice—moved across the shield. As the
form from deposits
that accumulate on Nearly 4 billion years ago, massive ice scraped along, it leveled
Earth’s surface, as the Canadian Shield (also the land. Rocks and dirt that were
opposed to forming
known as the Laurentian pushed in front of the glaciers filled
deep within Earth’s
crust. Plateau) was formed. The massive in small depressions. When the
Portaging refers U-shaped granite surface covers glaciers finally retreated, they left
to carrying small
much of Canada and parts of the behind many dammed up streams
watercraft and cargo
northern United States. In most and small shallow lakes.
overland between
two bodies of water places, Earth’s crust has been buried Around 20,000 years ago, the first
for short distances.
under layers of sedimentary rock. people migrated to the Americas
I’ll Me,
paddle. too!
4
HUB LAKES
from Asia. They found cold, dense Today, it may be difficult to imagine paddling a
forests and rocky soil. They found a canoe along a river or across a lake and getting out
land marked with many waterways. to carry it and its contents from time to time. But hun-
Some people kept migrating south. dreds of years ago, lightweight boats were an easy way
Others stayed. to transport people and things. They provided a faster
The cold climate and the thin way to move through North America’s wilderness than
layer of soil made the land unsuit- relying only on rough trails that wound through vast
able for farming. But the forests forests.
were home to large animal popula- On a map of the early fur trade routes, three “hub”
tions. The people who settled in the lakes lie in the Canadian Shield. Lake
A hub is the center
area became skilled hunters of the Winnipeg is the central lake. From it, fur of a region or a
land’s many fur-bearing animals. traders could go deeper into beaver country network.
Travel through those thick forests by traveling to Lake Athabasca. Or they could travel
was difficult. But animals instinc- south toward the Rocky Mountains. They could reach
tively found routes. Large animals Hudson Bay in the north. They also could get to the
followed logical paths. They looked Great Lakes and eventually the Mississippi River.
for places where they could get a The northwestern hub lake is Lake Athabasca. From
good footing. They avoided steep there, it was possible to reach the Arctic Ocean to the
climbs and swampy places. north or the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean
The people likely became to the west. South and east were Lake Winnipeg and
familiar with the animal trails. Hudson Bay.
Eventually, they turned the trails Lake Superior is the third hub lake. From there, it was
into paths suitable for them to possible to reach the St. Lawrence River to the east,
use with lightweight canoes. the Mississippi River to the south, and James Bay to the
By portaging, the many lakes north. It also connected with
ARCTIC OCEAN
and streams became connected the beaver-rich interior lands by
and served as a kind of flowing way of Lake of the Woods. Alaska
highway system for people.
Hudson
Bay
Centuries later, when the first ARCTIC OCEAN C A N A D A
Europeans arrived in North
America, they found trails already
PACIFIC OCEAN U N I T E D
S TAT E S
made. They also encountered people
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
already living there. Those early
encounters sparked an industry that
became the beaver fur trade. N
Lake Athabasca
Hudson Bay
R
o C A N A D A
c C a n a d i a n
k S h i e l d
y James
Lake Bay
Winnipeg
M
o
u
POACCEIAFINC ntai U N I TtEhLea DWke o oo fd s Lake Superior St. LaRwirveenrce
n S TAT E S
s RMiviessrissippi
5
The Legend of
Wishpoosh
retold by Elizabeth M. Tenney
Editor’s Note
Beavers held an honored position with many
Indigenous peoples. Some groups believed beavers
had created humans. Other cultures believed dead
people came back to life as beavers. The legend
of a great beaver named Wishpoosh was told by
the people of the mid-Columbia River region
of the Pacific Northwest. It had two pur-
poses. It explained a great flood
the Indigenous peoples
The Pacific Northwest
believed had once taken
refers to the geographic
area on the Pacific coast place in the area.
that includes the U.S.
It also explained
states of Washington
the origins of
and Oregon and the
southwestern parts of the tribes in the
the Canadian province
region. Many
of British Columbia.
of the locations
mentioned
in the legend
can be found
on a modern-
day map of
the Pacific
Northwest.
6
L
ong ago when the world
was very young, no people
lived on Earth. Only the
Watetash—the animal people—
roamed the land. One of the
Watetash was an enormous king-
beaver who went by the name of
Wishpoosh. Wishpoosh resided in
Lake Keechelus, high in the snow-
capped Cascade Mountains.
Wishpoosh was a destructive
beaver. He had a great appetite. He
ate absolutely everything that came
his way. He soon ate all the smaller
creatures in the lovely mountain
lake as well as those that lived on But the struggle between
the shore. He began devouring Wishpoosh and Speelyai raged on.
all the trees and the plants which Wishpoosh thrashed about madly. He
surrounded the lake. Wishpoosh continued to eat everything that he
destroyed so many creatures and so could find. And he grew larger and
much vegetation that Speelyai, the larger as he ate. He became so large
coyote god, decided that he must do and so strong that at last the rocky
something to stop him. ridges gave way. The loosened waters
Speelyai jumped into Lake swept down to fill the great basins of
Keechelus and struggled with Cowiche, Naches, and Ahtanum.
Wishpoosh. They rolled and twisted Those basins also were not able to
and fought each other. Wishpoosh hold the monster beaver. Before long
became so violent that he tore out they, too, gave way, and the waters
the banks of the lake. The waters flooded down in a torrent through
flooded down the canyon, sweep- the Yakima area. The waters cut a I love
origin
ing everything before them. At the passage through hills and filled the
stories!
bottom of the canyon, the waters plains of what are now Simcoe and
stopped. Held against the rocky Toppenish.
ridges, they formed another lake. It For a long time, the water was
was larger than Lake Keechelus and dammed by the Umatilla highlands,
covered the Kittitas Valley. but Wishpoosh did not give up.
7
the ocean, Wishpoosh furiously
devoured all the fish, even the
C A N A D A whales! He threatened all creation.
Speelyai saw that he must bring
an end to Wishpoosh or the world
would be lost. Transforming himself
into a floating branch, he drifted to
s
n Washington Wishpoosh, who soon swallowed
i him up.
Lake a o
Keechelust Kittitas h Once inside the beaver’s huge
n Valley a
body, Speelyai transformed back
N u •Yakima d
A Chinook o I into himself. He drew out his knife
E
M and cut out the giant beaver’s vital
C Cayuse Nez
O Clatsop Klickitat U matilla Percé organs. At last, Wishpoosh’s life
IC deCo(lGurmeabtia R Riviveer)r er ceased. His huge carcass was cast up
F a Riv
I e by the tide onto the beach at Clatsop
C c ak
A s Sn near the mouth of the Great River.
P
a
Speelyai considered what should
C Oregon
be done with the carcass. He used
his knife to cut off the beaver’s head.
From it, he fashioned the Nez Percé
people, who were great in council
and great in oratory. From the
He continued to thrash about. He beaver’s arms, he made the Cayuse
ate everything he could find in people, who were powerful with
the water and everything he could the bow and war-club. The beaver’s
find on the land. He broke the legs became the Klickitat, who were
rocky hills that kept the waters in, a swift-running people. The belly
and the waters flooded once more. of the beaver became the Chinook,
They formed the greatest lake of all whose lands offered much to eat.
between the forests of the Umatilla Finally, only the hide and the insides
on the east and the Cascade remained. Speelyai picked them up.
Mountains on the west. The entire Turning toward the east, he hurled
area was under water. them as far as he could. They became
Yet even this huge lake could the Snake River people.
not hold the frenzied beaver, and Thus were formed the various
the mighty Cascades gave way. The tribes of Indigenous peoples who
waters then flowed to the sea, drain- lived in the northwest corner of the
ing all the valleys behind. Once in land. N
8
