DCHP-3

Montreal canoeman

Fur Trade, Hist.
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

n.

in early use, an engagé of the North West Company who signed on to man the canoes plying between Montreal and the Grand Portage, so called because pork was the staple of their diet, as opposed to the pemmican and coarser foods endured by winterers and others who ventured into the interior.

See: engagé,porkeater(def. 1a)

Quotations

1918
The north men . . . pointed with derision to the use of pork by the Montreal canoemen.