French Canadians used to voyage down to Minnesota in winter to trade fur because beaver skin top hats were all the rage. The Indigenous people of Minnesota were skilled beaver trappers, so the French Canadians would set up little general stores and accept beaver pelts instead of money. It’s a different part of Minnesota’s history than what comes next—when what the colonizers wanted from the Indigenous People was land.
#oneminutetours #furtrading #minnesotahistory