By Mary G. Kron
© Copyright 2014, all rights reserved
Characters
Rix Robinson
– “proprietor” -- the Boss, the man who financed the Brigade
Lizette Cowne – listed on Rix’s license as “woman” but, in reality, she’s Rix’s head clerk, charming and intelligent
Sam Lasley, Jr. – “clerk “-- confident, future politician
Pierre Duverney – “clerk “ – has over a quarter century’s experience in the fur trade
Matthew McCulpin – “boatman” – easy-going, hard worker, childhood friends with Sam
John Burnett
– “boatman” – bitter, though with as much experience in the trade and more education than many of the others, he’s spent years as indentured servant working off a debt to the American Fur Company.
Pierre Cotte –“ interpreter” – emotional, humorous, half-breed, as interpreter, he’s come down in the world
Joshua Johnson Boyd – “clerk” – only 20, originally from Washington, D.C. where father was in politics, naïve and inexperienced, but pretends otherwise.
14 Boatmen ” – “voyageurs” -- the crew that paddles the big trading canoes
SETTING : trading post at the mouth of the Grand River
TIME : (probably) 1830 2

Boatman song plays and lights switch to “performance.” Lizette enters alone. As music fades, she addresses the audience.
LIZETTE
Hey there! So this is Grand Haven? I hail from Muskegon, myself. Name’s Louisa Cowne, but call me Lizette. I’ve hired on a Brigade going up the Grand River.
The 14 Boatmen, along with Matthew and John, enter pretending to march like soldiers. Rix enters behind, watching.
LIZETTE, con…
Stop that silliness! Brigade don’t mean a fightin’ army.
(to audience)
A Brigade is a trading crew – taking goods upriver to swap for furs.
(introducing Rix)
The proprietor
– the Boss -- is Rix Robinson.
JOHN
( to Lizette, he’s being mean)
Lotsa women travel with Brigades -- for the cooking, and mending...
LIZETTE
(defensively)
I can do a lot more!
Rix steps in between John and Lizette. Though he talks to Lizette, what he says is intended to make John shut up.
RIX
That’s why I signed you on, Lizette! You clerked for your father in your cradle!
LIZETTE
Just since I was twelve, Rix.
RIX
That’s what I said -- in your cradle!
They grin at each other, laugh, he exits.
LIZETTE
(to audience)
A clerk’s gotta keep good records, and I can barter and bargain, heft a paddle, talk the native lingo, and guide around the rapids. 3

Sam, Cotte, Duverney, and Joshua enter complaining about the weather and shaking water off of arms and legs, coats, emptying shoes of water, etc.
COTTE
(wringing out his hat) Look at this -- enough water to float a canoe.
DUVERNEY
My feet will never be dry again.
JOSHUA
Never seen such rain this time of year!
SAM
No harm done. Everything is on dry land, now.
COTTE
Dry? I see nothing dry! (all laugh)
Didn’t I say we should put in sooner?
(glaring at Duverney, nudges Matthew) Didn’t I say?
MATTHEW
(startled) Mr. Robinson said we should push on to the trading post!
LIZETTE
He’s the boss – who pays the piper calls the tune…
JOHN
(loud and nasty) And we all have to dance to it!
This bitter remark stops the conversation cold. John crosses up to the other Boatmen,
Matthew following. Lizette steps into the silence.
LIZETTE
(to the audience) We paddle 5 big North canoes – 25 feet long -- built to carry cargo, and lots of it. Most proprietors hire 5 Boatmen to paddle each canoe.
DUVERNEY
But Rix figures everybody can help paddle – clerks (glaring at Cotte) and interpreters! That way there’s more space to carry goods!
LIZETTE
A Brigade’s not an army, but there’s a chain of command! The Proprietor is the on top – that’s Rix, of course. Next come the Clerks: Pierre Duverney, Samuel Lasley Jr., and Joshua
Johnson Boyd. It’s their responsibility to keep track of what comes in and what goes out.
4

DUVERNEY
Been involved in the fur trade since I was 15 -- first as a boatman, then clerked for 24 years all told in the Lake Superior region. The highlight of every summer was Rendezvous at
Mackinac Island to rest up and re-supply before heading back for another trading season..
SAM
I was born and raised on Mackinac Island. Pa owns a tavern there. Mr. Robinson would stay with us during Rendezvous. He took me on at the St. Joseph trading post back in 1819. This year I’m one of his clerks going up the Grand!
JOSHUA
(proudly) I was born in Washington D.C. My mother is a niece of President John Quincy
Adam’s wife!
COTTE
(grunts out) Oooo, la, la!
JOSHUA
(still more proudly) My father was appointed to Mackinac Island as the Indian Agent in 1819.
Father granted Mr. Robinson the license to trade, and placed me under contract as clerk to him. I’ve been with him one season already --
SAM
(interrupting) I heard you was asked back just so you could lead the paddlin’ songs!
All laugh, give Joshua a hard time. But someone calls for a song. Joshua sings as Lizette explains. All, including the Boatmen, join in singing and mime paddling during the following.
LIZETTE
(to audience) We paddle long hours on the river -- the boatmen sing to help keep their strokes together! Next in the chain of command is the Interpreter -- a very important position indeed. Good communication makes for good trade! Our Interpreter is another Pierre. (to
Cotte) Bon jour, Monsieur Cotte!
COTTE
Bon jour, Lizette! (to audience) I was often at Michilimackinac hiring voyageurs – how we
French say “boatmen” -- to transport goods to my own trading post. But now the American
Fur Company controls the fur trade! I am a very good interpreter -- I speak many native tongues as well as French and English. But it is hard to come down in the world. 5

JOHN
(spits at Cotte’s feet) You think that’s coming down in the world? I was born and welleducated in Detroit, yet work as lowly boatman!
All are shocked, Lizette steps in between Cotte and John before a fight can start.
LIZETTE
But I haven’t introduced everyone. Two of the best Boatmen in Rix’s Brigade are John
Burnett and Matthew McCulpin.
MATTHEW
I was born on Ma ckinac Island in 1802 and grew up with Sam over there. I didn’t have Sam’s connections in the fur trade, though, so I have to work my way up. Lizette’s too polite to say so, but we Boatmen are the bottom of the barrel in this business.
LIZETTE
Except for the women, my friend! Except for the women!
COTTE
Not you, Lizette! The cream always rises to the top!
LIZETTE
Flatterer!
MATTHEW
Anyhow, I come late to the fur trade. This is not my first trip paddling for Mr. Robinson, and it won’t likely be the last, neither.
John glares at Matthew until he retreats and sits next to Sam. Standing alone he speaks.
JOHN
I’m not a Boatman by choice. When my father died, I couldn’t pay his trading debts, and they threw me in prison. Rix Robinson paid them, so I was indentured to him. In spite of being born free, I must slave until the debt is paid off. Nine years already. But I am lucky, instead of moldering inside a prison, I’m molding outside -- from the constant rain.
Unsure if John has made a joke or not, the men laugh uneasily.
LIZETTE
Personally, I am grateful to the rain -- else we’d a-been another 6 hours on the water today.
6

SAM
(joking, gives Matthew a shove)
Hope this weather isn’t a judgment!
MATTHEW
(shoves back)
A judgment for what?
As they rough-house, everyone, including the Boatmen, cheer them on.. Matthew ends up on his back feet waving in the air near Cotte.
COTTE
There should be a judgment on you for the way your feet smell!
Men laugh, not noticing Rix enters.
RIX
(sarcastic) Enjoy in’ your tea party, ladies? Savin’ your presence, Lizette. (barks) Au-no-ke!
Translate that, Cotte!
COTTE
The boss say, “Work!”
RIX
It’s what I pay you for! Make sure all the inventory is safe and sound! Check for water damage, be sure every piece is wrapped in good Russia sheeting and the codes are readable. Get to it! (exits)
Joshua importantly takes the ledger and begins reading the inventory. Everyone, including the Boatmen, shift bales and crates.
[NOTE – if desired, the Boatmen can take some or all of Joshua’s lines, reading the codes on the bales.]
JOSHUA
7 rolls of twist tobacco. 4 bales of carrot tobacco.
DUVERNEY
Worth 1 Made Beaver per pound
COTTE
(translates for the audience) Made Beaver is the fur trapper’s currency – a large, prime beaver skin – stretched and properly dried. Other items are valued according to how many
M.B. -- Made Beaver skins -- they are worth.
JOSHUA
4 bales of kettles, various sizes. 7

DUVERNEY
Pint kettles at 1 MB, 2-quart kettles at 9 MB and gallon kettles at 18 MB
SAM
Every canoe is loaded with 20 to 28 “pieces” or bales of goods, wrapped in oiled cloth. The bales are marked on the outside with a code so we can tell what’s inside with out unwrapping
‘em. These hafta be unloaded at each night’s camp and re-loaded again for the next day.
JOSHUA
4 cases of guns
DUVERNEY
Each weapon, 14 MB
JOSHUA
8 bags of lead balls.
DUVERNEY
1 MB for 4 pounds.
JOSHUA
8 kegs of gunpowder.
DUVERNEY
1 MB per round.
LIZETTE
All stored in waterproof trunks
– one for each canoe, painted red.
JOSHUA
Sundry “fineries:” hats and clothing, trade silver and ribbon, gartering and lace.
COTTE
Three trunks full! (laughs)
It is like the children’s nursery rhyme.
[NOTE -- The Boatmen may sing along with Joshua and Cotte]
JOSHUA
(understanding, sings) Bah, bah black sheep have you any wool…
COTTE
(sings) Yes, sir, yes, sir!
COTTE & JOSHUA
(singing) Three bags full! 8

All laugh!
JOSHUA
(getting back to business) 4 kegs flour, 4 kegs sugar
DUVERNEY
For trade, not supplies for the men.
JOHN
No good white flour and sugar for us! The crew gets different rations.
COTTE
Voyageurs are expected to hunt and fish for the bulk of their daily bread.
JOHN
After paddling, towing and portaging the canoes upriver for 16 hours or more!
MATTHEW
(explaining to the audience) The canoes are loaded before dawn each day, and the Brigade most often keeps on the move until dark.
JOSHUA
(reading) 4 cases of iron works: awls, fire steels, hatchets, axes & knives, ice chisels, files, saws, nails, fish hooks, iron arrow heads, hasps & hinges.
SAM
Each case weighted to ninety pounds, for easy portage.
COTTE
Easy? Easy for you to say, mon ami! (explains to audience) Portage is to carry goods and canoes around the white water – the rapids.
JOSHUA
(reading)
18 bales of mixed merchandise including blankets…
DUVERNEY
7 MB each
JOSHUA
Cloth goods.
DUVERNEY
2 to 5 MB per yard
JOSHUA
Beads…
9

DUVERNEY
1 MB per pound
SAM
And any other “made” goods
– that means manufacture d things -- that are valuable as trade or used at the fur post.
Each names their
“favorite” things – or at least what’s on their minds.
LIZETTE
Needles and seeds.
DUVERNEY
Pencils and record books.
JOSHUA
Ink and blotting paper.
COTTE
Handkerchief s and clay pipes.
JOHN
(feeling his chin) Razors and scissors
MATTHEW
Playing cards and medicines.
SAM
(giving
Matthew a shove, waving his
“odor” away)
Combs and soap!
The men laugh at
Matthew, who takes it in good part.
JOSHUA
(reading) Standard equipment for each canoe beyond the trade goods:
LIZETTE
A frying pan, a kettle and pothook, a tin pan, a hatchet…
SAM
Cod lines for towing, oilcloth tarps for covering the goods, a sponge for bailing.
LIZETTE
A canoe awl, a dozen pounds of gum, a roll of birch-bark, halfa dozen bundles of spruce root for sewing the canoe’s seams…
10

JOHN
(upset about this) But we boatmen have to provide our own paddles!

DUVERNEY
When in the water, the bark canoes can carry thousands of pounds. They are loaded up to the gunwales and the voyageurs sit on the bales! But the canoes are too fragile to drag up on a beach.
COTTE
The pieces, bales, crates and kegs must be taken out one by one and waded to shore on the backs of the boatmen.
MATTHEW
Then the canoes are carried from the water to lay upside-down on dry land.
JOHN
Before we can rest, we boatmen repair and re-gum each seam in the bark bottoms, so they will be dry and ready for the morning.
LIZETTE
The standard equipment includes tents for the proprietor and clerks.
JOHN
Boatmen bunk under the canoes.
JOSHUA
The complete Brigade transports 22 souls, a ton of standard supplies and rations, 10 arms chests and trunks for fragile goods, a ton of personal baggage, and 5 tons of goods. All told, nearly 25,000 pounds. (turns page) Including 38 nine-gallon kegs of spirits!
DUVERNEY
4 MB a gallon
Rix enters and stands listening.
JOSHUA
But it’s against the law to trade spirits to the natives.
LIZETTE
Well, we have to have it or the white trappers will paddle their furs elsewhere. And if we refuse to let the natives have it, too, there’ll be trouble!
JOSHUA
It’s obvious a trader needs to deal with each man as an individual -- different strokes for different folks! 11

RIX
That attitude will get you in trouble someday, mark my words.
(to everybody)
Bad news. The weather’s taken a turn for the worse. Can’t risk the canoes and goods in rough water. Looks like we’ll be degrade (pronounced day-grah-day) again tomorrow. Enjoy your leisure. Hopefully, this’ll be our last night under a roof until we build our own up river.
(exits)
JOSHUA
What did he mean, “build our own?”
DUVERNEY
This year we’re not headed for an established post.
SAM
Nope, we hafta build our trading post from the ground up, unless you fancy spending the
Winter in a tent.
LIZETTE
Do n’t worry, Joshua. Rix will hire some of the locals to hunt for us, so we can all concentrate on building. I’m a dab-hand at slapping fireplaces and chimneys together from river rock and clay!
SAM
(to Matthew) This time, thatch the roof thick enough so it don’t leak.
MATTHEW
Well, I would, iffen you mow enough grass!
COTTE
At least make sure there are no leaks over my bed!
All laugh.
JOSHUA
How long will it all take?
DUVERNEY
If it takes more than three weeks, we could be in trouble.
JOSHUA
(astonished) Three weeks? A whole trading post in three weeks?
JOHN
And that’s only the start of the work.
12

COTTE
Why do you think we so look forward to Rendezvous each Summer?
JOHN
(bitter) Some of us still work – even at Rendezvous.
MATTHEW
But work less!
SAM
And celebrate more!
DUVERNEY
Rendezvous is for re-supplying!
LIZETTE
And relaxing.
COTTE
And fighting!
SAM
Contests of skill and strength! (to Matthew) I’ll whup you this year!
MATTHEW
Wrestling or tomahawk throw?
SAM
I can beat you in both! I can beat you with one hand tied behind my back! I can beat you --
COTTE
In telling tall tales!
All laugh, even Sam – at his own expense!
COTTE, con…
And after a lonely season i n the wilderness, there is the socializin’ and the dancin’, oui?
Joshua sings “Yankee Doodle” and the men stomp in time to the music and everybody dances. Rix enters. When the men notice he’s there, they settle down. Joshua steps forward – at “Attention.”
JOSHUA
The inventory is all secure, Mr. Robinson. 13

RIX
Fine. Glad you’re all feeling good. I have a good feeling about this trading season. I think the Ionia trading post we build will become a permanent settlement. I believe it won’t be long before the Michigan Territory becomes one of the United States! And we will all have helped bring it to pass. Rest well, my friends.
Rix exits. Each character speaks directly to the audience, the others watching. As each finishes and comes to his “end” he turns his back to the audience.
JOSHUA
I never did see Michigan become a state. I should have marked Mr. Robinson’s words – my attitude did get me in trouble. By 1832, I was trading in Wisconsin. Followin’ my philosophy of different strokes, I refused credit to a native. For that misjudgment, I was murdered at the age of twenty-two.
COTTE
When I traveled with Rix Robinson in 1830, I was already getting up in age. I had lived long enough to accomplish much -- and see those accomplishments stripped away. I continued to fade until history holds no record of me at all.
SAM
Brought my wife to Ionia with me and ran the trading post there along with my friend,
Matthew. Like Rix said, it didn’t take long -- Michigan became the 26 th state in the union on
January 26, 1937. I died just a couple of years later, aged 39 years.
MATTHEW
I helped create a petition to the Governor of the new state of Michigan -- asking him to designate Ionia as the county seat. And I’m proud to say, it eventually was. Then, I returned to Mackinac Island and finally married at age 38!
DUVERNEY
In June 1834, I undertook to explore the entire length of the Grand River Valley, passing through wilderness never before seen by white men. After many adventures, including shooting the “grand” rapids, we arrived at the mouth of the river here in Grand Haven. I stayed and built a home on Franklin Street which also served as a trading post.
JOHN
My ultimate fate is unknown.
LIZETTE
Through 1835 I ran my own trading post in Muskegon. Then Sam’s brother, William, set up a rival business. At first I was mad, but then I got to know William 14

and long and short of it is -- we married and moved our combined post to the end of
Muskegon Lake. I lived into my nineties – well into the 20 th century!
(joking with the audience)
Now, I can see it in your faces – you’re thinking “History’s nice, but there’s nothin’ in all this that touches my life.” Well, remember how the boatmen would sing to help the paddlin’ go smoother? These songs are still remembered, and I bet you all know at least one o f ‘em.
Iffen you do, join in
– Joshua, we need your voice one more time!
Joshua leads, but all sing, encouraging audience to join in
Alouette, gentille Alouette Alouette je te plumerais
(song leader says, again!)
Alouette, gentille Alouette Alouette je te plumerais Je te plumerais la tête (head) Je te plumerais la tête Et la tête, et la tête Alouette. Alouette. O-o-o-o-oh Alouette, gentille
Alouette Alouette je te plumerais
Je te plumerais le nez (your nose) , Les yeux (your eyes) , la bouche (mouth) , Les bras (arms) , les mains (hands) , Les jambes (legs) , les pieds (feet)