Blast from the past

Jerry Disterthaft, left, and Glen Gorsuch hang off the stern of their North Canoe, which they use to take riders back in time as part of their Fox of the River Voyageur LLC business.  Connor Cummiskey photo

Duo takes riders back in time on Fox of the River Voyageur Canoe

by Connor Cummiskey

Travel back in time while paddling a replica North Canoe down the Fox River.

Glen Gorsuch and Jerry Disterhaft of Fox of the River Voyageur Canoe LLC take groups, ranging from students to 4-H clubs and beyond, on a reenactment of pioneer life.

Through the characters of Jacques Largola and Jean Paul Paquette, respectively, the two men teach the area’s past.

“Part of our whole impact on our trip is talking about the history that really happened along the Fox River, going back to the late 1600s,”  Disterhaft said. “1673 is when Father Marquette came through, but the French were here earlier than that.”

The trip covers events throughout a large period of time that is usually ignored during many history classes.

“The fur trade in Wisconsin lasted over 200 years,” Disterhaft said. “To try and find that in any written material [is difficult], or even in schools [it is] hardly touched on.”

The re-enactment begins with the group swearing on with a fur trading company.

From there, the guides do their best to maintain a fun and authentic atmosphere.

“We hire them on to the Northwest Fur Co., which was a French outfit,” Gorsuch said. “Whenever we say Northwest Fur Co., they have to shout out ‘Viva la company!’ Whenever we say ‘Hudson Bay,’ which was the British fur traders, they have to shout out ‘stinking English pig-dogs!’”

Disterhaft and Gorsuch go through great lengths to create an experience that accurately replicates pioneer life.

“We will take some groups and say we are going from the new river, which is the Fox River, and going back in time. Sometimes we will have teepees set up [on the bank], so as they come around [the] bend, all of the sudden they see teepees and they are thinking that maybe they are back in time,” Disterhaft said.

This also includes things such as cooking with dutch ovens and portaging canoes to teach kids through a hands-on experience.

“Everybody is working together,” Gorsuch said. “We used to do a portage off the river onto the old river, and we used to tell the teacher [not to] say anything. We kind of let the kids take over.”

Trips can include a canoe ride and a cookout. They can be a single- or multiple-day voyage, depending on what the group desires.

According to the voyagers, the French fur traders worked closer with the Native Americans than the British did.

“That is why we took the Northwest, because they were French,” Gorsuch said. “They embraced the native culture more. You will see native accoutrements on us. We married into the tribes. We took on a lot of their spiritual beliefs as well.”

The rival Hudson Bay Co. cannot say the same.

“The Hudson Bay Co. was British,” Gorsuch said. “They were more business. They did not really associate with the savages, so they did not embrace the culture. They felt they were far above [the natives], where the French embraced it and married into the tribes.”

The lesson focuses of the four main pieces of the fur trade: furs, Native American trappers, voyageurs and investors.

All four components were crucial in the fur trade. So when one or two of them were lost, the entire market collapsed.

“The beavers started to get trapped out,” Gorsuch said. “By the 1800s, the Native Americans were losing control of their lands, so you were losing the trapper. By the 1830s and ’40s, the fashion went to silk, so then you lost the investor.”

Creating a re-enactment company began as an attempt to save the grade school Gorsuch’s daughter attended.

“We were trying to do a community involvement [project] with our elementary school; trying to keep it open,” Gorsuch said. “We built a canoe with Alex Nimphius. He had a boat design, which we stretched out and brought the ends up to match what a North Canoe would be. We were trying to make our school something different. Something people would want to open enroll to.”

However, they did not have the location to support the hands-on activity they wanted.

“I came into the picture when they needed to find some place to set up and I said [that] I have land right here off of the river and I know the river,” Disterhaft said.

Even though the school eventually closed, the two men wanted to keep history alive and interesting for students.

Teaching those students has become one of the greatest joys of running the company. “Getting individuals of all ages to start listening and having their minds open to what we are trying to teach them [is rewarding],” Disterhaft said. “It is not just talk, but is actually true history that really happened, instead of what they might have been taught in their books and when they went to school.”

Fox of the River Voyageur Canoe LLC offers day trips at $30 per person or $300 for a full canoe, which fits 16 adults.

Groups can call the company at either 920-229-3360 or 920-293-8206 or email huckleberry39@yahoo.com or stepback@centurytel.net.