Wilmont Kreis

Book Thirteen: Voyageurs and Coureurs des Bois. These two terms are used for the Canadians who took on the rugged life of traveling into the wild to trade for furs. Originally they were all Coureurs des Bois which means loosely, runner in the woods. These, men worked independently as free traders. As civilization arrived, the government and the rich Canadians who ran the fur trade, buying from the trappers and selling to the French, became known as Voyageurs which means loosely a commercial traveler. They were licensed and controlled by the government and worked with in the law. Coureurs des Bois became a term for outlawed unlicensed traders.