Auchagah
| Auchagah | |
|---|---|
| Ochagach; Ochakah; Ochagac | |
| Years in Thunder Bay | fl. 1729 |
| Occupation | Cree guide and map-maker |
Auchagah (also written Ochagach, Ochakah, or Ochagac) was a Cree man who frequented Fort Kaministiquia in the late 1720s, when Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye was trading there. The form Auchagah is the one used in La Vérendrye's journal.[1]
Map of the western routes
Questioned about how to reach the "Western Sea," Auchagah sketched a map that showed, among other routes, the Grand Portage–Nantoüagan (Pigeon River) canoe route, which he held to be better than the Kaministiquia River route used by the few earlier European travellers beyond Lake Superior.[1]
In 1729, writing to Governor Charles de Beauharnois, La Vérendrye called Auchagah "the man most capable of guiding a party and with whom there would be no fear of our being abandoned on the way." Auchagah agreed to act as a guide. It is not known whether he went with La Vérendrye when the explorer took the suggested route in 1732. The new route then became the main highway to the northwest, and the Kaministiquia route was for a time abandoned. Copies of Auchagah's map survive in Library and Archives Canada, the Newberry Library, and the Library of Congress.[1]
After the Pigeon River became part of the international boundary in 1783, the northwest trade later returned to the Kaministiquia route.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 K. R. Macpherson, "Auchagah (Ochagach, Ochakah, Ochagac)," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2 (University of Toronto/Université Laval, 1969).