Mangeurs De Lard

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MANGEURS DE LARD

MANGEURS DE LARD, or "pork eaters," was a term applied to each year's new crop of recruits for the fur trade. While en route from Canada, they were fed on pea soup, bread, and pork, but chiefly on the latter. They were scorned by veteran trappers and assigned only the most menial tasks. New workers were only bound for a period of five years' service, but their wages were so low that they customarily ended the apprenticeship in debt to the company and were forced to remain as employees. The term was frequently applied to any newcomer.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lavendar, David. The Fist in the Wilderness. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1964; Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.

Ray, Arthur. Indians and the Fur Trade: Their Role as Trappers,Hunters, and Middlemen in the Lands Southwest of Hudson Bay, 1660–1870. Toronto; Buffalo, N.Y.: University of Toronto Press, 1974.

Carl L.Cannon/t. d.

See alsoFur Companies ; Fur Trade and Trapping ; Voyageurs .