Osseo Middle School students learn about the fur trade

On Jan. 5, students at Osseo Middle School had a unique opportunity to learn about the fur trade during the time period of 1770 to 1840 from Bill Beckman, retired district teacher and fur trade expert. 

During the presentation, Beckman showed off an impressive array of period-specific clothing and accessories from the beaver fur trade era in North America. He explained the fur trading process and players involved in detail, including interesting information about the lives of those in the fur trade along the way, the types of food they ate and how trades were made.

Students had the opportunity to try on the clothing that each person in the fur trade process would have worn, including the top role of a trading partner, a canoe man who navigated the waterways between the northeastern United States and northwestern Canada, a trapper and an indigenous woman who worked on the pelt.