The assignment is out and the due date is set. The Fur Trade letter is due Tuesday at the beginning of the period. We will work on it in class Friday and Monday but it is expected that students will also work on it at home. You must write and turn in a rough draft as well as a final draft.
Fur Trade Letter Assignment We have all read about the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest. We know that during this period many people from all over the world came to the Pacific Northwest, most for the first time. They took or sent word back to their countries about this green, lush place. As trading ships came more frequently to the Oregon Country, word spread quickly about the plentiful land, furs and rain.
One way people heard about the Pacific Northwest was through letters home. Your assignment is to put yourself in the Oregon Country some time between 1811 and 1840. Pick an occupation that you could have had during that time and write a letter as if you were that person experiencing the Pacific Northwest during the Fur Trade Era.
Your assignment is to write a letter home describing your life as part of the Fur Trade experience. Your Assignment will be scored according to the following criteria.
______/ 10 WHO: Point of view. Choose to be a trapper, a sailor who ships goods involved in the fur trade or someone who lives at a fort and only sees the trappers when they leave to trap or return to the fort with furs to trade.
______/30 CONTENT: Shows understanding of the people, conditions and places we have talked about.
- Include at least 10 of the terms listed at the bottom of the page. You must underline the words to get credit for them.
- You also must include a description of the trade cycle from Boston to the PNW, to China back to Boston. You must not only describe the route but include what the ships carried on each leg of the route.
______/5 LENGTH: The letter must be 5 paragraphs with at least 3 sentences per paragraph,(include an introduction and a conclusion), double spaced, hand written in blue or black ink on one side of the paper, or type written on the computer.
_____/5 SHARING: You will read your letters to fellow students in groups of 4. Each group will select one letter to be read to the whole class.
_____/5 TURN IN YOUR PAPER: Assignment sheet on top, final draft next, rough draft on the bottom.
_____/55 Total
Vocabulary:
- Hudson’s Bay Company
- Beaver pelts
- Beaver trap
- Blankets
- China
- Canoe
- Columbia River
- Fort Astoria
- Fort Vancouver
- Glass beads
- John Jacob Astor
- Knives
- Musket
- Northwest Fur Company
- Pacific Fur Company
- Rocky Mountain Fur Company
- Russians
- Silks and spices
- Spokane House
- Trade goods
- Voyageurs
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