History of the Fox River fur trade Nov 21

Travel back in time on a virtual voyageur canoe and learn the Fox River fur trade from Jerry Disterhaft and Glen Gorsuch at the 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Thursday, November 21, History at Home presentations at the Fond du Lac Public Library. The programs are identical and free; no registration required.

The duo will appear in period dress to tell the story of how the Fox River became a transportation hub and gold mine in the lucrative fur trade. Voyageurs, French Canadian canoe-paddling fur trappers hired by the North West Co., worked with Native American trappers to bag beaver pelts by the ton.

Disterhaft, whose ancestors homesteaded in Wisconsin in the 1870s, lives in Princeton and worked for 35 years at Fond du Lac Job Center. Gorsuch is a professional photographer and craftsman and lives in Neshkoro. Disterhaft and Gorsuch run the business Fox of the River Voyageur Canoe, offering historic canoe trips out of Princeton.