Brooklyn Middle STEAM School hosts fur trader presentation

Retired Osseo Area Schools teacher, Bill Beckman, returned to one of his former schools on Dec. 6 to give presentations on the fur trade era of 1770-1840, which he said marked the world’s first worldwide industry. 

Beckman owns an impressive array of period-specific clothing and accessories from the beaver fur trade era in North America, in addition to his vast knowledge on the subject. He explained the fur trading process and players involved in detail. Additionally, he dressed student volunteers in the clothing that each person in the fur trade process would have worn, from the top role of a trading partner to the canoe men who navigated the waterways between the northeastern United States and northwestern Canada, where the pelts were sold. 

Beckman also shared interesting information about the lives of those in the fur trade along the way, including the types of food they ate and how different pelts and other trading items were valued compared with the beaver pelt.