The 3 Bellemare

The clearing and their installation
         

Now that they one selected the corner where to live, they should begin the clearing for, firstly,  building a small house in order to spend the winter a little more comfortably; secondly to have enough wood for the heating, and finally wood to manufacture their first pieces of furniture, even rudimentary.

It is necessary for them also, at the same time, to ensure their subsistence, to go to hunting, fishing to be able to nourish themselves and, later in the season, to store provisions to be able to spend the winter. To cultivate some vegetables also, for varied their food. All that however in a rather short lapse of time.

Therefore, each one on its side, or together in drudgery, one begins the clearing on the 3 batches of each one. One should not forget only the forest to which they are attacked is virgin. Then let us imagine one moment the size of the trees to be cut down, and to do this work, they have only of the axes and saws known as godendart.

Axe with 2 edges

Traditionnal axe

Axe to square the pieces of wood
         

Godendart to cut the trees, with 2 men.

Godendart with one man
         
As they must build 3 houses, rather rudimentary, and that they do not have enough time and the equipment necessary to make boards with the cut down trees, they will build their roundwood houses.
         
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Here what the first house of our 3 clearers could resemble

  
     
     
     
     
     
     
Rudimentary but essential pieces of furniture

The houses of this type are primarily temporary residences. The walls are made long blocks of wood, squared or not, horizontally posed the ones on the others. The blocks of a wall cross those of the other wall to each corner of the building. They are joined there the ones to the others by a anture with half-lap, or they are crossed by simple notches.
 

Bed

      

               

Let us let go our imagination one moment, and see Jean-Baptiste extended on his bed reading a letter of its beloved

      The table

The bench to be put on the 2 sides of the table, when there are too many people around the table at the same time, good for the huge families

The traditional chair of artisanal construction
         
 

 

 
         

Ref: Pictures of tools you can see on this page come from the web site of  Centre d'interprétation de la foresterie,La Sarre, Abitibi