Tim McLaughlin
Pilgrim
My name is Tim McLaughlin and I was born, raised, and have lived in the state of North Dakota all my life. At a very young age I became interested in history. Beginning when I was four or five years old, our family began having picnics and weekend camping trips along the Missouri River near Bismarck, North Dakota. I remember climbing the bluffs along the river to the terraces that contained the archaeological remains of earth lodge villages of the Mandan and Hidatsa; villages named On a Slant, Ward, Double Ditch, etc. We frequently visited the museum that contained Native American artifacts, and artifacts from Fort Clark, an American Fur Company trading post.
Most of my youth was spent in the Boy Scout program where I learned many outdoor skills, and developed a love for backpacking. I have taken numerous ten day backpacking trips into the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Bitterroot Wilderness, Badlands of North Dakota, along the North Shore of Lake Superior, and into the Sangre De Cristo Range in New Mexico where I became acquainted with the history of Kit Carson. Planning my trips to these areas always involved learning the history of the area and the flora and fauna specific to that area.
From 1980 to 1990 I was on the board of the Theodore Roosevelt Nature and History Association which is affiliated with the three National Park Service areas in North Dakota. Two of these areas are National Historic Sites that are intimately connected with the American Fur Trade; the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, and Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site. Because of tight federal budgets in the early days of these sites, they did not have adequate staff to provide a variety of interpretive programs and I was asked by National Park Service staff to develop a program on the history of intertribal and European trade at the Knife River Indian Villages. The interpretive staff provided me nine books and one month to prepare my program. My fascination with the history of the area began to take root, and my volunteer interpretive career with the National Park Service that continues to this day. I was hooked!! It was during this time that my persona as a French Voyageur started to develop and my interest in having accurate historical clothing for my programs. My NW Trade gun has been by my side ever since.
I began a long association with some historical re-enactors from Canada and was fortunate to join them on several historical and primitive canoe trips on the Assiniboine River. I have also given talks on the Canadian Fur trade at several Provincial Parks in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Over the last 28 years I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to travel the river by many means: bull boat, 36 foot voyageur canoe, dugout canoe, york boat, and a two thirds scale replica keelboat from the fur trade era. Each experience has given me a better appreciation for the difficulties, hardships, and joys of the French voyageur.
I assisted in organizing a nine day encampment at our State Fair in which participants demonstrated primitive crafts of the fur trade era. One year nine of us built a small log cabin during the nine days of the fair, and our blacksmith made all the hardware for the door. We used only primitive tools to do the construction. My participation in this event lasted eleven years.
During the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial I participated in numerous re-enactments, gave talks for NPS Corp II, and contributed historical information for a Lewis and Clark Interpretive Manual. I served on the Historical and Research committee at Fort Mandan for eight years and assisted in the research for the historical furnishings for the fort. I also participated in the hand sewing of military packs, hunting pouches, and trade bales for the Fort.
The last 28 years have been a great learning experience for me. Much is yet to come in my continual quest for historical accuracy.
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