SEPT. 11 ISSUE ANSWERS: The canoe in the painting is being paddled by a large group of Frenchmen and maybe some Indian associates. I count about 18 individuals in the canoe. These extra-large canoes designed by Native Americans could be up to 32 to 36 feet long. This one could hold a ton of trade goods or supplies. Most of the French canoes on the Great Lakes were much smaller holding maybe only three occupants. The French traveled all over the five Great Lakes during the 1600s and 1700s. Water was the easiest way to travel. But the trip from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron required a long route passing the Straits of Mackinac. Was there a shorter route? The Native Americans had discovered a much shorter route. If in the southern Lake Michigan area we now call St. Joseph and Chicago, the Indians traveled westward upstream on the Grand River, passing through today’s Grand Rapids. Following westward tributaries from the Grand River, the paddlers headed to the highest point of the Grand River’s water shed. At some point the Grand’s water shed approaches the Saginaw River water shed. Connecting these two water sheds was a carrying place or portage. They got out of the canoe and carried the canoe, trade goods and