Clothing

    Styles change as easily as the seasons, and styles in the early history of Manitoba seem very strange to us now. Without man-made fabrics, people of the past depended on different things to keep them warm and dry. The popularity of the beaver hat led to the huge expansion of the fur trade in North America, all due to one important characteristic of beavers, their ability to live much of their lives in the water. Trading with Europe, the Aboriginal people found wool garments to be as warm as the animal skins they had used for centuries, but much lighter.