DCHP-1 Online

pose [< Cdn F "a laying or setting down" < F poser set down, deposit] Fur Trade, Hist.

• 1 n. one of several stopping places established on a long portage (def. la). See 1933 quote.

  See also: portage ((n.)) (def. 1a)  rest (def. 1)  stage ((n.)) (def. 5b)  

  • 1793  (1933)  The Portage is full of hills is divided by the voyageurs into sixteen Poses or resting places. . . .
  • 1860  (1956)  This rocher de Otamigan is in a swamp close to one of these poses.
  • 1933  A pose was not merely a resting place; it was also a temporary depot, and all the packs were brought to the first pose before any were carried to the second. This arrangement was designed as a security against possible Indian raids. Inasmuch as the same places were used as poses by all who passed, it came to be the common thing to measure the length of a portage by the number of poses along the trail. The distance between two poses varied between six to eight hundred yards, depending upon conditions on the trail.
  • 1961  . . . he puts down his load at a place known as a "posé" [sic].

• 2 n. the distance or track between two such stopping places.

  See also: lift (def. 1)  rest (def. 2)  stage ((n.))  stopping-place (def. 3)  

  • 1798  (1916)  A Rest, or Pose, is the distance the cargo of a canoe is carried from place to place and then rest.
  • 1824  (1931)  The Portage . . . is crossed in two poses or lifts; at each end of the pose a guard is stationed for the security of the property while the people transport the Canoes and Baggage.
  • 1929  (1931)  Such a load was carried by the voyageur at a kind of a dog trot, by "poses" or "lifts" of 500 to 800 yards if the portage was a long one.