French Canadian accent on Lewis & Clark expedition

[AAllan at AOL.COM]

A National Geographic researcher just asked for help on
not-one-of-your-everyday questions, namely: How would a French Canadian from
Illinois territory sound when accompanying the Lewis & Clark expedition?

It seems they're making an Imax movie of the expedition and have chosen as
narrator one Francois Labiche (my spelling is probably wrong), a French
Canadian Lewis & Clark picked up in Illinois. Now he'll have a French accent,
of course, but they're wondering about his vocabulary: distinctive phrases or
colloquialisms that an English-speaking French Canadian might use in the
early 1800s.

I was able to refer her to the just-published article on the L&C journals by
Davis, Houck, and Upton in the brand-new American Speech for summer 2000, and
I'm arranging to have that article sent to her; and I also referred her to
those authors, to talk with them; but their article doesn't cover exactly
that question. So I'm asking, anybody have any ideas? I'll forward them with
full credit.

Thanks - Allan Metcalf