Part 4 (1/2)

[Footnote 100: Tailhan's Perrot, 57.]

[Footnote 101: Jes. Rels., 1670.]

[Footnote 102: La Hontan, I., 53; N.Y. Col. Docs., IX., 159; Parkman, Old Regime, 305.]

[Footnote 103: Margry, VI., 45.]

[Footnote 104: Margry, I., 81.]

[Footnote 105: N.Y. Col. Docs., IX., 187. On the cost of such expeditions, see doc.u.ments in Margry, I., 293-296; VI., 503-507. On the profits of the trade, see La Salle in 2 Penna. Archives, VI., 18-19.]

[Footnote 106: See Radisson, _ante_, p. 28.]

[Footnote 107: _Vide post_, p. 62.]

[Footnote 108: _Vide ante_, p. 14; Radisson, 154; Minn. Hist. Colls., V., 427. Compare the effects of the introduction of bronze weapons into Europe.]

[Footnote 109: Margry, II., 234. On the power possessed by the French through this trade consult also D'Iberville's plan for locating Wisconsin Indians on the Illinois by changing their trading posts; see Margry, IV., 586-598.]

[Footnote 110: Wis. Hist. Colls., XI., 67-8, 90; Narr. and Crit. Hist.

Amer., IV., 182; Perrot, 327; Margry, VI., 507-509, 653-4.]

FRENCH POSTS IN WISCONSIN.

In the governors.h.i.+p of Dongan of New York, as has been noted, the English were endeavoring to secure the trade of the Northwest. As early as 1685, English traders had reached Michillimackinac, the depot of supplies for the _coureur de bois_, where they were cordially received by the Indians, owing to their cheaper goods[111]. At the same time the English on Hudson Bay were drawing trade to their posts in that region.

The French were thoroughly alarmed. They saw the necessity of holding the Indians by trading posts in their midst, lest they should go to the English, for as Begon declared, the savages ”always take the part of those with whom they trade.”[112] It is at this time that the French occupation of the Northwest begins to a.s.sume a new phase. Stockaded trading posts were established at such key-points as a strait, a portage, a river-mouth, or an important lake, where also were Indian villages. In 1685 the celebrated Nicholas Perrot was given command of Green Bay and its dependencies[113]. He had trading posts near Trempealeau and at Fort St. Antoine on the Wisconsin side of Lake Pepin where he traded with the Sioux, and for a time he had a post and worked the lead-mines above the Des Moines river. Both these and Fort St.

Nicholas at the mouth of the Wisconsin[114] were dependencies of Green Bay. Du Lhut probably established Fort St. Croix at the portage between the Bois Brule river and the St. Croix.[115] In 1695 Le Sueur built a fort on the largest island above Lake Pepin, and he also asked the command of the post of Chequamegon.[116]

These official posts were supported by the profits of Indian commerce,[117] and were designed to keep the northwestern tribes at peace, and to prevent the English and Iroquois influence from getting the fur trade.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 111: N.Y. Col. Docs., IX., 296, 308; IV., 735.]

[Footnote 112: Quoted in Sheldon, Early History of Michigan, 310.]

[Footnote 113: Tailhan's Perrot, 156.]

[Footnote 114: Wis. Hist. Colls., X., 54, 300-302, 307, 321.]

[Footnote 115: Narr. and Crit. Hist. Amer., IV., 186.]

[Footnote 116: Margry, VI., 60. Near Ashland, Wis.]

[Footnote 117: Consult French MSS., 3d series, VI., Parl. Library, Ottawa, cited in Minn. Hist. Colls., V., 422; Id., V., 425. In 1731 M.

La Ronde, having constructed at his own expense a bark of forty tons on Lake Superior, received the post of La Pointe de Chagouamigon as a gratuity to defray his expenses. See also the story of Verenderye's posts, in Parkman's article in _Atlantic Monthly_, June, 1887, and Margry, VI. See also 2 Penna. Archives, VI., 18; La Hontan, I., 53; N.Y.