To the west of the fort there came into being a collection of government buildings and sutlers’ establishments, which in time resembled a small village. These log buildings were located at the meeting place of two roads, “Wayne’s trace” (this was the road connecting Fort Wayne with Fort Washington, Cincinnati) and the old Maumee-Wabash portage path.[27] This was the nucleus of the village that made up the plat of the original town of Fort Wayne, when it was laid out in 1824. The sutlers, who lived here, were traders who had been given permission by the government to occupy choice locations near a military outpost and carry on the trade deemed necessary for the garrison. These sutlers were subject to the orders of the commander of the fort, who could dismiss them upon a just provocation. It was also the commander’s duty to see to it that the men were not overcharged and investigate any complaints brought to him either by the sutlers or soldiers. For instance the soldiers complained on one occasion that James Peltier was overcharging them for his merchandise. After an investigation, the commander, Captain Whipple, excused Peltier on the grounds that the cost of transportation for the winter had risen to one hundred dollars a boatload.[28] The sutlers brought their merchandise either by way of the Maumee from Detroit and the East or by way of the St. Mary’s from Cincinnati and the Ohio River. The largest of the log buildings comprising the small village west of the fort was the two-story council house. This was erected in 1804 by the government to be used as a meeting place between the government officials and the Indians. Around the village and along the banks across the river were gardens and cultivated fields of vegetables and corn. One of the better farms was owned by Colonel Hamtramck and William Wells. Wells managed it and by 1800 had it well fenced. On the property were several buildings, a good orchard, a number of livestock, plus the usual corn fields. Several negro slaves whom Wells had brought from Kentucky did most of the labor.[29] Apparently this farm did not always furnish a dependable source of income, for in 1801, Wells reported to Hamtramck that although he expected to harvest 350 bushels of corn for each of them, he would not be able to sell it because of the overabundance of corn raised that year around Fort Wayne.[30] The reason for this, Wells maintained, was the fact that the military were competing in the corn market. The officers of Fort Wayne were in the practice of having the enlisted men farm the fields for wages. In June, 1797, the newly appointed General of the United States Army, James Wilkinson, stopped at Fort Wayne during his initial tour of inspection of the western forts. Here he found conditions “truly deplorable”. In his report he stated: