Although the Pilgrim fathers were a bit suspicious of Rasieres’ motives, nevertheless they did find the shell-money to be most “vendable” on the Kennebec. So much so, in fact, that in a very short time with the aid of this medium of exchange they were enabled to cut off the fur trade of that region from the fishermen and other independent traders who had been accustomed to barter there. In the meantime they also developed their own sources of wampum among some of the Massachusetts coastal tribes who, as it turned out, also possessed the means of manufacturing it. The Pilgrims secured their rights up the Kennebec River by obtaining a patent to a strip of land fifteen miles wide on both sides of that river. They built a trucking house at Cushenoc (Augusta) which they kept stocked with coats, shirts, rugs, blankets, corn, biscuit, peas, prunes, and other supplies. With the help of wampum for exchange they drove a brisk trade among the Abnaki Indians in those parts. In 1630 they extended their operations even farther north, setting up a trading post on the Penobscot River at Pentagoet, now Castine, Maine. The Penobscot trading post originated as a private venture for which the Pilgrim, Isaac Allerton, along with some partners in England promoted a patent. Allerton, once a London tailor, had risen in prominence at Plymouth in New England to stand second only to the governor. It would appear that he and his overseas partners shared the rights to trade in the territory north of the Kennebec with other leading Pilgrims in return for the loan of wampum, shallops, supplies and servants. But the partnership accounts became jumbled, because of Allerton’s financial deceits according to the Pilgrims. And Edward Ashley, the “profane young man” sent out from England as factor, didn’t help things by his personal conduct. Actually, young Ashley did well enough in the bartering department, acquiring over a thousand pounds of beaver and otter the first season. However he seems to have gone native in the most offensive sense to the Pilgrim fathers, living “naked” among the savages and committing “uncleannes with Indean women.” Also, it was discovered, he was trading shot and powder with the savages and not even accounting for the profits from this unholy trade. Such behavior, of course, could not be countenanced. Ashley was arrested and shipped back to England by the Plymouth partners, while they themselves took over complete operating control of the enterprise. All of which was not to Isaac Allerton’s liking. Deserting the partnership, he retaliated by setting himself up as a competitor in Maine. In 1633 he settled some “base fellows” in a new trading post at the mouth of the Machias River, close by the present Canadian border. There he did his best to cut off Plymouth’s commerce with the more northerly tribes who were then taking their furs to the Penobscot and Kennebec trucking houses.