[Footnote 144: Fergus, Historical Series, No. 12; Breese, Early History of Illinois; Dunn, Indiana; Hubbard, Memorials of a Half Century; Monette, History of the Valley of the Mississippi, I., ch. iv.] [Footnote 145: Henry, Travels, ch. x.] [Footnote 146: See Memoir in Wis. Hist. Colls., VII.; III., 224; VII., 127, 152, 166.] [Footnote 147: Henry, Travels.] [Footnote 148: Wis. Hist. Colls., I., 35.] [Footnote 149: Minn. Hist. Colls., V., 435-6.] [Footnote 150: Indians. Compare Wis. Hist. Colls., III., 256; VII., 158, 117, 179.] [Footnote 151: The French minister for the colonies expressing approval of this post writes in 1752: "As it can hardly be expected that any other grain than corn will grow there, it is necessary at least for a while to stick to it, and not to persevere stubbornly in trying to raise wheat." On this Dr. E.D. Neill comments: "Millions of bushels of wheat from the region west and north of Lake Superior pass every year ... through the ship canal at Sault Ste. Marie." The corn was for supplying the voyageurs.] THE TRADERS' STRUGGLE TO RETAIN THEIR TRADE. While they had been securing the trade of the far Northwest and the Illinois country, the French had allowed the English to gain the trade of the upper Ohio,[152] and were now brought face to face with the danger of losing the entire Northwest, and thus the connection of Canada and Louisiana. The commandants of the western posts were financially as well as patriotically interested. In 1754, Green Bay, then garrisoned by an officer, a sergeant and four soldiers, required for the Indian trade of its department thirteen canoes of goods annually, costing about 7000 livres each, making a total of nearly $18,000.[153] Bougainville asserts that Marin, the commandant of the department of the Bay, was associated in trade with the governor and intendant, and that his part netted him annually 15,000 francs.