The Character and Influence of the Indian Trade in WisconsinTurner, Frederick Jackson
History
The Character and Influence of the Indian Trade in Wisconsin
Turner, Frederick Jackson
Fur trade -- United States; Indians of North America -- Wisconsin; Trading posts -- Wisconsin; Wisconsin -- History -- To 1848
Upon Wisconsin trade from 1814 to 1822 its
influence was slight.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 207: Mass. Coll. Recs., I., 55: III., 424.]
[Footnote 208: Acts and Resolves of the Prov. of Mass. Bay, I., 172.]
[Footnote 209: Bigelow, Franklin's Works, II., 316, 221. A plan for
public trading houses came before the British ministry while Franklin
was in England, and was commented upon by him for their benefit.]
[Footnote 210: Hening, Statutes, VII., 116.]
[Footnote 211: Journals of Congress, 1775, pp. 162, 168, 247.]
[Footnote 212: _Ibid._, 1776, p. 41.]
[Footnote 213: Ford's Washington's Writings, X., 309.]
[Footnote 214: Annals of Cong., IV., 1273; cf. _ibid._, V., 231.]
[Footnote 215: Amer. State Papers, Ind. Affs., I., 583.]
[Footnote 216: Annals of Cong., VI., 2889.]
[Footnote 217: Annals of Congress, V., 230 ff., 283; Abridgment of
Debates, VII., 187-8.]
[Footnote 218: Amer. State Papers, Ind. Affs., I., 684; II., 181.]
[Footnote 219: Amer. State Papers, VI., Ind. Affs., II., 203; Ind.
Treaties, 399 _et seq._; Wis. Hist. Colls., VII., 269; _Washington
Gazette_, 1821, 1822, articles by Ramsay Crooks under signature
"Backwoodsman," and speech of Tracy in House of Representatives,
February 23, 1821; Benton, Thirty Years View; _id._, Abr. Deb., VII.,
1780.]
[Footnote 220: To understand the importance of these two points see
_post_, pp. 62-5.]
WISCONSIN TRADE IN 1820.[221]
The goods used in the Indian trade remained much the same from the
first, in all sections of the country.[222] They were chiefly blankets,
coarse cloths, cheap jewelry and trinkets (including strings of wampum),
fancy goods (like ribbons, shawls, etc.), kettles, knives, hatchets,
guns, powder, tobacco, and intoxicating liquor.[223] These goods,
shipped from Mackinaw, at first came by canoes or bateaux,[224] and in
the later period by vessel, to a leading post, were there redivided[225]
and sent to the various trading posts. The Indians, returning from the
hunting grounds to their villages in the spring,[226] set the squaws to
making maple sugar,[227] planting corn, watermelons, potatoes, squashes,
etc., and a little hunting was carried on. The summer was given over to
enjoyment, and in the early period to wars. In the autumn they collected
their wild rice, or their corn, and again were ready to start for the
hunting grounds, sometimes 300 miles distant. At this juncture the
trader, licensed by an Indian agent, arrived upon the scene with his
goods, without which no family could subsist, much less collect any
quantity of furs.[228] These were bought on credit by the hunter, since
he could not go on the hunt for the furs, whereby he paid for his
supplies, without having goods and ammunition advanced for the purpose.
This system of credits,[229] dating back to the French period, had
become systematized so that books were kept, with each Indian's account.
The amount to which the hunter was trusted was between $40 and $50, at
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