24 (p. 171).--_The trading station_: Three Rivers (see vol. ii., _note_ 52). This point was long a favorite fur-trade rendezvous for the Indians. The Récollet missionaries established a residence here in June, 1615, which was maintained until 1628. The fortified French settlement at Three Rivers was established by Champlain in July, 1634, to protect the Huron and Algonkin fur trade from the incursions of the Iroquois, and to serve as an outpost of defence for Quebec. The first colonist was Jacques Hertel, who in 1633 had obtained a grant of land there. The Jesuit missionaries were also among the proprietors of the new town, having obtained from the Company of New France (see _note_ 21, _ante_), by a grant dated Feb. 15, 1634, six arpents of land at Three Rivers; but they did not secure possession of this till Montmagny delivered it to them (1637). However, within two months after La Violette, Champlain's lieutenant, had erected his stockade at Three Rivers, two of the Jesuit fathers,--Le Jeune and Buteux,--had established a residence there, which was for many years an important center of missionary work.--See Sulte's _Can.-Français_, vol. ii., pp. 48-54: he gives a list; containing also much genealogical information, of the early inhabitants of Three Rivers; and the document granting land there to the Society of Jesus, copied from _Titres seigneuriaux_ (Quebec, 1852), p. 70. Cf. Ferland's _Cours d'Histoire_, vol. i., p. 270; he states that the church registers of Three Rivers are continuous since February, 1635; and that these records are the oldest existing in Canada. The first entry gives the exact date on which the settlement was begun--July 4, 1634. Sulte has published, at Montreal, several works concerning this town: _Histoire de la ville des Trois-Rivières_ (1870), _Chronique trifluvienne_ (1879), and _Album de l'Histoire des Trois-Rivières_ (1881).