EARLY TRADERS AND TRADE-ROUTES IN ONTARIO AND THE WEST. 1760-1783.

BY CAPT. ERNEST CRUIKSHANK.

(Read, 27th February, 1892).

The reason why I have included the "West" within the scope of this paper is that from the conquest of Canada until about the year 1816 the whole region now forming the States of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota and for a considerable portion of that time, much of the present States of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois still remained within the "sphere of British influence," long after it had actually ceased to be British territory. During the period named, practically the entire trade of this vast territory was conducted by English, Scotch, and Canadian merchants having Montreal as their base of supplies. From 1763 to 1783, all these northwestern territories, together with Ontario, were administered as a part of the "government" or province of Quebec.

These traders acted an important part during the American Revolution and the War of 1812 and it was largely due to their active loyalty and influence among the Indians that the western provinces were then preserved from becoming a part of the United States. British garrisons continued to occupy Detroit and Mackinac until 1796 and for twenty years afterwards the isolated settlers at Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Prairie du Chien still professed themselves British subjects and proudly kept the Union Jack flying over their trading stations. As late as 1818, I find a trader described in a legal instrument as "Amable Grignon of the parish of Green Bay, Upper Canada."

The Indian tribes of this region continued to be more or less under the control and superintendence of the Indian department of Upper Canada until about fifty years ago. Many of them made annual journeys from the banks of the Mississippi to Sandwich, Ont., to receive their presents. When the celebrated Black Hawk finally surrendered, he was found to have carefully treasured a British flag, and a medal of George the Third given to his tribe half a century before.

The conquest of Canada at once transferred the trade of the province and the vast interior country to the North and West from the hands of the French to those of English traders. Successive governors of Canada

had actively exerted themselves to confine the English colonists to a comparatively narrow strip of land along the Atlantic seaboard while they jealously retained the commerce of the great country behind, almost exclusively in their own hands. In this policy, they had been so far successful that in 1756 they held a chain of forts extending from Montreal to the foot of the Rockies. The posts of Presqu' Isle, Le Boeuf, Venango, Du Quesne, commanded the navigation of the Ohio. They had stations on the Chicago, St. Joseph's, Wisconsin, Wabash, and Illinois Rivers which quite monopolized the trade of the surrounding country. Thriving settlements of long-standing at Kaskaskia, St. Louis, New Orleans, and elsewhere on the Mississippi gave them full control of that mighty river. They had establishments at Prairie du Chien and Lake Pepin in Wisconsin. Pascoya on the upper Saskatchewan was 900 leagues beyond Mackinac and the journey usually occupied three months. Their most western post was still 100 leagues beyond Pascoya. La Verendrye, Le Gardeur de St. Pierre, De Niverville and other bold adventurers had explored the adjacent country. Determined efforts were made to wrest the trade of the Northern Indians from the Hudson's Bay Company. The northern shore of Lake Superior and the rivers falling into the Lake from that direction were thoroughly explored. An expedition fitted out at Mackinac ascended the Michipicoton or Pijicic River as far as they could go; hauling their boats overland to the head of Moose River they dropped swiftly down that stream and took the principal British factories on James Bay by surprise. They returned by the same route with their booty and when the French flag was finally lowered at Mackinac, two small cannon were found there which had been taken in this daring raid.

It is still possible to ascertain pretty closely the extent and value of their trade as it existed in 1754 just before the final struggle began. The Indian country had been mapped out into districts, and traders were strictly prohibited from passing the limits of the district for which they obtained licences. They were also forbidden to carry spirits except for their own use or to sell any to the Indians. Each trader was required to report at the post of his district before going out to trade and again on returning. The commandant of this post heard the complaints of the Indians and if they appeared well founded, promptly redressed their grievances.

As Sir Guy Carleton remarked, "They did not depend on the number of troops, but on the discretion of their officers, who learned the language of the natives, acted as magistrates, compelled the traders to deal equitably, and distributed the King's presents; by this conduct they

avoided giving jealousy, and gained the affections of an ignorant, credulous, and brave people whose ruling passions are independence, gratitude, revenge, with an unconquerable love of strong drink which must prove destructive to them and the fur-trade if permitted to be sent among them; thus managing them by address where force could not avail, they reconciled them to their troops and by degrees strengthened their posts at Niagara, Detroit, and Michilimackinac."

Ninety canoes were annually permitted to go to the southern posts. These were Niagara, Toronto, Frontenac, La Presentation, Detroit, Ouias, Miamis, Michilimackinac, La Baye, St. Joseph, Illinois, and their several dependencies. Twenty-eight canoes were despatched to the northern posts which were Temiscamingue, Chagouamigon, Nipigon, Gamanistigouia, Michipicoton, Mer du Ouest, Rivière des Kikipoux, Lake Huron, and Belle Rivière.

The average value of each canoe was estimated at 7000 livres. Toronto and Frontenac were called the King's Posts.* The trade there was conducted for the benefit of the Crown and the furs so obtained were sold by public auction in Montreal. Toronto in particular was founded with the express object of drawing trade away from the English post of Choueguen or Oswego. About two-thirds of the entire Indian trade, it will be

*In addition to those posts Kalm's map indicates the out-stations of Gandalskiagon apparently on the present site of Whitby, and Redcharle between Niagara and the mouth of the Genesee.

noticed, was carried on with the tribes of the Far West. For many years the determined hostility of the Six Nations had hindered the French from the free navigation of the great lakes, but they then had several small ships of war on each of the lower lakes and an unarmed schooner upon Lake Superior. All of these vessels were frequently employed in transporting goods between the principal posts.

Ample justice has been done to the great skill manifested by so many Frenchmen in the management of primitive people. "No other Europeans" says Merivale, "have ever displayed equal talents for conciliating savages or it must be added for approximating to their usages and modes of life." But truly remarkable as was the ascendancy acquired by Gautier, Langlade, La Corne and others, it is doubtful whether they ever possessed as great and permanent an influence among the Indians as Johnson, Butler, McKee, Elliott, or Dickson.

It is probable that few of the water-ways, portages, and paths used by the Indians remained unknown to the hardy and adventurous Coureurs des Bois. But their knowledge was jealously kept secret and much of it perished with them. Consequently after the conquest, land and waterroutes formerly well known to the French, had to be re-discovered or at least re-explored by their successors. During the war too, many of the' less important trading-stations had been abandoned or destroyed.

The old and favorite canoe-route from Montreal to Lake Huron by way of the Ottawa, Lake Nipissing, and French River although interrupted by no less than forty-two portages and decharges had never fallen into disuse, but four trading-houses upon the Ottawa alone had been recently abandoned and were already crumbling to ruin. One of these was 14 leagues above the Longue Sault, one three leagues higher at the mouth of Hare River, another at Isle des Allumettes, the fourth at the Rivière du Moine. A short portage connected a branch of the Ottawa with the Cataraqui and Lake Ontario.

Missionary, soldier, and trader had traversed in succession the route from the Bay of Quintè by way of Balsam Lake and Lake Simcoe to the once populous country of the Hurons. The more direct route from Toronto to Lake Simcoe was also frequently used in the latter days of the French occupation.

From Burlington Bay the Indians used a portage into the Upper Thames and another from the forks of that river into Lake Erie at Point aux Pins. Three well defined trails led from different points on the Grand River to Lake Ontario, and there was also a portage less than five miles in length from that stream into the Chippawa. The carrying

place at Niagara Falls lay on the eastern bank of the river and was about nine miles long. Block-houses guarded the wharves at the landings, the lower being called Petite Marie; the upper, Little Niagara. Windlasses were used for hoisting heavy weights up the heights and also for assisting vessels to overcome the rapids at Fort Erie.

From Lake Erie the French made their way at an carly date to Lake Chautauqua, thence down the Venango into the Ohio, but this route was soon abandoned for the shorter and easier one from Presqu' Isle (Erie) to French Creek. Here they made so good a road that heavy cannon were easily hauled over it in the days when they held Fort du Quesne. The forts they had built at Presqu' Isle, Venango, and Le Boeuf were taken and destroyed by the Indians during Pontiac's war. They were not rebuilt, the route became disused, and the road soon fell out of repair.

There were three other much frequented water-routes from Lake Erie to the Ohio. A portage of a single mile connected the headwaters of the Cuyahoga with the Muskingum; another four miles in length united the Sandusky with the Scioto. The carrying-place from the Miami of the Lakes to the Great Miami was nine miles long, and a branch of the former river interlocked with a branch of the Scioto. In the region. watered by these rivers the fiercest struggle for trade had been waged and here those inevitable collisions occurred which precipitated the conquest. About three hundred English traders annually came over the mountains from Pennsylvania and Virginia. They usually ascended the Susquehanna, Juniata, or Potomac to the head of boat navigation and then made their way through the gaps of the hills to the nearest branch of the Ohio. Many of the Indians living in the vicinity were emigrants from the English colonies who had settled there with the permission of the Six Nations by whom they were treated as allies or "younger brothers." From the first they were inclined to be friendly to the English and regarded the French with suspicion. One English factory was established far up the Muskingum, another at Shannoah (Shawnee-town) near the confluence of the Scioto with the Ohio, but their principal mart and place of trade was at Pickiwillany (Piqua) on the upper waters of the Great Miami. From these posts, individual traders driving pack-horses before them made their way to the different Indian settlements. As early as 1749, De Bienville reported that every village on the Ohio and its tributaries had one or more English traders in it and that each of these had men employed in transporting their furs. Raymond, the Commandant of the French post on the Miami of the Lakes, at the same time described the feeling of the Indians as decidedly hostile to his countrymen.

The Six Nations claimed the sovereignty over the country on the