[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 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.]
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 cost prices, upon which the trader expected a gain of about 100 per cent, so that the average annual value of furs brought in by each hunter to pay his credits should have been between $80 and $100.[230] The amount of the credit varied with the reputation of the hunter for honesty and ability in the chase.[231] Sometimes he was trusted to the amount of three hundred dollars. If one-half the credits were paid in the spring the trader thought that he had done a fair business. The importance of this credit system can hardly be overestimated in considering the influence of the fur trade upon the Indians of Wisconsin, and especially in rendering them dependent upon the earlier settlements of the State.
