Notes on Trading Posts, border, etc.
Posts in the Minnesota Fur-Trading Area, 1660-1855 Author(s): Grace Lee Nute Source: Minnesota History, Vol. 11, No. 4 (Dec., 1930), pp. 353-385 Published by: Minnesota Historical Society Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20160873
p. 359:
7. Vermilion built on the shores of this lake. One belonged to the Northwest Company; the other was in charge of a trader named Roussain, who was probably subordinate to William Aitken of the American Fur Company. Aitken is known to have had a post there in 1824.
Both posts are shown on a manuscript map compiled and drawn by Alfred J. Hill in 1866. On that map Roussain’s post is shown almost due south from the earlier fort, on the headland east below Crane Point. // Two Roussains are mentioned in a list of employees of the American Fur Company in the Fond du Lac department in 1834. //
A permit to take whisky to the post at Vermilion Lake, August 2, 1824, Sibley Papers; Joseph G. Norwood, “Geological Report of a Survey of Survey of Wisconsin,
employees of the Papers ;Alfred J.
Iowa, and Minnesota,
314 (Philadelphia, 1834, American
St Louis
Fur Company, //
Hill, Map of Vermilion//
From Official Licenses to Trade with Indians, 1831 (22 Congress, 1 session, House Executive Documents, no. 121? serial 219).
1866;
P. 360:
10. Little Vermilion Lake. An early French map shows a post on Vermilion Lake,” the name applied, apparently, to Crane Lake. This name was also employed by such cartographers as David Thompson and Leander Judson. An anonymous map published about 1820 shows a Northwest Company’s post in the same vicinity. At the Northwest Company’s post on Vermilion Lake Dr. John McLoughlin spent the winter of 1807-08.
Collections, 13:202 1833,“ in Michigan
” Carte des nouvelles d?couvertes dans l’Ouest du Canada dress?e . . . “
par Mr de la Galissoniere en 1750,” in a folio volume entitled Am?rique
Septentrionale. Canada,“ library of the Service Hydrographique de la ”
Marine, Paris ; A Map of Part of the Indian Territories in North
America,“ British West Company,
vol. ? 7 Berkeley,
William to Lake
Museum, printed 144 (University
in Gordon California,
C. Davidson, Publications
The North
; Dr. of the Woods,”
of John McLoughlin,
“ The McGill
of the
in History, Indians from Fort
1918)
accompanying Thompson, Narrative; Judson, Map of Wisconsin & Iowa.
Masson Papers,
University; map Entire Territories
From Nute, Grace Lee:
series of maps with an emphasis on Rainy lake, most not showing Vermilion until Farmer 1830
http://www.rainylakeconservancy.org/Resources/Documents/Evolution_of_Rainy_Maps.pdf
Minnesota’s Boundary with Canada: its Evolution since 1783
William E. Lass
Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1980
St. Paul, Minn.
isbn: 0-87351-147-6
“
The territorial gains made by the United States under the Treaty of 1783 not only disturbed British traders in the back country, they usettled the new nation’s French and Spanish allies as well. (p 3)
Alexander Henry, the elder, of New jersey, who was to emerge as one of the principal back-country British traders, was authorized to move to Michilimackinac, the post at the straits of Mackinac, and trade in the Lake Superior region. Henry did not cross the lake to Grand Portage in present northeastern Minnesota until 1775, but some of his men, with other Canadians, soon became regular visitors at the celebrated rondezvouz there and throughout its vast hinterland stretching west beyond Lake of the Woods and Lake Winnipeg to northwestern Canada. (p 5) [[Also See Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories, edited by James Bain (Boston 1901) ]]
Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier
Billington, Ray Allen
Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. NewYork
1982 (5th Edition)
ISBN: 0-02-309860-0
“While farmers in the English Colonies toiled over the hills of the Old West, the pioneers of New France swept their frontier westward with breathtaking speed. For a century and a half their spectacular conquest of the continent went on, until the whole interior, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, was in their hands. Before the British could crowd through the mountain gaps to overrun the Mississippi Valley the French barrier must be pushed aside—by intrigue, Indian diplomacy, commercial conflicts, and four great wars.” —p.113
“France built her New World empire on the fur trade, and Samuel de Champlain was its architect. At Quebec, where he presided over a nondescript crew of traders until his death in 1635, Champlain laid down the broad principles on which French expansion rested: trade with the Huron Indians of the Georgian Bay region who could first serve as middlemen, then open the road to the tribes of the Great Lakes country.” —p.113
“… Champlain sent out a number of reckless youths to cement the necessary forest alliances: Etienne Brulé who explored the northern shore of Lake Huron and probably ventured into Lake Superior; Jean Nicolet who followed the Ottawa River route to Georgian Bay, passed through the Straights of Mackinac to Lake Michigan and Green Bay, and ascended the Fox River to a point where the Mississippi was only three days travel away. —p. 113
”’Champlain’s Young Men’ were aided in their explorations by Jesuit missionaries who first reached Quebec in 1632. During the next years hundreds of black-robed friars arrived, to master the Indians’ tongues, eat their food, live in their hovels, minister to their ungrateful souls, and frequently earn the highest tribute they could pay a foe: death by slow torture.“ —pps.113-114
”By 1680 at least 800 of these coureurs de bois roamed the wilderness, most of them operating out of the base at Michillimackinac and bartering with Sioux on the upper Mississippi, the Assiniboin beyond Lake Superior, and the tribes above Lake Nipigon.“ —p. 119
”One by-products of their far-ranging activity was an increased concern with the hitherto neglected Lake Superior country. There in 1684 Daniel Greysolon, Sieur Duluth, a Frenchman of good family who had come to America to recoup his fortunes, built a trading post, Ft. Tourette. His dreams of a profitable trade in that rich northern country were soon dashed, however, for in that same year the outbreak of a new Indian war forced him to retire from the west.“ — p. 119
The French-Iroquois War began in 1684 saw British support the Iroquois with ammunition in an effort to eliminate the French influence on the interior fur trade. — p. 119
Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe: Narrative Journal has some brief Lake Vermilion passages
Schoolcraft’s Narrative Journal of Travels through the Northwestern Regions of the United States extending from Detroit through the Great Chain of American Lakes to the Sources of the Mississippi River in the Year 1820
Edited by Mentor L. Williams
Michigan State University Press, East Lansing MI – 1992
From the Editors Introduction:
“Of the many disputes unsettled and aggravated by years of conflict between the United States and Great Britain, that concerning the boundary between the Canadas and the United States caused the most trouble. Negotiations after the Revolutionary War had been vague about the northern and western limits of the Northwest Territory. Geographers then supposed the Mississippi River rose to the north and west of the Lake of the Woods. As a result, the northern boundary was to follow a line drawn from the northwest tip of that lake to the Mississippi River. Pike’s Mississippi exploration put an end to such beliefs and complicated an already complex problem. At the Convention of 1818 in London, Rush and Gallatin agreed to the establishment of the forty-ninth parallel as the dividing line west from the Lake of the Woods A boundary commission was also authorized to determine the boundary between the St. Lawrence and the northwestern lake. Between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods the line was to follow ‘the customary water communication’ of the voyageurs. Three communications were debated: that of the extreme north, the Kaministikwia River; that of the extreme south, the St. Louis River; and that of the Pigeon River and Rainy Lakes. British negotiators insisted on the St. Louis and United States commissioners held out for the Kaministikwia.
”Where were the headwaters of the Mississippi? What were the watercourses connecting the Mississippi and Lake of the Woods, with Lake Superior? The State Department, the War Department, the traders, and the public wanted to know the answers to these questions, accurate answers. Government-directed exploring parties could provide the information.“ — Mentor L. Williams, p. 2
”Another area of conflict involving British, Americans, and Indians was the fur trade. After the French and Indian War, Britain had, through two great fur companies, the Hudson’s Bay and the North West, made the upper lakes its own special bailiwick. The North West Company had established its posts along the old French route: Mackinac, Sault Ste. Marie, Grand Marais, La Pointe, Fond du Lac, and Grand Portage. The Hudson’s Bay Company, seeking to draw trade from its rival, established a post at the far corner of the Northwest Territory shortly after the Revolutionary War. In 1794, at the Jay-Grenville treaty, the British insisted on the right of their traders to free access to the American Indians and the right to free entry of all goods carried across the border. Jay dissented but a final agreement was reached which left the Indian trade open to both countries with duties exacted at all ports of entry.“ — Mentor L. Williams, pps. 2-3
”John Jacob Aster, smarting from the loss of his major factory, Astoria, persisted in retaliatory efforts agains his British rivals. In 1816 Congress, chiefly because of Astor’s influence, passed a law excluding foreign traders from American territory. The American Fur company thus was able to acquire the North West Company’s southern line of posts at bargain prices. To solidify the American Fur Company’s position and to secure more favorable conditions for the government-owned factories, the London Convention of 1818 nullified the trading privileges granted in the Jay-Grenville Treaty of 1794.“— Mentor L. Williams, p. 3
THE JOURNALS:
XLII Day.—(July 5, 1820) ” . . . Three miles above the mouth of the St. Louis river, there is a village of Chippeway Indians, of fourteen lodges, and containing a population of about sixty souls. among these we noted a negro who has been long in the service of the fur company, and who married a squaw, by whom he has four children.“15 —p. 139
15 Bonzo, a freedman, served a British officer at Malden in the War of 1812
”A short distance above this village, on the opposite side of the river, are the ruins of one of the old forts and trading houses of the northwest company, which was abandoned about six years ago. The site is elevated and pleasant, but the American company have not thought proper to re-occupy it, and have fixed their establishment for the Fond du Lac department, eighteen miles above, where the first portage commences. By this change of site, they save the labour of loading and unloading their canoes at the mouth of the river. We arrived at the company’s house at seven o’clock in the evening. The establishment consists of a range of log buildings, inclosing three sides of a square, open toward the river, and containing the ware-house, canoe and boat yard, dwelling house of the resident clerk,16 and accommodations for the voyageurs. There are about four acres of ground under cultivation, upon which potatoes are raised. No species of grain has been tried. The department is supplied with wild rice by the Indians. The buildings are situated upon an alluvial plain elevated a few feet above the river, and the site is healthy and pleasant. We here see pines and sugar maple growing beside each other,—which is, I believe, a rare occurrence. The company have recently sent up a number of agricultural implements, with a view of experimenting upon the soil and climate, together with three horses, two oxen, three cows, and four bulls. These animals have been transported with great difficulty.“ — p. 139
16 Pierre and Joseph Cotte were in charge of the Fond du Lac Post. See Doty’s ‘Official Journal’
LXI Day.—(July 21, 1820) ” … There is no part of the Mississippi river which originates in the territories of British America. The northern boundary line of the United States will probably run a hundred miles north of its extreme source; but this is a point which still remains unsettled between the two governments, and some difficulties, it is apprehended, may prevent a ready adjustment of this line. the treaty of 1783 which designates the limits of the United States, fixes the northern boundary as a line drawn through the great chain of lakes to the head of Lake Superior, thence by the most practicable water communication to the Lake of the Woods, and from its most northwestern extremity due west to the Mississippi. It is well ascertained that a line drawn due west from the northwestern extremity of the Lake of the Woods, would not strike the sources of the Mississippi. McKenzie states the northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods to lie in north latitude 49° 37΄, and west longitude from Greenwich, 94° 31΄.
“Mr. Thompson, the Astronomer of the Northwest Company, determined the latitude of Red Cedar or Cassina lake to be 47° 38΄; which is not, however, presumed to be entirely correct. The great northern bend of the Missouri is laid down by Lewis and Clark in north latitude 47° 32΄, and the river above that point is described as running south of west, so that a line drawn in the manner directed, from the Lake of the Woods, would not strike either of these streams. This was anticipated at the conclusion of Jay’s treaty in 1794, but nothing further was agreed upon in this respect, than that the line should be established by a negotiation, according to the spirit of the former treaty, to the principles of justice, and the mutual convenience of the parties. No provision is made for it in the Treaty of Ghent.
”Some difficulty appears also to exist as to the true construction of that part of the treaty which requires a line to be drawn from the head of Lake Superior by the most practicable water communication to the Lake of the Woods. There are two grand routes of communication pursued by the north west traders namely;—1. By way of the Grande Portage, commencing on the north shore of lake Superior, four hundred and eighty miles from the Sault de St. Marie, which leads through a succession of small lakes to the Rainy lakes, and thence to the Lake of the Woods:—2. By the St. Louis river and Savannah Portage into Sandy Lake and the Mississippi, and thence through lake Winnipec and across the Turtle Portage into the Rainy lakes, or,—by following up the St. Louis to its source which is near the borders of the little Rainy lake. The first route has long been the thoroughfare of the northwest company, and although less traveled now than formerly, is the most direct, expeditious, and practicable route; and was the only in use at the conclusion of the treaty.—The United States claim this as the northern boundary, and it has accordingly obtained upon all our maps. In the maps of the Northwest Company, however, the line is drawn through the St. Louis river. The territory in dispute is equal in extent to any of the original states of the confederation, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York excepted. This part of the boundary will come under the cognizance of the commissioners appointed under the Treaty of Ghent.“ pps 176-77
Appendix E: The Journal, Reports, and Letters of David Bates Douglass.
July 5th
”. . . The first part of the St. Louis we found marshy but afterwards the flats of the shore became more elevated & dry & present the appearance of rich river bottom. As we approached the establishment [S.W. Company post] these are covered with thickets of wild roses & a profusion of every hue and colour—among which I noticed the blue pea growing to great luxuriance. . . .“ p. 375
Appendix F: The Journal and Letters of James Duane Doty.
Monday July 24
”The Fond du Lac river is one of the largest rivers which empty into Lake Superior. Its general course is East, it rises in Lakes Vermillion and is near 300 miles long. It is 250 miles from Sandy Lake to Lake Vermillion, by way of the Mississippi, and Trout Lake. The river Fond du Lac is ascended 136 miles to the mouth of the river Savannah which is again ascended 24 miles where a portage of 6 miles is made across to a small river which empties into Sandy Lake and is sometimes incorrectly called the river Savannah. This small river is descended 12 miles to Sandy Lake, from whence it is 4 miles to the outlet of Sandy Lake, by which it is 2 miles to the Mississippi. It is called Sandy Lake river. In a direct course the Mississippi is not 1/2 of a mile from the Lake.“ pps. 430-31
Appendix G: The Journal and Letters of Charles Christopher Trowbridge, Expedition of 1820
Tuesday July 18th.
”On walking through the indian encampment this morning I observed a large number of old people assembled, and on enquiry found that it was a council convened to deliberate on the proposition made to them by the Govr. Tho’ such a question might be settled without any difficulty, it is characteristic of the indians that they duly weigh the most trivial matters before a decision is made.
“Thursday, 20th July, being a day devoted to the collection of information:
On enquiry of Mr. Ashman, I learned that there are 3 principal places of residence of the indians of this country: these are, Fon du Lac, Sandy Lake, and Leech Lake.
”The Fon du Lac Indians are in consequence of the paucity of game and fish, obliged to wander about in bands, on the small Lakes and Rivers with which this country abounds; for they have neither Buffalo, Deer, Wolf, Fox or Raccoon.
Their tribe consists of 45 men, 60 women & 240 children, besides 30 half-breeds. they do not partake of the genius and spirit of the Northern Indians; and although they consider the Sioux as their common enemy, yet their natural indolence prevents them from freely engaging in the scenes of war and bloodshed common to other parts of their tribe.
“The Sandy Lake Indians are more numerous that those of Fon du Lac. There are 85 men, 243 women & children and 35 Half-breeds. They are divided into 3 parties, one of which lives at Sandy Lake, one at Rice Lake, and the third between Sandy and Leech Lakes.
”These Indians hunt as far north as the Vermilion Lake, the headwaters of the Fon du Lac River, on which the Am. co have an establishment. They take Bear, Otter, Muskrats, Beaver, Raccoon, Fisher, Martin, and sometimes Red & Gray foxes and Deer. The only Buffalo they kill are taken on the border of the Sioux country, which is the great bone of contention between the two nations.“ p. 485
NOTEs: Also see pages 446-460 for detailed descriptions of Chippewa and Sioux people
When Pike visited the upper Mississippi in the winter of 1805-06, he found that goods were being brought in without any recognition of the clause regulating imports.
The Northern Expeditions of Stephen H. Long: The Journals 1817 and 1823 and related documents
Edited by Lucile M. Kane, June D. Holmquist, and Carolyn Gilman
Minnesota Historical Society Press, St. Paul, 1978
ISBN: 0-87351-129-8
Introduction:
When the newly commissioned officer reported to General Smith in St. Louis to begin his exploring career in 1816, the War Department was reassessing frontier defenses in the aftermath of the War of 1812 . During that conflict, the Northwest had been a battleground of opposing forces contending for strategic positions. After the war, British influence in the area remained strong. Although Congress in 1816 excluded foreign traders from the country, British subjects found ways to circumvent the law. Moreover, they continued to influence the Indians, many of whom had favored the British in battle as well as trade. Observing efforts to lure Native Americans to trade northward across the border, a United States Indian agent reported that the British promised to “build a perpetual council fire so large that the blaze is to extend to the moon, that it might give light to all theri children . . . that they may see to travel by night as well as day. 9
An elaborate rhetoric which flowed freely from British and American adversaries as well as competition for trade and intertribal conflicts contributed to the disquiet on the frontier. More important, however, was the movement of white men into what had been Indian country. In council with government agents, Native Americans might pledge to ”wash the blood from the Land & Water & join hands with their great father the President,“but as treaties extinguished their rights to tribal lands and white farmers settled on them, apprehension bred a bitterness that threatened open war. Resolving to remove the threat of Indian alliances with the British, strengthen the American fur trade, quell the intertribal wars, and open the way for white settlement, the United States government in 1815 made plans to erect a series of frontier fortifications. Long would help carry out those plans, examining the strategic importance and defensibility of existing posts, selecting sites for new forts, and building them. 10
9 Henry P. Beers, The Western Military Frontier 1815-1846, 27, 30-37 (Philadelphia, 1935); Benjamin F. Stickney to Lewis Cass, October 6, 1815. U. S. Office of Indian Affairs, (OAI) Michigan Superintendency, Letters received and sent, Record Group 75, National Archives, Washington D. C.
10 Henry P. Beers, The Western Military Frontier 1815-1846, 24, 24, 35-37 (Philadelphia, 1935); William H. Puthuff to Cass, August 31, 1815, U. S. (OAI), Michigan Superintendency, Letters received and sent, Record Group 75, National Archives, Washington D. C.; Francis P. Prucha, Broadax and Bayonet: The Role of the United States Army in the Development of the Northwest 1815-1860, 17-22 ([Madison Wis.], 1953).
—pp. 5-6
###
Long’s Journals …
Friday, August 29,1823. Started at an early hour. The wind being ahead, as was generally the case yesterday, our progress was slow. The current of the [Rainey] river continues moderate. Its width somewhat less, averaging about 250 or 300 yards. The country apparently becomes better as we advance. The white [silver] maple begins to make its appearance. the forest trees are larger. The pine more abundant.
The means of acquiring a knowledge of the country are very defective. Our engagees are illy calculated to give a satisfactory account of it, and it is difficult to draw from them what little information they are able to give.
The statement of one of our engagees, [La] Fontaine, who has traversed the country by land from the southern extremity of the Lake of the Woods to Pembina, represents it as possessing an aspect little varied or interesting. In the vicinity of the Lake the country is rocky, swamps and marshes next occur, extending about one day’s march from the river, this part of the route impracticable for horses—farther on savannah, or prairies, abounding in marshy low grounds,make their appearance. Copses of wood-land occasionally appear but their growth is small. No hills of any considerable magnitude are to be met with. The same man has also travelled by land from Rainy Lake to the Grand Portage [of the St. Louis R.] near Fond du Lac. The country on this route is very rugged, hills numerous, and in some instances, very high. Very little timber to be found on them. Wood-lands present themselves in the low grounds and swamps but the growth is small. Swamps and marshes abound in the vallies. 24
pp. 208-09
24 La Fontaine’s description of both regions was quite accurate. On the area from lake of theWoods to Pembina, see [S]imon J. Dawson, Report on the Exploration of the Country between Lake Superior and the Red River Settlement, 14 (Toronto, 1859). On the Grand Portage of the St. Louis River, now within Jay Cook State Park near Duluth, see Holmquist and Brookins, Minnesota’s Major Historic Sites, 158-163. The St. Louis River route, connecting Lake Superior and Rainey Lake via the Pike River, Lake Vermilion, Vermilion River, Crane Lake, Little Vermilion Narrows, and then west along the present border) figured in the boundary negotiations between England and the United States. See William E. Culkin, ”Northern Minnesota Boundary Surveys in 1822 to 1826, Under the Treaty of Ghent,“ in MHC, 15: 384-388 (1915). the route is shown on Nicollet, ”Hydrographical Basin.“
###
Sunday, August 31, 1823. Started at our usual hour, travelled 5 miles, and arrived at the [Koochiching] Falls situated at the out-let of Rainy Lake at 5 1/2 o’clock A.M. Where we lay by to repair our canoes, procure a fresh supply of provisions &c.
At the Falls of Rainy river are situated two trading establishments, the one belonging to the Hudson Bay company situated on the British side, and the other belonging to theAmerican Fur company on the American side of the river directly opposite. 31 Not finding such supplies as we stood in need at the latter, we fix[ed] our encampment near the former, where we were very kindly received by Mr. [Simon] McGillivray, [Jr.], The superintendent. Dist[ance]. 5 miles.
p. 213
31 The Hudson’s Bay Company Fort la Pluie to which Long referred was built in 1818 and named Ft. Frances in 1830. The fort, located in present-day Ft. Frances, Ont. has been reconstructed. The American Fur Company post was established in 1822 as part of that firm’s campaign to keep the British traders north of the border. See Nute, in Minnesota History, 22:270-275; Morse, Fur Trade Canoe Routes, 84; McElroy and Riggs, eds., Delafield, Unfortified Boundary, 422, 432, 434; Ramsy Crooks to Robert Stuart , December 5, 1821, April 8, 1822, Mackinac Letter Book,1820-25, Stuart House, Mackinac Island, Mich., copy in MHS.
###
Notes:
Apparently Long’s only travel in the area puts him north of Lake Vermilion and the Vermilion River on, or near, the present day Canadian border. No record shows Long traveling on Lake Vermilion, or the Vermilion River. the only mention of the area comes from his Aug. 29, 1823 journal entry noting La Fontaine traveling the Rainy Lake to Fond du Lac route which would have put La Fontaine passing down (or by) the Vermilion River and through (or by) Lake Vermilion.
Baptiste La Fontaine, a middle man, (paddling a canoe in the middle) was employed by Long at the rate of $1.00 per day at Ft. harry (Winnipeg) to make the trip east along the border waters.
Canadian Traders believed the Long Lake error in the peace treaty placed Grand Portage within the borders of the U.S. “Although the Canadian fur traders had quickly discerned the Long Lake error in the peace treaty, they were apparently ignorant for some time of the impossibility of drawing a line due west from the northwest corner of Lake of the Woods to the Mississippi.” —Chapter 2, page 19: Minnesota’s Boundary with Canada, It’s Evolution since 1783; Lass, William E. MInnesota Historical Society Press, St. Paul, 1980
“The land surveying and governance systems established by the Ordinances of 1785 and 1787 encouraged only a modest influx of Americans into the Northwest Territory—too few to weaken British occupancy of such places as Niagara, Detroit and Michilimackinac. Britain’s fur trade continued to flourish, especially through Detroit and Michilimackinac, which were clearly south of the border, and Grand Portage, which the Canadian traders privately believed was on American Soil.” — (Lass, p. 19)
Also see Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier, Billington, Ray A. pps. 103-131; 4th edition, New York
Canadian fur trade was extensive with aprox 200,000 pound annual revenues with 1/2 of the value coming from the area south of the Great Lakes and 40,000 pounds from the interior beyond Lake of the Woods — relinquishing control of these areas to Americans would be a significant loss of revenue. ((Does this suggest that a portion of the other 60,000 pounds comes from the Arrowhead area—a portion also coming from N of the great Lakes?)) — (Lass, p. 19)
The Webster-Ashburton Treaty and the Minnesota Iron Ranges
• Thomas LeDuc
• The Journal of American History, Vol. 51, No. 3 (Dec., 1964), pp. 476-481
(article consists of 6 pages)
• Published by: Organization of American Historians
• Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1894897
Check out details of British establishing and limiting the Territory of Quebec following the 1763 Treat of Paris ending the French and Indian War and Seven Years War (p 3, Lass)
The language of the treaty leaving the border vaguely undefined:
Continuing the British-American Diplomacy
Preliminary Articles of Peace: November 30, 1782
The Paris Peace Treaty of September 30, 1783
Ending the Revolutionary War between the United States and Great Britain
Article 2:
And that all disputes which might arise in future on the subject of the boundaries of the said United States may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, that the following are and shall be their boundaries, viz.; from the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, viz., that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of St. Croix River to the highlands; along the said highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River; thence down along the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; from thence by a line due west on said latitude until it strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraquy; thence along the middle of said river into Lake Ontario; through the middle of said lake until it strikes the communication by water between that lake and Lake Erie; thence along the middle of said communication into Lake Erie, through the middle of said lake until it arrives at the water communication between that lake and Lake Huron; thence along the middle of said water communication into Lake Huron, thence through the middle of said lake to the water communication between that lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior northward of the Isles Royal and Phelipeaux to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said Long Lake and the water communication between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of the Woods; thence through the said lake to the most northwesternmost point thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the river Mississippi; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said river Mississippi until it shall intersect the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north latitude, South, by a line to be drawn due east from the determination of the line last mentioned in the latitude of thirty-one degrees of the equator, to the middle of the river Apalachicola or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint River, thence straight to the head of Saint Mary’s River; and thence down along the middle of Saint Mary’s River to the Atlantic Ocean; east, by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river Saint Croix, from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly north to the aforesaid highlands which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the river Saint Lawrence; comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part and East Florida on the other shall, respectively, touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are or heretofore have been within the limits of the said province of Nova Scotia.
Northern Minnesota Boundary Surveys in 1822 to 1823, Under the Treaty of Ghent pps. 383-384; Culkin, William E.; Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. 15; May 1915; St. Paul, Minn.
“Fourth, he (Barclay) argued that the old name of the St. Louis river was the Lake river, meaning the largest tributary of Lake Superior, and that the term ‘Long lake’ was intended to mean Long Lake river or Big Lake river. As a matter of fact the Ojibway name of the St. Louis river was and now is Big Lake river, Kitchigami-zibi, that is, Lake Superior river.”
HICKERSON: CHIPPEWA LAND TENURE
http://www.sil.si.edu/SmithsonianContributions/Anthropology/pdf_lo/SCtA-0002.4.pdf
By 1736, Cree appear to have been inclining ever more westward congruent with La Verendrye’s movements. In that year a break occurred in the Chippewa-Dakota alliance (cf. Hickerson, 1962, p. 69), and the Chippewa of western Lake Superior soon joined forces with the Cree and Assiniboin in making attacks on the Dakota in northern Minnesota and in the prairies to the west. p. 45
The first effect of this breach, however, was the settlement by a group of Chippewa in 1736 of the Vermilion River district west of Lake Superior not far east of Rainy Lake (Burpee, 1927, pp. 233-234, 238). This was the first reference to Chippewa occupying any area west of Lake Superior, a movement which incidentally represented the first step of a series of moves which resulted, by the late 18th century, in Chippewa occupying such major regions as northern Minnesota and western Wisconsin and, by the 19th century, prairie and plains areas even farther west. Rainy Lake itself for a while had been occupied by the Monsoni branch of the Cree, so that now Chippewa and Cree were close neighbors (Burpee, 1927, pp. 224, 292-293). Over the following period the Chippewa and Cree of western Lake Superior and the international border region waged relentless war against the Dakota to the south over the protestations of the French who feared that Indian wars would have a deleterious effect on their trade and exploration (Burpee, 1927, pp. 258 fl.).
This warfare was on a large scale. For example, as the result of an outbreak in 1842 a Cree-Assiniboin war party of over 200 killed 70 Dakotas and took numerous prisoners (Burpee, 1927, pp. 380-381). At the same time, the Governor General, the Marquis de Beauharnois, reported to the Foreign Minister what a missionary returning from the French post at the mouth of the Kaministiquia on the northwest shore of Lake Superior, the gateway to the Northwest, had reported to him. While La Verendrye’s men were at the Grand Portage, a short distance to the south, . . . the Saulteur of that post came to hold council with an Indian chief of that place who possesses much influence; that this chief told him last spring that it was intended to make a descent on the Sioux, and that he . . . had represented to them several times that this was going directly contrary to my orders; that the result, nevertheless, of the different councils held was that the Saulteur of point Chagouamigon (who went down this summer to Montreal to confirm the peace which they had made with the Sioux) were to amuse them during part of the winter by living on good terms with them, so that the Sioux, considering themselves to be at peace and having no suspicion, shall all of a sudden find their enemies on their hands.
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The border region until 1780 was a tribal frontier area. Before Chippewa occupation which began on a small scale in 1736 with the refugee settlement at the Vermilion, and during the ensuing period, perhaps until the 1760’s, Dakota war parties marauded through the area interrupting trading convoys and not stopping at killing Frenchmen as well as Indian enemies (Bur- pee, 1927, pp. 185-186, 217-219). After 1780, when Chippewa occupied northern Minnesota, for some years past a neutral zone between the Dakota and them, the border region became, due to relative deficiencies in the game supply and in other resources, a kind of backwater lying well in the lea of the new Chippewa frontier which comprised the more favora- ble forest-prairie area of central Minnesota (cf. Hickerson, 1962, pp. 12 fl“., 28-29). — p 47
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Tenure and Subsistence
Except for the 20 years of the La Verendrye period (1729-49), when the Indians and the French west of Lake Superior had reasonably stable relations, there are no data indicating regular trade at established posts. We have seen that when Alexander Henry arrived in the border region in 1775, he found the Indians in great need of trade goods. But even he, avid trader that he was, continued on to the west, only stopping long enough to carry on the most perfunctory trade for provisions and other necessities for his voyage and, incidentally, to debauch the Indians and corrupt their women.
The establishment of regular trade among Chippewa groups in the border region, after halting beginnings as early as the I770’s, began to take place on a large scale after the troubled era of the American Revolution and the treaty period following. Except for interruptions such as the War of 1812, when trade everywhere in the Northwest was curtailed, the Rainy Lake region from the 1790’s on was seldom without traders, and subposts were established at other locations along and adjacent to the border.^
The center for trade for the Chippewa in the border region inland from Lake Superior was Rainy Lake. All trading companies active in the region had their main depots there. Aside from Chippewas resident at Rainy Lake, others who lived as far away as Vermilion Lake in northern Minnesota (Gates, 1933, pp. 211- 212 ^/ passim; HBC, B:105/a/8; 105/a/9)’ and Lake of the Woods (HBC, B:105/a/5/; 105/a/9), as well as smaller lakes on or near the border like Whitefish and Sturgeon Lakes, either came to Rainy Lake to trade or were contacted by traders from Rainy Lake who traveled to them enderouine. Lake of the Woods
8 I do not enter into detaU on trading company activities in the border regions, except where such material bears directly on Indian land tenure and related problems. Data on the fur trade, trading company rivalries and agreements, etc., relating to the border area west of Lake Superior may be found in Nute (1944;
1950), the American Fur Company Papers (AFC, 1831-49), and the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives (cited as HBC). In general, the period imder discussion here, covering the end of the 18th century and the first three dedades of the 19th, was one of bitter rivalry; first between the Northwest Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company, then, upon the absorption of the former by the latter in 1821, between the British firm and the American Fur Company. This later rivalry was reconciled to some extent in 1833 when the two companies made an agreement involving rights to trade at specific locales in the border country, an agree- ment which lasted until 1847 (Nute, 1944, pp. 47-48; AFC, vol. 2, letters 1979, 13820, 13888, 16357; Rich, 1961, vol. 3, chap. 20).
7This and other citations and quotations from the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives in Ottawa are published by permission of the Governor and Committee of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
was a great source of provisions for the traders, espe- cially wildrice and corn grown by the Chippewa on Plantation, or Corn Island in the Lake, and Vermilion Lake also was a source of supply of wildrice and fish (HBC, B:105/a/l; 105/a/9; 105/a/lO; 105/e/6). p 48
The center for trade for the Chippewa in the border region inland from Lake Superior was Rainy Lake. All trading companies active in the region had their main depots there. Aside from Chippewas resident at Rainy Lake, others who lived as far away as Vermilion Lake in northern Minnesota (Gates, 1933, pp. 211- 212 ^/ passim; HBC, B:105/a/8; 105/a/9)’ and Lake of the Woods (HBC, B:105/a/5/; 105/a/9), as well as smaller lakes on or near the border like Whitefish and Sturgeon Lakes, either came to Rainy Lake to trade or were contacted by traders from Rainy Lake who traveled to them enderouine — p 48
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Tenure and Social Organization
In general, the clan organization of the proto-historic Chippewa had disappeared by 1800; that is, the discrete social units were no longer clan units, as they had been at the time of first contact with Europeans (Hickerson, 1966). Relocations of populations and changes in ways of making a living, especially changes wrought by the adoption of the fur trade, had rendered obsolete the clan organization
with its foundations in an ancient territorial system. The clan units were too weak in numbers and too wanting in polity to cope with new territorial needs and the multifarious new relationships with other Indian and European groups engendered by intro- duced trade systems. Before the end of the 17th century Chippewa living at various places along Lake Superior, and particularly those who after 1680 dwelled at Chequamegon Peninsula to the west on the south shore, had regrouped into large multiclan villages, bilateral in overall organization and also in the organization of constituent band units.
However, by the turn of the 19th century this village and others had repeatedly fragmented until there were dozens of large and small communities scattered throughout the lake country of the northern portions of Wis- consin and Minnesota, and the Canadian woods
(Hickerson, 1962: 1966). We have seen that the Chippewa in the Rainy Lake region arrived there only in the wake of westward moving Cree, and that the first Chippewa settiement in that general region, the one at Vermilion River, had splintered away from Chequamegon in 1736.
The members of these scattered communities were never for long without access to European goods through the fur trade, and although they were still bound to getting their own subsistence in time- honored ways and/or with firearms and steel traps, the fur trade in the last analysis was the critical factor in determining their movements between and within territories.
The size and cohesion of communities of the late 18 th and early 19th centuries (the period, by the way, during which the Chippewa through their migrations had achieved their maximum expansion), was determined in great part by the availability of fur and food on one hand, and the proximity of enemies on the other. Thus, in Minnesota south of the border region an abundance of fur and other game, along with fish and wildrice, supported large village communities. — pp 52-3
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On the other hand, the population at Rainy Lake and nearby locales was small compared to that at the more southerly locales in Minnesota. For 1822-23 John McLoughlin reported the population of the Rainy Lake district as constituting 107 men, 118 women, and 230 children, a total of 455 (HBC, of ”young men“ who had distinguished themselves in B:105/e/2). This represented the number of people for the entire district which included, as well as Rainy Lake itself, Vermilion Lake and Lake of the Woods, and also possibly some of the smaller places— Whitefish, Sturgeon and Basswood Lakes among others. This would seem to be substantiated by the census reports of Henry R. Schoolcraft, the Chippewa agent at Sault Ste. Marie, who reported the Chippewa of the border region as if they all were properly attached to the United States. In 1824 Schoolcraft (MS.) listed 210 souls for Rainy Lake and 90 for Vermilion Lake. The total of 300 falls short of the total of 455 given by McLoughlin, but this may be explained by Schoolcraft’s omission of figures for the Chippewa at Lake of the Woods. — p p 53-4
This would seem to be substantiated by the census reports of Henry R. Schoolcraft, the Chippewa agent at Sault Ste. Marie, who reported the Chippewa of the border region as if they all were properly attached to the United States. In 1824 Schoolcraft (MS.) listed 210 souls for Rainy Lake and 90 for Vermilion Lake. The total of 300 falls short of the total of 455 given by McLoughlin, but this may be explained by Schoolcraft’s omission of figures for the Chippewa at Lake of the Woods.
In his census report for 1831-32, however, School- craft listed 159 for Rainy Lake, 132 for Vermilion Lake, and 135 for Lake of the Woods, a grand total of 426 (1834, p. 220), much more in accord with McLoughlin’s figure for the entire district. M c – Loughlin’s figures, then, should not be considered as applying to Rainy Lake alone, b u t to the sister villages at Lake of the Woods and Vermilion Lake, and possibly to a few much smaller population clusters at the minor locations as well. For an area approxi- mately 150 miles by 100 miles this represented an overall population density of one person per 32 square miles. This figure is very low in comparison with that for the Chippewa to the south in Minnesota which, despite the internecine warfare with the Dakota waged by those Chippewa, I have estimated amounted to about one person per 12 square miles (1962, p. 32). In fact, population in the border region seems to compare with that given by Hallowell (1955, pp. 121-
122) for the Lake Winnipeg region: one person per 35 square miles. Dunning’s estimate (1959, pp. 48- 49) for 1875 for the northern area of one soul per 87 square miles, however, is probably quite realistic, and before that the population density in the north must have been even less.
for the entire district which included, as well as Rainy Lake itself, Vermilion Lake and Lake of the Woods, and also possibly some of the smaller places— Whitefish, Sturgeon and Basswood Lakes among others. This would seem to be substantiated by the census reports of Henry R. Schoolcraft, the Chippewa agent at Sault Ste. Marie, who reported the Chippewa of the border region as if they all were properly attached to the United States. In 1824 Schoolcraft (MS.) listed 210 souls for Rainy Lake and 90 for Vermilion Lake. The total of 300 falls short of the total of 455 given by McLoughlin, but this may be explained by Schoolcraft’s omission of figures for the Chippewa at Lake of the Woods.
In his census report for 1831-32, however, School- craft listed 159 for Rainy Lake, 132 for Vermilion Lake, and 135 for Lake of the Woods, a grand total of 426 (1834, p. 220), much more in accord with McLoughlin’s figure for the entire district.
for the entire district which included, as well as Rainy Lake itself, Vermilion Lake and Lake of the Woods, and also possibly some of the smaller places— Whitefish, Sturgeon and Basswood Lakes among others. This would seem to be substantiated by the census reports of Henry R. Schoolcraft, the Chippewa agent at Sault Ste. Marie, who reported the Chippewa of the border region as if they all were properly attached to the United States. In 1824 Schoolcraft (MS.) listed 210 souls for Rainy Lake and 90 for Vermilion Lake. The total of 300 falls short of the total of 455 given by McLoughlin, but this may be explained by Schoolcraft’s omission of figures for the Chippewa at Lake of the Woods.
In his census report for 1831-32, however, School- craft listed 159 for Rainy Lake, 132 for Vermilion Lake, and 135 for Lake of the Woods, a grand total of 426 (1834, p. 220), much more in accord with McLoughlin’s figure for the entire district. M c – Loughlin’s figures, then, should not be considered as applying to Rainy Lake alone, b u t to the sister villages at Lake of the Woods and Vermilion Lake, and possibly to a few much smaller population clusters at the minor locations as well. For an area approxi- mately 150 miles by 100 miles this represented an overall population density of one person per 32 square miles. This figure is very low in comparison with that for the Chippewa to the south in Minnesota which, despite the internecine warfare with the Dakota waged by those Chippewa, I have estimated amounted to about one person per 12 square miles (1962, p. 32). In fact, population in the border region seems to compare with that given by Hallowell (1955, pp. 121-
122) for the Lake Winnipeg region: one person per 35 square miles. Dunning’s estimate (1959, pp. 48- 49) for 1875 for the northern area of one soul per 87 square miles, however, is probably quite realistic, and before that the population density in the north must have been even less.
Thus, the Rainy Lake people, with respect to village population and population density, seem to have stood between their northern and southern relatives. This, of course, was congruent with their geographical position; midway, so to speak, between the southern villages and the northern family bands.
In other particulars the Rainy Lake people seem to have held an intermediate position. We have seen that, although exposed to the pleas of their fellows to the south to join them in warfare against the Dakota, by the 19th century they were reluctant to engage in war.
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American Indians: Contact and Beyond
1903 Ojibwe Indian village on Basswood Lake near Washington Island. Chief Blackstone in foreground. Teepees are covered in Birch bark.