The Fur Trade
In Michigan’s Thumb
A Story about the Gun, Silver, and Blacksmiths and the Makers of Brandy and Rum
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Table of Contents
Introduction Conchradum Chapter One Ekandechiondius 1535 - 1701 Chapter Two Les Pays Plats1701 - 1762 Chapter Three The Flat Country
1762 - 1796 Chapter Four Michigan’s Thumb
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Introduction
Conchradum
The landscape was dominated by the great projecting cape.
This is a story or tale of the early fur trading days that impacted Michigan’s Thumb. By 1649 the Huron or the Iroquois of the North were dispersed by the Southern Iroquois. During the winter of 1615-16, the French explorer Champlain had visited among the Huron.
The Huron then inhabited a Peninsula formed by Lake Erie and Lake Huron. The southern part of that peninsula was also inhabited by the Neutral Nation
The country west on the west side of Lake Huron was called Conchradum. After the Iroquois war it would be called by the Chippewa Saguinan.
This is a tale of that old region. Today it is called Michigan’s Thumb.
This is a tale of the fur trade and that early kingdom. The name Michigan was a word coined by the Chippewa.
Nearly surrounded by fresh water, Michigan is a large inland peninsula.
The Thumb of Michigan received its name because Lower Michigan looks like a glove or mitten. The Thumb of Michigan is a smaller peninsula in that mitten.
The 1660 chart on the previous page was drawn by Franciscus Creuxius. The map shows the Michigan’s early region of the Thumb.
At an earlier date it was called Conchradum.
In 1660 Conchradum contained three regions: Pagus Etioheroius, Pagus Ekandechiondius, and Pagus Skenchioetontius.
On the eastern boundary of Conchradum was the Mare Dulce or the sweet-water sea. Mare Dulce was also called Lacus Huronium.
The Latin word Pagus means village, district, or country.
The name Flat Country, possibly Chippewa “Tesakamiga”, also was a name for Michigan’s Thumb.
This was the land of the valuable of pelt This was the magical land.
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Over time here many Native People dwelt. It was also a somewhat cultivated land.
The word Ekandechiondius seems to denote the great land’s end. “Condechrata" in Wyandotte also stands for land's end.
"Ek" means where and “ondech" means land. “Io” means great.
The Thumb of Michigan, a peninsula, projects out and is flat like a plate. It may also be called a head land.
The suffix “ondius" means it is a point or outward projected.
Pagus Ekandechiondius was the country where the earth was largely extended. Conchradum was also the place where a great river poured out.
For this river’s mouth this region was later called Sankinan. Sankinan seems to mean where the river composed a spout.
This was the region of the Native Saginaw clan. Eastern Conchradum was the land of Skenchioe.
This was the district of the early Fox People.
The Fox were also called the people of the opposite shore or the Outagamie. Conchradum would was the ultimate hunting and cultivating ground for Native People.
The cultivating, hunting, and gathering, here was the best. Control of the land was often hard-pressed.
Here over time in one hundred different Native villages were created. It was Michigan’s land that was the most populated.
The early 1660’s on the Great Lakes was the dawn of its written history. So begins the story.
Conchradum later known as Saginaw was the land of magical enchantment. It was a place of charm and allurement.
Conchradum was where the great river poured out. Conchradum was later called Sankinan.
The later word may be joined to the Dutch word “schenken”. Schenken signifies to give out a drink or to pour.
This was a river on which one would be passionate about or adore. Late Latin “echanson” means the cupbearer or one who pours a drink.
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Another name for Sankinan seems to be the outlet.
The region on the Franciscus Creuxius chart called Pagus Etioheroius is noteworthy. The place name seems to describe the country of the people of the river outlet.
In the mid-1700s a Detroit Indian Native clan was called the Etioreendi. The people of the river outlet was the meaning of their name.
They seem to have been once the Sauk community. Sankinan, Sauk, and Saginaw then have a root that is the same.
In Chippewa “siginan” means it is poured.
“Siginigewigamig” and “ashangggewigamig” mean a tavern or where liquor is poured. The Sauk were the people who lived where the river emptied.
A bit after 1660 the river was named on a chart and called Fluvius Kariendiondi. This was where a great river decanted.
The Sauk lived in the early 1600’s at the river’s mouth where it emptied in to the great freshwater sea.
It is known today as the Saginaw River.
“Fluvius” is Latin for something that flows, a large stream, or a river. Kariendiondi is likely a Latinized word that came from the Huron language. Fluvius Kariendiondi was at the heart of the local transportation in that time or age.
In Wyandotte [Huron] the river’s mouth is “arenti-".
The Bay formed by Fluvius Kariendiondi was called Tekariendiondi. "Tek" means where.
“Areenti" seems to mean the mouth of a river. “Io” means great while “ondi" means it projects out. Tekariendiondi was where the great river projected out.
The larger Lacus Huronium, the Great Lake of the Huron, was later called Karegondi. Karegondi may also mean the lake where there is a great spilling of water.
Other early inhabitants of Conchradum were the populous Mascouten. They were generally known in French as the Gens Feu or the Fire Nation.
The Huron called them the Asistaguerouon.
The Mascouten, Sauk, and Fox were often known together generally as Asistagueronon. The Mascouten, Sauk, and Fox from 1632 and 1636 were driven from Conchradum.
The Ottawa and Neutral Nation drove them away.
The Asistagueronn left for asylum with the Winnebago in Wisconsin’s Green Bay. Afterward only their spirits and place names would be found in Conchradum. From 1643 to 1649 the Five Nations or Iroquois were also at war with the Huron.
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The Iroquois would drive the Huron from their Ontario homeland. The Iroquois would also defeat their neighbors the Neural Nation. The Iroquois then used the Thumb as their trapping and hunting land. In 1687 the Ottawa and the Chippewa together displaced the Iroquois. The goal of each Native group was to trap the enchanted Conchradum ground.
Each the delights of the land they would enjoy.
In Conchradum, in Michigan’s Thumb, the best, most plentiful, fur was found. The great harvests of the forests are left in one place name the belle chasse or Belle River.
The name mean the beautiful hunt.
Here the fantastic trapping and hunting was done on hill, dale, and waterfront. Eastern Conchradum was called Skenchioe.
The name was said to mean place of the Fox People. However Onondaga "uschentchios" means the land that is flat. In the early 1700’s Skenchioe was called by the French Le Pays Plat.
Skenchioe was certainly a place that was level.
In the late 1700’s the English called Skenchioe the Flat Country. In the early 1600’s the Gens Neutral once lived south of Lacus Huronium.
With the Iroquois they had often avoided conflict and war. In the end the Iroquois displace them.
The Gens Neutral had lived just north of Lake Erie’s shore.
The Neutral Nation was the ancient brother of the Southern Iroquois or Five Nations. In Conchradum, the Thumb, great expectation for the future was destine to aspire.
Conchradum pelts brought power and authority. The local pelts brought with them great emotions.
Here was Native campfire.
Here could be gain the region of the valued peltry.
The Huron people with the fantastic hair engaged with the Iroquois in warfare. The Huron people had lived at Georgian Bay on the eastern shore of Lacus Huronium.
The Huron were by the Iroquois called the Ouatogie. Against the Huron the Iroquois had beaten the war drum. Into Ontario and Michigan the Iroquois pressed forward increasingly.
Ouatogie meant the people of the west.
In the Huron War control of the beaver grounds was the ultimate quest. Hunting in Conchradum was the place unsurpassed.
It was later likewise called Teuschegronde or where there are beaver dams many athwart. To the Iroquois Coinchradum was the land afar to which the Iroquois pressed.
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Grand were the rivers of the Conchradum the region that included the Michigan’s Thumb. Here sparkling and glittering were the ancient rivers of water.
The greatest river was Fluvius Kariendiondi the Saginaw River. Fluvius Kariendiondi flowed northward to Lacus Huronium.
It was the early Mascouten, Sauk, and Fox kingdom.
To the south the outlet of Lacus Huronium poured into the Otsiketo River. It was a wide channel that today is called the St. Claire River. The Otsiketo River poured out into a large round and shallow lake.
It was likewise also called Otsiketo Lake.
Later the lake was renamed by the French and called Lake Saint Claire. It was a body of water that was clear, lucid, and fare.
Into the Otsiketo River entered the Pine and Belle Chasse River. The Belle Chasse River was also known as the White River.
Into Otsiketo Lake came the Swan, Salt, and Lower Huron [or Clinton] River. Otsiketo means sugar and also Whiteman’s sugar or salt.
In 1660 on the map made by Franiscus Creuxius Otsiketo Lake is named Lac Aquarum Marinarum.
The later name means the lake of water that is of the sea or salt.
From the out pouring of the Salt River the name Lac Aquarum Marinarum seems to come. The water of Conchradum glittered, gleamed, and rippled.
The streams and rivers were called the water of light.
The Chippewa/Ottawa word "wasseia" as well the Onondaga word "wazaoenji", mean light. These rivers were running and dazzling and bright.
The water from Michigan’s Thumb region flowed with sparkle and twinkle. The water reflected the sun beams.
This was the land of lucent streams.
One river by contrast ran southeast to the Otsiketo River.
Ironically it was later called because of its hemlock dyes the Black River. Each river also had their individual quality.
The Tittabawassee, Shiawassee, and Wakishegan River emptied into Fluvius Kariendiondi. These names were provided by the Chippewa and Ottawa.
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"Tittiba" means it rolls, turns, or goes around in a great way.
Toward the west then north Tittabawassee River bends back toward Tekariendiondi Bay. “Wassee" means it is brilliantly bright.
“Wassee” means it is luminous with light. "Shia" means it is something that is straight ahead.
The Saginaw River [Fluvius Kariendiondi] by the Shiawassee River is directly fed. Wakishegan means simply that it glitters.
In Conchradum these were the major three rivers. All of them emptied into Fluvius Kariendiondi. Rolling or turning in from the west was the Tittabawassee. Flowing straight into Fluvius Kariendiondi was the Shiawassee. The Wakishegan came in from the eastern part of Conchradum.
It was also known as the Onottoway, Upper Huron, and Matawan of Michigan’s Thumb. All these waters ran clear and bright.
They were the water of light.
The Water of Light ran to the Atlantic Ocean. The Fluvius Kariendiondi flowed into Tekariendiondi Bay.
From there the water of light coursed into Mare Dulce. Mare Dulce was also known as Lacus Huronium or Karegondi.
The water of Karegondi was deep green and navy.
The water of light progressed around Ekandechiondius or the great land's end. Passed that point the water would very at a snail's pace descend.
Around the tip of the thumb it went.
It progressed south where its current passed an ancient Native monument. This shrine was located a short distance into the lake and was named White Rock.
“Wasse-bik” was the Chippewa and Ottawa word for White Rock.
Karegondi made its way southward to the strait or channel called Otsiketo River. Down the wide channel the water flowed and quickly reached Otsiketo Lake
The lake was also called Kandekio Lake. Kandekio today is well known as Lake St. Clair. Otsiketo meant sugar and also salt of the white man. Otsiketo Lake was also named by the French Lac Chaudière.
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Kettle is the meaning of the French word Chaudière. The lake was round and looked a huge cooking caldron.
The Huron or Wyandotte called a kettle ganatchio. That was even one more name of Lake Kandekio. Perhaps the name Kandekio means where the land is great. “Ek” in Huron means where while “ondech” means land or country.
The ending “io” means it is great. The land was magnificent most certainly.
Otsiketo Lake or Lake Saint Claire was a body of water that was clear and fair. Geese, ducks, and swans would fill Lake St. Claire.
Into the lake entered Swan River
The largest river to empty into Lake St. Claire was the Huron [or Clinton] River. In Lake St. Claire paddled many a flock of wild fowl.
This was the place also where along the shore one would see the forest owl. South the water flowed.
Out of Lake St. Claire the water surged.
Downstream another strait of water passed an old Native village. It was a place that was used by Native People and was great in age.
The camping ground was called by the Huron Karontean. The area around the village was called Tiosharondion.
The area was called also Yondotiga by he Chippewa, Ottawa, and Pottawatomie. Yondotiga means the great village of Native city.1
Waweatunong means where there is [in the river] a bend or circuitous way.
Tiosharondion was later often written as Teuschagronde. It means the place of the dams of the beaver essentially.
Karontean means the coast or shore of the Strait. In 1701 the French would locate at this great strait.
They would found a town they would call Detroit. Of the narrows was the meaning of the French words de’troit. Tiosharondion meant where there are beaver dams many athwart.
1 The City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Volume 1 edited by Clarence Monroe Burton, William Stocking, Gordon K. Miller
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In the great beaver ground the French here built a great fort. The water of de’troit entered Lacus Erius today known as Lake Erie.
Eastward flowed the current through water shallow then deep.
Over Niagara Falls with a great thunder and down a great gorge, it would sweep. Into Lake Ontario, Niagara River would empty.
Great, long, and wide was Lake Ontario. Lake in Huron is “ontar” while great is “io”.
Conchradum was the land afar.
Conchradum was the land of the water of light. It was the land of the sorcerer's fur. It was the place where the future was bright. Conchradum was the land of the great chasseur.
It was the region of bright glistening streams. It was the land of many people’s dreams.
It was the filled with the dams of the beaver. It was filled with optimistic fervor.
Michigan’s Thumb, Conchradum, was the land that was afar. It’s history filled many a memoire.
Michigan’s Thumb was the setting of the glistening river’s bend. Here many native and European people would ascend.
Conchradum was home to the grand magical fur. The Thumb was "le pays peles" the land of fur.
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Chapter One
Ekandechiondius
1535 to 1701
The beginning of the Great Lakes fur trade story and history
Written history opens in the Great Lakes with the people called the Iroquois and Algonquin. They were then in possession of the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes region. In 1535 the Ottawa, Chippewa and Potawatomi claimed southeastern Michigan. The district of Detroit was for a long time occupied by them as a large village.
They called Detroit “Yondotiga” meaning the great village.
In 1535 Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence and found the Huron an Iroquoian people. The Huron were located on the north and south banks of the St. Lawrence River.
They were found in the vicinity of today’s Quebec and Montreal. In 1535 the Huron were in warfare.
Before the arrival of European explorers in North America, there were Native wars. In the 1500’s the French explored the St. Lawrence water way.
They saw the Algonquin residing between what is today Quebec and the Georgian Bay. Because of the cold they were mostly hunters and gatherers.
Jacques Cartier also found the Iroquois who were engaged in agriculture. These Iroquois lived on both sides of the St. Lawrence River.
The French called them the Huron.
“What Heads of Hair” was the meaning of the French word Huron.
The Huron who were the Northern Iroquois were then in conflict with the Southern Iroquois. By the time Champlain arrived in 1603, the Huron had been defeated.
Their villages along the St. Lawrence River had been deserted. The Huron had migrated to Georgian Bay in escaping from the Iroquois. 2
Great Lakes written history had a flourish in 1606.
The French and Dutch were at that time in search of the Northwest Passage and furs. In defiance of the French the Dutch also sail into the St. Lawrence River.
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The French and the Dutch were at war and would not mix. So the Dutch began to look elsewhere for their furs.
They found an answer to south of the St Lawrence River in the North River. Samuel de Champlain founded New France [or Canada] in 1608.
His goal was to find the Northwest Passage to the orient.
Establishing a fur trade with the Native People was also his dedicated intent. Champlain began a fur trading post at what is now Quebec in 1608.
Beaver fur was used in Europe to make hats of felt. Very high then was the demand for the beaver pelt.
In 1608 the Huron lived near today’s Georgian Bay. The French made a fur trade alliance with the Huron in 1609.
That year Champlain went to Huronia the Huron homeland that was on the eastern shore of the bay.3
Nearby the beaver pelts were plentiful and very fine.
The Dutch begin trading on the North or Hudson River.
In 1609 the Dutch who had previously visited the St. Lawrence River decided to go southward. In employment with the Dutch, Henry Hudson discovered the North or Hudson River.
In 1610 Dutchman Arnout Vogels returned to trade at the mouth of the river. From his ship he purchased many furs and placed them onboard.
Arnout Vogels had engaged two Frenchman. With the local Native People they gainfully traded.
It was not long before other Dutchmen followed.
Those coming afterward included Adrian Block and Lambert Van Tweenhuysen. They also traded from their ships with European goods.
Native People came in to trade from the local woods.
Fur trading was done during the warm weather of late spring or early summer. In a short time a trading post was opened at the outlet of the Hudson River.
The owner of the post was the Dutch West India Company. The group proved to be unprofitable at least initially. The Mohawk tribe lived along the upper Hudson River.
They quickly objected to the Dutch who wanted to abandon the Indian trade in the region. The Mohawk encouraged the Dutch to relocate to a better spot on the upper Hudson River.
They wanted the Dutch to build there a new trading post and stockade.
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There shortly thereafter was established a permanent settlement on the upper Hudson. The post would become very successful and profitable in working in the fur trade.
A Dutch New Colony was established and was known as New Holland. It was later known as New Netherland[s].
New France is explored by Samuel Champlain.
In 1613 in New France Samuel Champlain explored the Ottawa River. By 1614 the Dutch had built Fort Nassau on Castle Island.
Castle Island was in the Middle of the Hudson River near the mouth of the Mohawk River. Today this region is called Schenectady and Albany.
Schenectady was a Mohawk word that meant the country over the pineland. A large number of furs were being brought to Fort Nassau on the upper Hudson River.
The Mohawk River was a passageway inland to the Great lakes and its cache of peltry. The Mohawk people could ascend the Mohawk River.
At the Lake Oneida portage they descend the Oneida River. From there they could go onward to Oswego. There they could hunt and trap along Lake Ontario.
This was the initially an excellent land for the beaver and other fur. The area around Fort Nassau was a region that was a beautiful pine forest.
It was unspoiled and untouched.
For those who lived here life seemed at its best.
Furs were abundant in the local region and without problems were obtained. Fort Nassau soon became the leading Indian trading center on the Hudson River. Burgeoning wealth was growing at Fort Nassau because it was near the Mohawk River. In 1615 in New France, Champlain traveled the Ottawa River and then the Matawan River. He stayed with the Nipissing Indians at the Lake Nipissing and the traveled down the French
River.
Near the mouth of the French River was Georgian Bay. Here Champlain met the Cheveux Releves.
He met there with 300 of their men who were harvesting blue berries. “Cheveux releves” in French means the raised hair.
They were called the Ottawa a time later. For their furs the French traded only with the Huron. The other tribes in the region only bring their furs to Huron.
Champlain followed the eastern shore of Georgian Bay south to Nottawasaga Bay. Huronia the home of the Huron was on the eastern shore of the bay.
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The year 1616 was the beginning of the Beaver War.
The Beaver War began in 1616 and would continue for over fifty years.
Lower Eastern Michigan, home of the Fire Nation, then had an Indian populace that was very weighty.
The population was denser here than in any area in the Northeast according to French explorers.
The end of the Beaver War would come in 1670. At that time Lower Michigan was mostly unoccupied. More than 20,000 Native people to Green Bay would be exiled.4
The Huron of New France and the Iroquois of New Netherlands were at war. In 1616 Champlain made an agreement with the Huron to help them in their conflict.
The Huron and French planned to knock on the Mohawk’s door. They would strike at the very home of the Mohawk district. Champlain and his Huron guides traversed southeast to Lake Ontario.
They crossed the lake and found a village of Iroquois that may have resided near Oswego. The French and Huron attacked the village but were defeated and crushed.
During the winter months of 1616-1617 Champlain spent his time with the Attigouantan or Huron.
Champlain at that time named the nearby great lake Mere Dulce. The Lake is now called Lake Huron.
The Huron people had a number of villages on the east side of Georgian Bay. The Attigouantan or Huron had power over a large region.
Their influence extended all the way westward to the Fire Nation and the Thumb of Michigan. Huronia was the name of the home district of the Huron and contained eighteen villages.
Six of them were enclosed and fortified.
Huronia was a land that was pleasant and mostly cleared. Stones and water were placed on the palisades of the villages.
The stones were hurled at the enemy, and water was used to extinguish a fire. Most difficult was the defense against gunfire.
In these eighteen villages warriors lived who numbered two thousand people. The villages also included a total population of about thirty thousand people.
Between Huronia and Saginaw Bay, the route by canoe was by the southern Lake Huron shore. The distance from Huronia to Saginaw Bay was 330 miles along a curved shore.
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Seldum did a Native person canoe directly between Huronia and Saginaw Bay. Even thought that was the straightest way.
The Gens de Petun, the Tionnontate, resided southwest of Huronia on the Nottawasaga River. They were also called the Tobacco Nation.
The Gens de Petun grew large amounts of corn that they traded with the other tribes in the region.
The Gens de Petun and Huron formed a coalition together. The winter of 1616-1671 Champlain visited the main Petun village. He then moved on to visit the major Cheveux Releves or Ottawa village.
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The Ottawa were glad to see Champlain.
They Ottawa grew some corn but typically hunted and gathered their sustenance. In search of food they had to often travel a great distance.
As hunters they went in groups to many a different region. They were also fur and other goods traders.
The name Ottawa means the brokers or traders!
At times they traveled 600 miles to the west tip of Lake Superior. They also traveled southern to the tip of the Grand Lac or Lake Michigan. The journeys of the Ottawa caused conflict between them and many a distant nation. With the people called the Asistaguerouon, the Gens de Feu, or Fire Nation, they were at war.
The Fire Nation was about ten days journey.
They lived in the region hat is today Michigan’s Thumb and the Saginaw Valley. The Ottawa requested Champlain’s assistance with their conflict with the Fire Nation. Champlain nonetheless replied that the Ottawa must wait until another time or occasion.
South of the Huron and Ottawa was an Iroquois tribe called the Neutral Nation. They were neutral or not at war with the Southern Iroquois.
The Neutrals allied with the Ottawa and assisted them in their war against the Fire Nation. Against the Gens de Feu, the Race of Fire, the Neutral nation the Ottawa would employ.
The Neutral Nation was two days' journey southward of the Ottawa.
The Nation of Fire would ultimately be removed eastern Michigan by the Neutrals and Ottawa. The Petun Nation was often very cruel.
They planted large amount of tobacco on their land. Their warriors numbered four thousand.
*************
They dwelled just westward of the Lake Ontario. *****************
From the Ottawa village, the Neutral village was southward four or five day’s journey. One could walk twenty miles a day.
The distance was eighty miles away.
The Neutral Nation was very populous had a number of towns amounting to about forty. Between 1616 and 1629 for the Huron, the beaver fur trade was a huge success.
The Huron and Algonquian accounted for two thirds of the French fur business. The annual beaver output was from 12,000 to 15,000 pelts.
One year it maxed at 22,000 pelts.
Nonetheless the eastern beaver started to be decimated or depleted. In the end the eastern supply of pelts was for the most part drained or exhausted.
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At that time there were in storage in Quebec only 3,000 to 4,000 pelts. The next year in 1630 the British took in 30,000 lbs of pelts.
In the following year 1631 the British limited the trade as the trade seemed plunge to a wreck. The Algonquian and Iroquois were pressured to seek new hunting grounds westward. It was then that efforts to control and harvest Michigan’s Thumb were incited or spurred.
The Dutch fur trade was to the Southern Iroquois a great support or aid. In 1624 the Dutch built Fort Orange.
Fort Orange was located on an east bank of the upper Hudson River. It was established opposite the mouth of the Mohawk River. Growing in the pockets of the local traders was currency and change.
The Mohawk River was the gateway.
The Mohawk River led to the interior forests that were plentiful in fur. To their advantage the Mohawk people used that waterway.
Over this passage they hunted and gathered many types of woodland goods from the interior. To Lake Ontario, the great lake, the Mohawk River was a doorway.
Ontario means the lake that is great. “Ontar” means lake while “io” means vast or great. The Mohawk river allowed the Mohawk people to have great sway. The river would over time carry a great deal of woodland and merchant freight.
The Mohawk River led westward to Lake Oneida.
The Lake was named for the Native Iroquoian people called the Oneida. The Oneida portage allowed travel northwest down the Oswego River.
The land early on abounded in peltry and fur.
Oswego River led to the camping ground or village of Oswego Oswego laid on the shore of Lake Ontario.
Lake Ontario was the link to the upper Great Lakes. Native canoes plied the south Lake Ontario shore creating wakes. Near the west end of Lake Ontario was the Niagara River.
Crossing the Niagara Peninsula the Iroquois could follow Lake Erie to Lake Huron. Eventually they would hunt and trade in Sankinan or Tekariendiondi Bay.
By 1628 the Mohawk had defeated the Mohican. The Mohican also lived on the Hudson River.
The Mohawk then developed a monopoly as bush runners on the Hudson waterway. The Mohawk were the dominate players in the Hudson River fur trade.
They became middlemen for the Dutch.
hey could obtain peltry in volume that was of the highest grade. The fur of the beaver was great for making hats that were soft to the touch.
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Beaver hats were then very much in style. It made better hats then any type of cloth or textile.
Everyone wanted an increase and security in commerce and travel. To that end the Mohawk and the French of New France made peace.
The French soon found on the other hand that the Mohawk brought to the Dutch many furs. These Dutch furs were valuable.
To the Dutch the Iroquois traded some of the best of peltry or fleece. The Mohawk continued to be Dutch engages or middlemen.
With the assistance of the Mohawk people the Indian trade for the Dutch was very profitable. Many furs were making their way to Fort Orange.
For many years the situation did not change.
The trapping and trading by the Mohawk eventually would reach Lake Huron. The loss of the fur trade by the French to the Dutch seemed possible. The Dutch at Fort Orange asked their governor to give them a monopoly.
The Dutch asked for a license to solely control the New Netherlands [or New York] Indian trade. In their request the Dutch of Fort Orange were successful.
Many Dutch merchants afterward became wealthy.
Essentially the military force of New Netherlands was giving those at Fort Orange backing and military aid.
For the Dutch at Fort Orange the Indian trade was extremely profitable. For the Indian or fur trade the Dutch imported very few of their own goods.
Most of the items they used in the trade they would sew, forge, and brew. They manufactured themselves most of their trade goods.
It was said that they had the best and most wanted items, which was not untrue. The Dutch selling prices were also very low generally.
For the woodland goods he Native people brought in, the Dutch also often gave more in trade or money.
In making their own goods, costs for the Dutch were greatly reduced. Each spring the Mohawk only would bring to Fort Orange furs from the forest.
For the Dutch trader this system of obtaining furs worked out the best. Dutch traders themselves seldom penetrated the woods. They traded only with the Mohawk with their Dutch goods.
The Mohawk in turn with other tribes then again traded. On the Hudson River the Indian trade was a great source of money. Income from furs shipped to Europe was the greatest part of the economy.
The Indian Trade generated a large amount of income. Throughout the system furs passed between many a hand.
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In Europe the American peltry was always in great demand.
At Fort Orange furs were brought in each spring by Mohawk who were always welcome. Types of furs included muskrat, martin, mink, raccoon, possum, fox, lynx, and bear.
Most important was the pelt of the beaver.
It seemed that the Indian or fur trade for Fort Orange would never come to an end. Nonetheless each year hunting and trapping to the west did extend.
The Five Nations, or Southern Iroquois, and Dutch people were allies. In this accord numerous marriages took place.
Through marriage and the building of family relationships, profits would maximize. Marriage between the Dutch and Iroquois was certainly not an unusual case.
Many Dutch had an Iroquois relative or ancestor.
It was usually however only the Iroquois who deep into the woods would venture. The Gens de Feu were the people of early Saginaw and Michigan’s Thumb. The hunter grounds of the Gens de Feu were once Saginaw and Michigan’s Thumb.
The Gens de Feu was composed of the Mascoutten, Sauk, Fox, and Pottawatomie. They inhabited the region that today is Saginaw and Michigan’s Thumb.
They occupied the river valleys of the Onottoway, Flint, Tittabawassee, and Shiawassee. To the Chippewa they were all called the Onottoway and auk.
The live and hunted this land of the grand eagle and hawk.
From the 1641 Novvell France Map the following were the tribes of the Gens de Feu. Starting from Tekariendiondi and going southeast, these were the people who made up the
Gens de Feu:
One tribe of the Fox people was likely the Oskovararnon. They appear to have lived in the lower valley of the Onottoway River.
The Onottoway was later called the Upper Huron and Cass River. Onottoway was likely the another name for the Oskovararonn .
They lived where the Onottoway River and an old [Saginaw] Indian trail crossed. Here at the great bend in the river, they resided.
Next to the east near Lake Huron were the Ariotocronon or the rock people. They were likely Pottawatomie.
The upper reaches of the Onottoway River and Lake Huron were their domicile. They lived near White Rock, which was in Lake Huron, and near White Rock and Slate Stone
Creek.
They also lived not far from Rock Falls Creek.
Between the Shiawassee and Flint River lived the Skenchioronon. They were a tribe of the Fox people.
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***************** *****************
The lived near Flint and the burnt country called by the Ojibway Muscutawaingh. The place may have been cleared by fire for corn and other planting.
East of the Skenchioronon were the Sauk or [H]Kovatocronon. Southwest of the ovatocronon were the Mascouten.
They were called the Aictaeronon.
The people of the fire was the meaning of their name.
The Gens de Feu were people who in general had an Algonquin heritage that was same. In the Ontario Peninsula resided the Neutral Nation.
North of them was the Petun. ************
************** ************
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The Gens de Feu was made up of tribes that possessed a common paradise of fish and game that included the beaver.
They lived near together in neighborly harmony. They lived in good relations and amity.
Their domain went as far as the head-waters of the Shiawassee River. Strong and valiant were then the Sauk and Onottoway.
Nonetheless their most exposed local were the villages near the Saginaw Bay. The Onottoway occupied the Onottoway River now known as the Cass River.
Their principal village was just a few miles up from the mouth of that river.
The Ojibway and Ottawa used the names Sauk and Onottoway to mean the Gens de Feu. The Mascouten, Sauk, Fox, and Pottawatomie tribes actually composed the Fire Nation or Gens
de Feu.
In 1632 the main village of the Gens de Feu was likely a village of the Mascouten. Their community was located on the Saginaw River a few miles up from Saginaw Bay. The Gens de Feu also had villages at different points on the rivers up to today’s Pontiac,
Oakland County, Michigan.
Far away to the north of the Sauk lived the Chippewa or Ojibway
The Ojibway inhabited the region bordering on lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior. The Sauk and Ojibway were always at war.
The Ojibwa coveted the hunting ground of the Sauk and Onottoway. The Ojibway had for a longtime desired their prized land.
*************** ********************** They wanted to overpower them.
The Ojibwa wanted nothing more than to destroy or decimate them. To this end the Ojibwa held a council with the Northern Ottawa their neighbor.
Their objective was war.
By 1632 French explorers had gone as far west as the Grand Lac or Lake Michigan. That year a Jesuit priest learned of an invasion into the Gens de Feu by the Chippewa and
Ottawa.
Paul Le Jeune baptized a boy taken from the Fire Nation.
The boy’s father and mother and he were taken in the war by the Ottawa. They had burned the boy’s parents.
Very cruel were the Ottawa torments.
The village they attacked was likely near the mouth of Fluvius Kariendiondi or the Saginaw River.
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On maps of New France until 1656 on the Saginaw River the Gens de Feu continued to be illustrated or represented.
There were other Fire Nation villages on the Flint, Shiawassee, Tittabawassee and Cass River. The Ottawa were starting to invade the land of the Gens de Feu without question.
To these interior villages there were no well worn foot trails from Lake Huron. The Ottawa would come in by way of the Saginaw Bay and River.
The Gens de Feu would gradually be exiled from Saginaw and Michigan’s Thumb beginning in 1632.
They would nonetheless leave the by the 1640’s the land they so well knew. In 1641 the Neutrals attacked the Fire Nation and took 100 prisoners.
The following year they took 175 prisoners. The Neutrals typically killed their captives.
*****************
In 1641 the Gens de Feu was composed of many villages that toward the west extended. They were more numerous than the Neutral Nation, Huron, and Iroquois combined. The 1641 Novvell France map shows details of the locations of the tribes of the Gens de Feu.
***************
All the tribes had similar dialects and points of view. *******************
Maps suggest that the Fire Nation include at least three distinct tribes the Asistaguerouon (Mascouten), the Huattoehronon (Sauk) and the Skenchiorono (Fox).
******************************
Flint may have been an early place for planting corn. Each Native household lives on what it gets by fishing and planting.
They improved as much land as they needed and cleared up the ground with difficulty. They did not have the implements adapted to farming.
A party stripped the trees of all the branches. They then burn the tree at its base in order to kill the tree.
They clear carefully the land between the trees.
They plant corn at distances of a pace putting in each hole some ten kernels. They plant just enough for provisions for three or four years.
Flint was known by the Chippewa as Mus-cu-ta-wa-ingh or the open Plain Burned Over. The Flint site may have been cleared by fire to plant corn.
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The Winnebago killed and ate an Ottawa envoy. Ottawa trade provided weapons to their enemy the Ojibwa. The Winnebago sent a strong message to the French trade alliance.
The message was that they were at war with the Ojibway. By then Michigan tribes sought asylum among the Winnebago.
They wanted asylum from the French trade alliance.
In 1634 or 1638 Jean Nicolet traveled to Green Bay from Huronia with 7 Indians probably Huron to make peace between the Huron and Winnebago.
Nicolet learned from the Winnebago’s that the Pottawatomie, Menomonee, and Rasouakoueton [Mascouten] had been driven from Michigan.
They were exiled at Green Bay.
The Potawatomi and Menomonee’s were originally located in Northern Michigan. They once lived near the Chippewa.
The Fox apparently had not yet arrived at Green Bay.
Apparently some of the Gens De Feu decided to remain to fight in the Saginaw Valley.
In 1635 the Neutrals attacked the Gens De Feu and were defeated.
The Dutch and Southern Iroquois enter the Beaver War in the 1630’s. In 1635 the French in Canada were in an excellent trade position.
The French then began to trade with the Southern Iroquois called the Onondaga. "Standing Stone" was their name in translation.
Their Southern Iroquois brothers the Mohawk did not want the French to trade with the Onondaga.
The Onondaga lived mid-way between Fort Orange and Niagara Falls then a Dutch frontier. The Mohawk eventually ousted the French from the region.
They did so with the aid of the Dutch weapons financier.
In the Mohawk and French conflict the Dutch publicly expressed to be neutral. Eventually the war between the Iroquois and French reached a situation that was pivotal.
The Dutch in the end openly took the Iroquois side. With the help of the Dutch there was a turning of the tide. By the 1640s beaver in the Iroquois’ homeland was nearing extinction. To obtain furs the Iroquois were then pressed to travel to the land that was afar. To acquire new trading and trapping country the Iroquois planned another land to conquer.
The then began to attack the Huron in the countryside of Lacus Huronium.
The efforts of the Iroquois would eventually promote the displacement of the Gens de Feu in ancient Sankinan or Conchradum.
To control the trade of the region the Iroquois needed to control the Ottawa River. They then would need to be in command of the region of the Huron.
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To this end the Iroquois were soon in rapid advance. They gathered excitedly around the war dance.
For their defense the French of Canada offered arms to the Huron. The Huron or Wyandotte lived on Lake Huron’s eastern shore. At stake were the peltries of Michigan’s Thumb and much more.
A great battle began over the land of the Huron. On one side of the war were the Iroquois and Dutchman
On the other side were the Huron and Frenchman. In 1633 the French had provided skilled people to the Huron. They also sent to the Huronia bakers, farmers, artisans, and blacksmiths.
Blacksmiths would also often serve as gunsmiths. Goods of many types made their way to the region. To this country French and Dutch goods were infused. The Indian trade of the ball, powder, and gun was launched.
In 1642 for defense the French built a fort at the north end of Lacus Huronium. They established the fort on St. Marie's River.
The fort and surrounding land became a refuge for the Algonquin hunter, trapper, and warrior. The Sault or Chippewa and their brother’s the Ottawa called this land their home.
For the Native the blacksmith was in the end the most valued artisan. Blacksmiths made and repaired the valuable trap, axe, tomahawk, and gun. In 1642 the Huron War was reaching a peak on Lake Huron’s southeastern shores.
While the Dutch were supplying the Iroquois with gun, powder, and shot. The French were doing the same for the Huron or Wyandot. To this ancient region came the Iroquois in canoes with paddles or oars. The name Wyandot means the people of the land separated or the island. “The people with the fabulous hair” was the meaning of the French name Huron.
In the end the Huron would be driven from their homeland. The Huron would flee westward to La Bay or Green Bay in Wisconsin.
The Iroquois would force the Huron toward the setting sun.
The Neutral Nation at this time was also in a cruel war with the Gens de Feu. The previous year they took one hundred prisoners form the Gens de Feu.
In 1642?? they returned with an army of two thousand men They again brought away more than a hundred and seventy men.
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Both were very cruel toward their enemy.
The Neural Nation nonetheless burned their women prisoners of war as well as the men. The Huron were content with knocking the woman down and bearing off some portion of their
body.
The cruelties and atrocities committed against the Fire Nation by the Neutrals were enormous. The brutality may have been an attempt to obtain justice or revenge from a past quarrel or
event.
Vengeance played an important role in the laws of the Huron and Neural Nation people of New France.
The Neutral’s returned again heavily armed in 1643 and defeated Fire Nation.
A large scale attack on Fire Nation in 1644 occurred by the allies of the Ottawa the Neutrals: At the end of the winter a party of about one hundred persons of these peoples of the Neutral
Nation came to visit us in this country.
These peoples of the neutral Nation are always at war with those of the Nation of fire who are still farther distant from us.
They went there last Summer to the number of two thousand and attacked a village well protected by a palisade, and strongly defended by nine hundred warriors who withstood the
assault.
Finally, they carried it after a siege of ten days; they killed 14 many on the spot.
They took eight hundred captives, — men, women, and children after having burned seventy of the best warriors.
They put out the eyes and girdled the mouths of all the old men whom they ‘afterward abandoned to their own guidance in order that they might thus drag out a miserable life.
Such is the scourge that depopulates all these countries. Their wars are but wars of extermination.
The location of this Fire Nation palisade village is not known.
The palisade fell ten years after the fall of the first Fire Nation village in 1632.
It is assumed that the two villages are separated significantly and the palisade village is remote. This would be the case if the village that fell in 1632 is at Saginaw Bay and the village that fell in
1642 was in Flint.
Flint and Saginaw Bay are separated by over 50 miles which is at least 2 days travel. The two locations represent the north and south boundaries of the Saginaw Valley and possibly
the boundaries of Gens De Feu or Fire Nation.
By the middle of the 1600’s there were 20,000 Michigan Indians at Green Bay seeking asylum and protection from the Beaver War.
In 1645 French Beaver trade was big business, over 45,000 beavers were harvested from New France worth 300,000 francs.
The fleet departs for France October 24 laden, as is estimated with 20,000 pounds weight of Beaver skins for the habitants and 10,000 for the general company, at a pistole or ten or eleven
francs a pound.
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Huronia and the Petun were overrun in 1649 by the Iroquois and they eventually defeated the Neutrals in 1651.
Neutral refugees fled south to Ohio and Pennsylvania. *********************************
The Sauk were located on all the upstream contributory rivers of the Saginaw River except for the Cass.
Tthe Sauk appear on the Tittabawassee, the Flint, and the Shiawassee, rivers. The Onottoway occupied the mouth of the Cass.
The Onottoway lived in the valley of the Onottoway-Sebewing” about twenty miles up the Saginaw River from Saginaw Bay.
The Onottoways principle village was near the mouth of the mouth of the Cass River a branch of the Saginaw River.
A large earthwork was at that location that was visible until the 1840’s. There are no tribes by the name “Onottoways”.
Apparently the “Onottoways” is an incorrect identification for a lost tribe but it may act as a place holder for the Fox.
The Fox are a distinct tribe but closely related to the Sauk and Mascouten.
The Chippewa name for the Fox is “Outagamie” which means "people of the other shore." The Saginaw Valley was an Indian paradise of fish, deer and beaver.
The front door to the Saginaw Valley is the mouth of the Saginaw River at Saginaw Bay. All river traffic to the Saginaw valley must use the Saginaw which was inhabited by the
Asistaguerouon.
Since the Mascouten are the Asistaguerouon the main villages of the Mascouten were located at the mouth of the Saginaw River at the present sight of Bay City Michigan.
The Mascouten may have been a tribe of the Sauk that occupied the Saginaw River. It is evident that the Chippewa name for Sauk includes the Fox and Mascouten as well without
any distinction between them.
The Saginaw Valley was also prized by the neighbors of the Asistaguerouon whom the Asistaguerouon frequently clashed with.
The Ottawa and Neutrals had been at war with the Asistaguerouon for decades. The Ottawa were trading allies with the Chippewa.
Ellis says the Ottawa and Chippewa met at Mackinaw and agreed to attack the Mascouten. They came down in canoes along the shore of Lake Huron and ditched their canoes a few miles
north of the mouth of the Saginaw River.
The Mascouten had villages on both east and west banks of the river. The attackers divided into two columns that moved along both sides of the river.
The principle village located on the west side of the river was attacked first.
Most of the Mascouten were killed with some escaping to the village on the east side of the river.
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Some Mascouten escaped to an island in the Saginaw River and they were killed as well when the island became accessible by ice.
The Chippewa claim that there were only twelve female survivors.
After the Mascouten were destroyed at the mouth of the Saginaw River, the attackers formed detachments that destroyed Sauk villages throughout the Saginaw Valley.
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The Boisseau map of the Great Lakes on the previous page was printed in 1643. In the southern portion of the map is Lac D’Erie or Lake Erie.
In 1643 the Iroquois Five Nations had just begun their war with the Huron. During the war many Native people of the Great Lakes would be diffused westward. Many Native people of the Ontario and Lower Michigan peninsulas would journey toward the
setting sun.
The 1640’s were the start of the Great Lakes Native dispersion record. North of Lake Erie in 1643 lived the Cheveux Relevez the people with the erect hair.
They were also later known as the Ottawa.
The Gens de Petun or the Tobacco Nation lived east of the Ottawa. The Gens Petun avoided conflict with great care.
In 1643 north of the Mere Dulce or Lake Huron resided the Sault. They were the Chippewa or people of the falls or rapids.
Sault means where the water makes a somersault. West of the Chippewa dwelled the Puan or Winnebago.
Their winter hunting ground was often deep in snow. In1643 in Michigan’s Thumb lived the Assistagueronon. They were also called the Pottawatomie and Mascouten. The Isle de Kaoutotan was later called the Isle of Manitowan.
Manitowan meant the isle of the spirit. Kaoutotan meant the isle of driftwood.
On the east shores of Lake Huron in Georgian Bay lived the Huron. These lands of Native people would attain a great fur trade profit. During the fur trade they would see much that was both dire and good.
The Neutral Nation, Ottawa, and Sault or Chippewa drove away the Pottawatomie and Mascouten and the Sauk and Fox.
The Iroquois would then destroy the Neural Nation that is no more. The Huron had were also Iroquois that seemed paradox.
They all went to the western Lake Michigan shore.
The Iroquois were then the sojourners of Michigan’s Thumb or the land's end. The Iroquois to Ekandechiondius would ascend.
The Iroquois were then the managers of Tiosharondion.
They were then the proprietors of the land where there were beaver dams many athwart. In this land of beaver they began to trap furs that the Dutch to Europe would export. A major trapping region place was likely then the river called the Chippewa called Mattawan.
The Mattawan River was the central river of Michigan’s Thumb.
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The Iroquois then had great clout.
They were taking furs from Sakinan where there was the great river that poured out. Here in Sakinan the Iroquois trapped the enchanted fleece.
The wealth of the Dutch would also increase.
The tribes of theSouthern Iroquois or Five Nations were known to the Huron by a variety of names:
First the Mohawk were known as the Anie. They were likewise called the Agnie.
They were called by the Huron the Annniehronnon.
The second tribe was the Cayuga were known by the Huron as the Onneiohronnon. Third the Onondaga were called by the Huron the Onnontaëronnon.
Fourth the Seneca were the Sonnontouaheronnon. Finally the Oneida were the Onionenhronnon. In the early 1650’s there was a large migration.
Because of the competition in the fur trade Native People engaged in a grand displacement. Toward the west the Huron and Neutral Nation went.
They relinquished their old homes hunting places in Ontario and Michigan. Nevertheless a turning point occurred in 1653.
The Iroquoian Five Nations drove northward to Lake Superior.
Near Lake Superior the heroic Chippewa defeated the large Iroquois war party. The defeat marked the farthest extent that the Iroquois entered into Michigan’s northwest
frontier.
Though defeated in the north the Iroquois held onto the great beaver hunting country. Its northern limits their trapping country was about the Saginaw River.
Here the Iroquois would entrap and prepare their peltry. Many furs were obtained from both sides of the Otsiketo River.
The Ottawa become the Middlemen in the French Indian trade.
To replace the Huron as Middlemen a new player took over in the French Indian trade. On Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, the Ottawa became Frances’ middlemen.
North of Teuschegronde the Iroquois would not invade.
In the northern part of Michigan the dominate contestants remained the Chippewa and Ottawa.
Ottawa means the tradesmen.
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The Iroquois sue for Peace.
The Dutch continued to buy furs from the Iroquois who traveled as far as Tekariendiondi Bay or Saginaw.
The Iroquois brought their pelts to Fort Orange after the spring thaw.
The Iroquois though were spending more efforts in war and defense then collecting their winter pelt.
With their defeat on Lake Superior the Five Nations penned a truce. The Iroquois wanted peace
With tranquility in the woodlands trapping and trading would increase. Money and goods were also then more profuse.
The trade would expanse for both the Dutch and French was what everyone felt. In the end a pact of peace was signed.
With the pact Native people began again to bring in furs of every kind.
To Montreal the Ottawa began to take large numbers furs after the spring snowmelt. Near the Jesuit mission on the St. Mary’s River the Ottawa near the Chippewa Dwelt. The Ottawa took on the role as middlemen in the French trade after the Iroquois defeat on Lake
Superior.
To Montreal they began to transport packs of furs down what became known as the Ottawa River.
The Ottawa sold the packs in Montreal.
They maintained and increased the northern buying and selling pace. The Ottawa brought many larger numbers of valued furs in to Montreal.
There they sold the packs of pelts in the grand marketplace. To Montreal the Ottawa would journey in great spring fleets.
They were then widely renowned.
They were known in nearly every Algonquin town. The Ottawa were capable of many great business feats. The Iroquois each trapped the area near the Onottoway River.
By the Chippewa it was also later called the Matawan River. It was the place of the large enchanted beaver. Some of the finest pelts came from Ekandechiondius.
So good was the fur, it was called the magical fur. Over these pelts everyone could make a fuss.
Michigan's Thumb was also the land of the beautiful hunting chase. In the end to this spot were brought a variety of Dutch goods.
The Gens de Feu and now the Iroquois trapped the beaver ponds within these pine and hemlock woods.
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The Iroquois loaded their canoes each spring and headed to Albany in a speedy race. In Albany Sankinan fur was the prize.
Its high quality to everyone was a welcomed surprise. Great was the river called Nottaway.
Great were the furs of Tekariendiondi Bay.
The furs that would have been brought in were the muskrat, martin, mink, and beaver. Many were trapped along the Onottoway River.
Later called too by the Chippewa the Wakishegan it was the river that was shiny. It was also known as the Matawan River that meant the river of the magical peltry.
Good hunting was found in Michigan’s Thumb on the Belle Chasse River Its name meant the river of the hunter.
Celebrated too were the colossal beaver dams of the Tittabawassee River. On the Nottawa River in the winter, however, the Iroquois were sure to be found.
The woods were full of game all round. It was the home of the mink, martin, and beaver.
1653
In 1653 the Iroquois went to Montreal again to ask for peace. The best hunting was done when there was no war.
The leading negotiator, who was both Mohawk and Dutch, was Canaqueese. He was also called Jan Smith.
He likely was a gunsmith or blacksmith.
When making the terms, Canaqueese was pushed by the Onondaga and Oneida. Canaqueese had made it clear that of the Iroquois tribes the Mohawk were the utmost.
The Mohawk would make the terms to end the war. Canaqueese then gave the boast:
"Frenchmen listen to the Mohawk over the Onondaga and their close kin the Oneida". During the 1650's, Dutch trading by law was only held within the walls of Fort Orange.
It was opposite the mouth of Mohawk River.
By law, outside Fort Orange, trading of furs could not be arrange. Dutch law prohibited the trading of goods in the interior.
The law prohibited forest runners or "bosch loppers". At this time for the Dutch, the Iroquois were the middlemen.
Many Iroquois were also half-brothers of the Dutch traders. The trading of furs ultimately was done only by aldermen. They were citizens of Fort Orange and were often smiths and brewers.
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Many never went into the far western countryside. Fort Orange was the place where they would trade and reside.
On the Great Lakes, the Iroquois undertook fur the collection. They would travel to the Western Lands including the Thumb of Michigan.
A Dutchman not infrequently took an Iroquois bride. In that way, trading and family were allied.
The Iroquois middleman may have also have been a Dutchman's brother or brother-in -law. It was the Iroquois however who might go to the forests of Saginaw.
Dutchmen acted as the middleman in the exchange of prisoners.
Dutch Captain, Otsi-rdiakhon went to Three Rivers with a Mohawk peace keeping team. His goal was to buy back prisoners.
Because it allowed hunting and trapping, peace was beneficial for all. With peace, hunting and trapping would commence each the fall. In the spring, they would bring back pelts from the western river or stream. With peace, furs made their way to the Dutch at Fort Orange on the Hudson River.
With peace, furs alsowere brought to the French on the Ottawa River. Before long, there was war in Europe between the Dutch and English.
In 1664 the Dutch and English were in a critical feud. An overturn in Dutch rule in New Netherlands ensued.
It happened without firing a gun.
New Netherlands was taken over by a large fleet of English. The colony then went into English hands.
New Netherlands was then named New York.
On the other hand the Dutch at Fort Orange for always in charge of the trade. They continued to conduct business successfully at the upper Hudson River fork.
Fort Orange was, however, then named Albany. Although it was English it followed the local Dutch strategy.
Canada was known then as New France.
Both regions were deeply steeped in Indian Trade romance.
Each spring from the western woodlands, furs continued to be brought back by the Five Nations to Fort Orange now Albany.
Before 1664 in New York, the drinking of rum was rare.
After 1664, the consumption of rum in New York under the British was everywhere. A part of the Triangular Trade, it was a British commodity.
In the Indian trade, the English used rum widely.
The English could make rum at half the cost the French made their brandy.
The Dutch of Albany, New York, also still made Indian trade goods at a very low cost and high quality.
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English rum was a by product of West Indies sugar making. It was made very cheaply.
After the English took control of New York, rum was very widely selling.
Dutch goods and English Rum greatly influenced the Indian Trade on every stream and lake. Rum lifted and extended the trade to a new higher level or wake.
In New York, the trading of furs still was still only legally done at Albany. However, illegal trade was done in other towns including Schenectady.
Many of those in Schenectady were close in kin to the Mohawk.
On occasion some Dutch went westward with their siblings who were Mohawk. It possible that nameless Dutchmenmade their way to Lake Huron in the wars before 1653.
Trading furs was only officially done within the walls of Albany. Trading was forbidden to those of Schenectady.
Schenectady people had an intimate understanding of the frontier woods. They too were also experts at making trade goods.
Schenectady supply many interpreters. Schenectady people also became French prisoners.
As a captive of the French, a person would learned the Chippewa and Ottawa language. Because of western knowledge, past prisoners often formed a bridge that was vital.
They later became negotiators, guides, and interpreters. They were at times illegal traders.
The people of Schenectady were very valuable. They were often at the negotiating table.
.
The Dutchmen of Albany traded goods for the furs of Tiosahrondion. The Iroquois who trapped, hunted or trapped the pelts Michigan. Possibly, in the end, those that prospered the most were the Albany aldermen.
A valued person was one who operated the local tavern or Inn.
Western woods runners to the land afar for the Dutch were the "bosch loppers". They were the young Iroquois who made their way to south eastern Michigan's and its many
rivers.
New York was now under the control of Englishmen.
To the western woods, now, the English would send the Dutch, Scotts and Irishmen. In the Huron and Iroquois War, the Dutch tried to be neutral.
To the Iroquois, however, the Dutch were vital.
The Dutch of Albany furnished the Iroquios with food, guns, and goods. These the Iroquois also used for trade in the far away woods.
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As 1664 began, a new period began of competition. New Netherlands, now New York, was now owned by England.
At the same time, Canada was going through a consolidation. France now was arming the Great Lakes Chippewa and Ottawa. They had ambitions to control the shiny waters the rivers in Saginaw.
The Great Lakes fur trade was a great part of the economy.
Albanysupplied goods and arms to the Iroquois who traveled to Michigan's flat lands or Skenchioe.
The Indian fur trade included goods such as gee gaws, beads, and charms. The Indian trade also included weapons or arms.
The Iroquois desired that the land of fur Michigan's Thumb should not be lost. Here the trade was undertaken with dear cost.
At their Northern Michigan palisades the Ottawa, also, stored pelts,and in the spring took them Montreal.
The great camping site the Island of Mackinaw.
In Montreal, the Ottawa traded for blankets, beads, powder, and gun. Also part of every request, or trade, was brandy.
To the French, selling brandy made buying furs cheaper when all was said and done. Brandy would clinch many a trade very quickly.
The legacies of the Indian Trade were guns, brandy, and rum Liquor or spirits made the trials of the forest numb. Brandy or rum was often requested over calicos and ornaments.
The English and Frenchman nearly always supplied spirits at their eastern settlements. The message that sounded, however from many a woodland drum,
That "French brandy was expensive while cheap was British rum.
You often could buy more liquor from the British for the same number of peltry packs. Also cheap were the other goods such as the tomahawk of axe.
The English carried on the same policies as the Dutch who came before them, and they found supported in the Iroquois.
Iroquois knew the Dutch since they were girls or boys.
To the Mississippi River and to Mackinaw, English and Dutch goods found their way. While the quality was high, the cost of Dutch and English goods were low. Even the Ottawa and the renegade Frenchman found their way to Albany. A bottom line profit on the English financial statement, now also would show.
The aldermen of Albany many of them who were Dutch acquired fortunes that they invested in land.
The fortunes they gained came from the Michigan Trade, and trapping it's rivers of gravel and sand.
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Furs from the west became a great part of the fur commodity share.
A great portion of the Indian trade in pelts came then from the Lower Great Lakes. There were also occasions of waylaying that was not uncommon in the spring just after the
winter season of snow flakes.
Trapping and trading would wax and wane between peace and war in the the Great Lake's domain.
The Nottawa Rivers produced a high quality harvest of pelts from its inner pine land hills and its outter wetland plain.
Indian Trade went on because its income was a large part of the economy. The Indian was the driving force behind domestic and foreign policy. Along the Southern Shore of Lake Huron, it would last two hundred years.
It effected both political and commercial careers.
Also in 1664, King Louis XIV of France sent settlers and a military force Canada. Canada diligently fought the Iroquois.
Within 3 years, they subdued the raids into Canada by the Iroquois. In 1667, the Iroquois sued for peace.
They wanted their loses and the pain that war brought to them to decease.
In 1666, the French in Canada had sent a milidtary force to New York to defeat the Iroquois. Frenchman, Chippewa, and Ottawa advanced toward Albany the homeland of Iroquois.
Governor Nicols of New York, quickly, negotiated for peace. As the truce was enforce, the fur trading in Albany was good.
The value of peace in Albany was widely understood.
Profits from the Indian Trade for Albany began to multiply or increase.
The English and Dutch traders, however, still felt that the French might be grasping more of the trade.
The French now were ventured into the western New York woodland glade. Now, the Iroquois no longer controlled the Ottawa River route from the Great Lakes to
Montreal.
To the Upper Great Lakes, French Canadians now had a clear passage. For them this would bring in a Indian Trade golden age.
The Ottawa brought packs of furs that were valuable and stacked high and wide on the docks of Montreal.
Before 1670, the French did not venture to the Saginaw Bay shore. France's holdings, then, were along the Upper Great Lakes. With the opening of the Ottawa River, French profits began to sore. For them, furs came from Minnesota, the land of the sky-blue streams and lakes. To oppose the French in 1670, King Charles II of England Chartered the Hudson Bay Company.
