Part I, Chapter II: The Fur Trade

Due to Wisconsin's much shorter distance from the Appalachians and the Saint Lawrence Riverway, it experienced a much higher volume of French exploration and trading than Minnesota in the 17th century. Jean Nicolet, Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet all lead famous expeditions into the territory now known as Wisconsin simultaneously during Sier du Lhut and Father Hennepin's journeys through Minnesota. The northern regions of Iowa also saw these famous early explorers travel through its borders, albeit briefly, but the effects of the explorer's travels were unchanged regardless. The abundant amount of natives and the fur that they collected in the regions from the indigenous animals residing was more than enough to convince the French to devote resources into colonizing the Upper Midwest, and in the late 1600's these efforts began to come to fruition. Security from Natives who had the ability and means to turn hostile should events turn in their disfavor was paramount to ensuring the survival of trade, and this fact did not go unnoticed by early French colonists. Already, the first permanent establishment of European settlement had started in the Upper Midwest with the fur trading post of Green Bay, Wisconsin which was established by Jean Nicolet in 1634, who is usually credited with the territory's discovery during the same year.



By 1671, a Jesuit mission had also been created in Green Bay (called "La Baye"), adding to Nicolet's already lucrative trading post. A rapid influx of French traders and missionaries arrived in the Wisconsin territory and southern Minnesota during the early part of the 1680's, and on April 9th, 1682, Sieur de la Salle had claimed the entire Mississippi River Valley and Upper Midwest for France and its King, Louis XIV, naming the new territory Louisiana in his honor and successfully incorporating the territory into the overarching entity of New France. Although the Louisiana Territory had a vast expansive landscape, it was French in claim and name only. Apart from Sier du Lhut and a few other traders of less than notable repute, there were few actual permanent inhabitants of the territory, as the Jesuit missions and traders that came regularly took their profits from their work back to Acadia in order to invest it properly before returning for more business. Regardless, the influx of traders into the Upper Midwest during the time frame remained at an all time high, even though the majority of the "residents" were temporary, but most importantly, the French had established an official and internationally recognized claim to the Louisiana Territory. Father Hennepin had also returned to France and in 1683 published his "Description de la Louisiane," which included a remarkably accurate (although embellished) description of the Upper Louisiana Territory, in particular northwestern Wisconsin and southern Minnesota. This only provided further intrigue to would-be French fur traders, and by the 1690's, the "rush" was on.



By the summer of 1693, Nicolas Perrot, the French commander of the west, had seen the establishment of several different forts and trading posts across the Upper Louisiana Territory's frontier. Fort Saint Nicholas at Prarie du Chien, Fort Saint Antoine at Lake Pepin, Fort Perrot on an island on Lake Pepin, and Fort La Pointe and its respective Jesuit missionary in La Pointe, Wisconsin all insured security for French traders on the frontier, and although they provided no standing armed guards (as most argued they were not necessary due to usually peaceful relations with the Natives), and were "forts" only in the sense that they provided shelter from the elements, they did provide a sense of relief and a link to the "Old World" of France, where news, rumors and gossip could be shared among traders. These forts and the development of the original "La Baye" colony in Green Bay lead to "fur fever" for many Frenchman in the Upper Midwest, who were now enticed and in some cases enthralled at the economic success that was resulting from their work in fur trading. This only pressured the Sioux and Ojibwa to keep up with the demands of the French traders, and the French expansion into Wisconsin and the resulting claim of the "Louisiana Territory" for the King of France was ignored by the Natives as simple wordplay in favor of the large amount of profits they were enjoying at the expense of the French presence in Wisconsin.



In the 1690's, the Fox Meskwaki - a Native tribe from the Great Lakes Ontario region - were also finally making their great migration west in fear of white settlement. New France and British settlements on the opposite side of the Saint Lawrence near Niagara had forced the Fox to relocate to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Wisconsin, where they settled and after establishing their own hunter-gatherer society began to disrupt the elegant balance between the Sioux and the Ojibwa, and all three nations began to compete for profits with the French, who remained neutral in their own regard. The Fox, seen by the Sioux and Ojibwa as invaders and a threat to the relative stability of the fur trade, were at first pushed from the Upper Midwest back into southeastern Wisconsin where relations began to normalize and trade continued into the mid 1690's. French settlers still began to pour into the Wisconsin territory, however, and by 1700 the Green Bay colony had ballooned to a remarkable size of over 35 permanent European settlers and traders and over 130 temporary and seasonal traders and missionaries.



Far to the north, the British had also begun to consolidate their New World possessions. Aside from their crown jewel of the Colonies which would later become the United States, Henry Hudson had also explored the Hudson Bay area (thus its namesake) in 1611, and after the foundation of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670 the British awarded the company with absolute control of the Hudson Bay watershed, which would last as a monopoly for over 200 years. York Factory in northeastern Manitoba had been established in 1684 as a major fur trading post, but the territory still remained unorganized as both the French and the British laid claim to the territory. The original fort of Fort Nelson which had been established in 1682 by the Bay Company was actually destroyed by rival French fur traders, which would provide briefly violent overtones for the coming struggles between the two nations in the early 1700's.