It was then that the trader came and
credits were wrangled over and extended, each side endeavoring to
get the better of the other."*
* Thwaites, "Story of Wisconsin," p. 156.
This traffic was largely managed by the British in Canada until
1816, when an act of Congress forbade foreign traders to operate
on United States soil. But a heavier blow was inflicted in the
establishment of John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company, which
was given a substantial monopoly of Indian commerce. From its
headquarters on Mackinac Island this great corporation rapidly
squeezed the clandestine British agents out of the American
trade, introduced improved methods, and built up a system which
covered the entire fur-bearing Northwest.
Of this remoter Northwest, the region between Lakes Erie and
Michigan was the most accessible from the East; yet it was
avoided by the first pioneers, who labored under a strange
misapprehension about its climate and resources. In spite of the
fact that it abounded in rich bottom-lands and fertile prairies
and was destined to become one of the most bountiful orchards of
the world, it was reported by early prospectors to be swampy and
unfit for cultivation.
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