Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1867-11-28
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A Fur Traders adventure at u Wis
CODSIn Tavern,

( The winter Of 1857 wall be long re.
mgnlbtred Que ia the commercial world.
Ii was the winter following the great
pane Many a poor fellow, now slrug-
Cling through bankruptcy, dates his ms.
tortuhe from thar lFymg period. | was
connected with heavy fur house at thai
IIme-a rich, prQsptrnus establishment,
that easily weaihrted The Storm, and only
grew the richer upon other people mIs
fortunes. i 1t will be remembered that
fur skins of every kiud Iumb!ed fearful
Iy in price. Fer instance = mink skins
for which we had b en- paying. from So.
so 10 So. could be purchased readily AT
IS GEMS. raccoou skins, fur, which we
had been giving from S 25 70 / SO. now
could be had IN abundance at % cents.
fishes skins had tallrn from 81 10 81 :
otter from So to 50 &c. SC. The part
ners of our house consulted together. and
resolved to send Oui- careful buyers in ev.
ery-dIrection, and pick up all the furs in
the co6ulry,s feeling sure that prices
were. really on the "hard pan" aud new.
er could be forced lower.
yiThe route marked out for me was, to
first cross 10 Dubuque, thence TO Prairie
du Chen. iheuce TO La Crosse. thence
10 ST. Paul, aud the great Northwest
generally. My journey to DIque was
easy enough. namely; by rail- att the way
/ arrived in January, aud rerraIned unul
the middle OF February making excur-
sinns into The interior of bOth. Iowa and
the accessible -pOruons of Wisconsin
which, please remember. lays just across
lhe rivera lriae' up srream, however
/ was very successful. and managed To
pick up over $50 900 worth of furs and
peitries at very low prices. The poor
people we're glad to ger am price for
Their skins. ou:y sIipnlaung for gUod mo.
ney. The whole country was full of
s"wlid cat CurreUcy''oand real genuine
money possessed a wonderful charm'-
| carried nolhihg else had lois of it. aud
of course was everywhere welcome.
/ travelled from Dubuque 10 Prairie du
Chen. up the Mississippi on. the ice.
The distance is about one hundred miles
The sieddlng was splendid. the nurses
lively aud no adverture btfel worth moi
ing Al Pralrie do Chen IsS,opped at
what was knuwn a. Lower Town. and
put up at the GIoba. The hotel was pref.
" well filed iwuh Eastern men. princi-
palI collectors aud drummers for New
York and Boston firms. eilher looking
up new business or endeaeoring to set
tie up old accounts, which were very nu.
Etrqns aud very hopeless.
+ L rrnraih I'd at Prairie d.. sChipn until
about the middIe of Mar b; that Is to say
Isaade i u,y headquarters, making nu-
Hle hAus aud long excursions into iowa on
The Other side of the river (ably repre-
Lresenlrd AT lhIs pnIni by the thriving
tcuy,of McGretuI) } and through various
pqruons Of WlscSn-in. m, which State
] PraIrie du Chen Is situated Whrn'th
tune came Tor me 10 proceed to LA
Crosse. lhe ice If thr river was too rot
ten 10. trust. and It became necessary
10 perform the Journey, hy stage, across
the country Tn" distance Ia be travel
cd wss atrife over hundred miles. aud
as the frost was ;hen Coming out of the
grOOhd, prstiyA smaH.lU u being an, early
spring, our progress was quite slow
The coach. or rather wagon-for our
sage wasn1hing. more than long open
wagou-waS filled wnh passengers. all
g1eb. eight of US not counting The driv-
er. Among the passengers, was n col
Hector for Boston house who had met
with suchIpcor luck colltCuing that he
bad got completely strapped" not hav-
ing raised" Sufficient 10 pay his expen'
see since leaving Boston. On the Sec
ond night out he told me frankly of his
condtion, aud begged loan Of $40. 10
see bin through TO 81. Paul. We had
Ijust arrived al the night station and af
jter examiniDg my Pockel-b0Ok, and 6nd'