The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-02-06
LEAVES FROM
THE LEDGER
Canton Man Has Some Interest
ing Relics of Olden Times.
HOW ACCOUNTS WERE KEPT
An Old Trading Company That Has Been
the subject of Much Controversy
In Magazines and How 1t
Did business.

the Subject of Much Controversy
In Magazines and How 1t
! Did Business.
An article by Edward Frost Watrous
| in the September number of Self Gull
| ture" on Histrionic Mackinac, refers to
John Jacob Astor as being the first
American to establish an independent
| company, which, like the others, had
a grand central mart on the island.
For several years all of the goods and
| most of the employees came from Mon
| treal Every thing needful for living
as well as goods for the traders, was
| brought in boats as far as practicable,
| then boats and lading were borne on
the shoulders of the coureurs des bois,
| as they made their way in Indian file
| through the wild, dense forests to other
manageable streams, finally to embark on
Lake Huron
From the island trappers and traders
went about Lake Superior and it's trib-
utary waters, or followed the Mssis-
sippi Missouri and Arkansas rivers into
, the wild regions they watered. In from
! four to ten months they returned with
J their peltries, and accounts were set
| tied. The men received in exchange
| blankets, tools, hatchets, cloth, useless
| trinkets, and the most coveted of all the
white mans goods, the maddening fire.
| water Days of rioting and feasting
would follow, until the hard earned
money disappeared. The furs were
| packed in bundles of one hundred
pounds weight for ease in making port
| ages, and shipped in large canoes re-
quiring crew of eight men. These
| bateauX We're thirty or forty feet in
| length by four in width, made up of
| birch bark sewed with fibers of the
| roots of the spruce tree and covered
with resin of pine" Light enough to
| be borne on the shoulders, they are ca
pable of carrying a cargo of two to four
tons.
In 1911 several associations of fur
dealers united with Mr.. Astor in the
! famous American Fur Company" with
capital of $2,000,0O0. It's strength was
augmented by the passage of a law
that no foreigner should engage in
trade with the Indians who did not be-
come citizen" Then came the war of
1872, which sadly interfered with all
business, as the first blow of that war
was struck on this island. In 1914 the
American Fur Company again showed
It's strength, though without a chartered
right to the monopoly of the Indian
trade; yet the wealth and influence of
this remarkable company enabled it
virtually to control the same for years
The buildings and warehouses of this
old time organization still stand in
Mackinac, objects of interest and Curl
osity; the principal building is the we'll
known hotel, THE John Jacob Astor
House" Mr.. Ramsey Crooks and Mr..
Robert Stewart, confidential employees
OF Mr.. Astor, lived on the island many
months of each year from 1915 to 1923.
Both of these gentlemen, highly esteem
edfo good judgment and integrity,were
identified with the fur trade for forty
years and led lives filled with perilous
journeys and startling adventures.
A number of the account and letter
books of those busy years are preserved
in the Astor House, and a perusal of the
letters furnishes an exhaustive record
of the strict regard to detail with which
the enormous business was conducted,
and of the life on the island at that
time.
The original Indian name Of the island
was Mishi-min- aux -in-ong, 1.-THE place
"a VIC biSoI hoilSlllb SplIllS, DuL II WAS
called by the French Michilimackinac,
name that the little island threw for
two centuries over a vast territory.
Mackinac Island is three miles in length
by two in breadth, with circumference
of about nine miles; it is higher than
the adjacent islands or shores, rising In
the center to an elevation Of $50 feet. 1t
is girded with limestone battlements
fhn .sfe nh
same formation cropping out here and
there in "erratics;" one. steep pima
Gle on height in the interior, is known
as Sugar Loaf and towers high above
the forest trees that cover the island.
The article referred to in the introduce
tion of this story has been the means
of bringing to the surface a relic OF
that now defunct company which Is the
property of a citizen Of Canton. 1t is
no less than four pages (35, 36, 81 and 38)
taken from the journal of that company
and bearing the heading Michillmacki-
nae, June Is and II, 1880. The following
are some of the entries:
June 10, 1880, paid for advertising
in Cleveland, contract for provis-
ions.',. .,...................,.. 90
Paid for advertising In Detroit Ga
1SlIe''''''''. ''''''''''.''''.''... z.LO
Paid subscription to Detroit Ga
zette for No. 1853 to 667........... 03
Lake Superior outfit, 1929, to merchan-
disc, Dr.: To transportation and other
charges from New York to Sault on I.
Butterfleld's invoice of goods, dated 18th
April last (same as at Mackc.) $2.693. .2S,
less outside packages $500, is s2,67S 28--
1871 per cent equal sS61.57.
I Alexr. Wolcott to Detroit Department,