[1] But now, unhappily, all
restrictions about trade in alcohol were removed. In their eagerness
to obtain ardent spirits and "high" wine, the Indians eagerly welcomed
British traders and French Canadians in their midst. The fur trade
developed fast. The Hudson's Bay Company had established its trading
stations only in the vicinity or on the coasts of that inland sea, far
away from the two Canadas, from the Middle West and the vast North
West. After a little reluctance and suspicion, most of the northern
Amerindian tribes were persuaded to deflect their caravans from the
routes leading to Hudson Bay, and to meet the British, the New
Englander ("Bostonian"), and the French Canadian traders at various
rendezvous on Lake Winnipeg and its tributary lakes and rivers. The
principal depot and starting-point for the north-west traders was
_Grand Portage_, on the north-west coast of Lake Superior, whence
canoes and goods were transferred by a nine-mile portage to the waters
flowing to Rainy Lake, and so onwards to the Winnipeg River and the
vast system of the Saskatchewan, the Red River, and the Assiniboine.
[Footnote 1: See Sir Alexander Mackenzie's _Travels_, p. 5.]
Amongst the pioneers in this new development of the fur trade, who
became also the great explorers of northernmost America, was Alexander
Henry (already described), THOMAS CURRIE, JAMES FINLAY, PETER POND,[2]
JOSEPH and BENJAMIN FROBISHER, and SIMON M'TAVISH.
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