The Fur Trade and Madeline Island
Madeline Island's rich fur trade
history is among the many
chapters of island lore.
Furs drove the frontier economy of New France, the name loosely given
to the largely uncharted wilderness stretching westward
from Quebec during the 17th century. The French controlled
the vast region until about 1760, when the British
gained ascendancy following the French and Indian War.
Americans would not control the lucrative fur trade
until after the War of 1812.
The Chequamegon Bay region, rich in fur resources, represented a
most coveted prize from the start. As a result, in
1659, Madeline Island's first recorded European visitors — Pierre-Esprit
Radisson and Médard Chouart Des Groseilliers — came seeking
furs to return to the warehouses of New France. Fur traders could
not expect to harvest the region's bounty without the aid of its native
inhabitants, and traders actively curried favor with the Indian tribes.
In the company of Indian hunters, French traders like Radisson and
Groseilliers foraged the Upper Great Lakes, returning to Eastern fur
centers with important knowledge of frontier geography as well as
canoes and bateaux laden with pelts.
Missionaries, too, saw tremendous potential for Christianizing the
tribes, and persuaded the French government to mandate
that missionaries accompany the traders on their forays into the interior.
Missions and fur trading outposts became the first tangible symbols
of European expansionism. Thus the fur trade represented a key catalyst
in the early westward surge of civilization — and Madeline Island
provided an irresistible lure.
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