Northwest and XY Company Trading Post
Northwest and XY Company Trading Post
The Northwest and XY Company Trading Post, also known as Fort Folle Avoine, is a reconstructed early nineteenth century British fur trading post. The archaeological site and the fort reconstruction recall a time when fur trading was Wisconsin's largest industry. In 1802 traders from the rival XY Trading Company and the Northwest Company built trading posts about 100 feet apart at this spot. The Northwest post consisted of a building and a stockade. The XY company location consisted of a single structure with cellar. For the next year they competed for the fur being trapped in the area. In 1803 fearing attacks from American Indians, the XY Company dismantled their building and moved it inside the walls of the Northwest compound. Both companies quickly expanded the site, but fire destroyed the compound a short time later. The site is significant because it may well be the only archeological site where British commercial fur trading activities are preserved.
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