Grand Portage as a Trading Post: Patterns of Trade at the 'Great Carrying Place.'

摘要

This study began as an attempt to say something new about Grand Portage, a place studied by many scholars over the years. The purpose was to show a different and little known aspect of a famous place. It was a daunting task to write about a place and a history already described by Solon J. Buck, Grace Lee Nute, Alan Woolworth, Erwin Thompson, Douglas Birk, and Carolyn Gilman, not to mention the very able management and staff of Grand Portage National Monument, and many others. During the course of the research and writing, a process that seemed to be never-ending, I despaired at times about whether it was even possible to give a description of what the trade was like at Grand Portage. But through this all, Timothy Cochrane and David Cooper of Grand Portage National Monument have been consistently encouraging, enormously patient, and always willing to share their own extensive knowledge of Grand Portage. I owe them an enormous debt of gratitude. I also owe a debt to Thomas Thiessen and Jeffrey Richner of the National Park Service for their extremely close reading of the manuscript and aid in publishing it. I also thank Theresa Schenck for sharing valuable information and ideas. For many years Curtis L. Roy has been a valuable friend of Grand Portage and he encouraged me a great deal in writing this report. Finally, I would like to acknowledge that this work was inspired in part by my time as a student of the late Louise Dechene of McGill University, a great historian of Montreal and the fur trade, whose detailed and friendly criticism continues to be missed.