Fur Trade in Lowell

Fur Trade in Lowell. Where The Rivers Meet. , The Cabin , This interpretive cabin is located on the site commemorated by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1921 as the site of "The first trading post" in Lowell. The large stone marker gave directions close to this location. The stone was moved to reroute Bowes Road and now is back near this cabin., The Fur Trade in Lowell , By the mid-1700's, French traders from Michilimackinac had established themselves on the Grand River at Grand Haven. During the next eighty years many other posts would be dotted along the Grand, representing French, British and American traders, supplied from both Detroit and Michilimackinac. The large Odawa population at Flat River led this area to be an economically important site to secure. Fur bearing animals and especially white ermine were abundant in this area., Fur traders like Charles Langlade traveled through this area during the mid-1700's but the first permanent trading post was built here by Joseph LaFramboise about 1796 and used by Madame LaFramboise until 1821. Louis Campau built a post here in 1826, using it until 1831. Daniel Marsac began trading in 1829 and built a cabin in 1831. 1831 is the date we say Lowell began because Marsac lived here all year long. Lewis Robinson and Philander Tracy built a fur warehouse in 1836. John Hooker used the Marsac post until 1854 when the Odawa left Lowell for the reservation in Oceana County., Lowell Area Fur Traders , 1783-1806 Joseph LaFramboise , 1806-1821 Madame LaFramboise , 1821 1837 Rix Robinson , 1826 1831 Louis Campau , 1829-1848 Daniel Marsac , 1836-1841 Lewis Robinson and Philander Tracy , 1848-1857 John S. Hooker , To learn more about these traders look for interpretive boards along the park trails., It is not known which style cabin Joseph LaFramboise built here. Some cabins were built in the French style with vertical logs while others were in the British or American style of horizontal logs. This sketch, drawn by John S. Hooker in 1916 was labelled "LaFramboise cabin". However, it may be the Lewis Robinson and Philander Tracy fur warehouse which was built in 1836 instead of the LaFramboise cabin built about 1796. It shows horizontal log construction which extended a foot beyond the corners. Hooker said the cabin that he sketched was 30’ x 12’. LaFramboise built another fur trading cabin on the shore of Dock Lake in the narrows between Duck Lake and Lake Michigan (1780s-1800). John R. Robinson, son of Rix was born there. He describes it as follows: This cabin was built with logs upright and that it was positively the first building erected in the entire region. It was a one story hut about 14’ X 18’ with a narrow porch, facing west. The walls were plastered with solid moss, called cat and clay, made into a mortar of chopped straw or moss. The chimney was of the same material shaped by four long poles, wide apart below and near together at the top. The west side had a door and small window and there was a window on the south and east sides. It overlooked Lake Michigan. The Fur Trade Furs, especially beaver, were needed by Europeans to make fashionable top hats and fur coats. The New World of North America had plenty of these animals. Furs became the money. Native Americans would trap beaver, mink, muskrat, otter, ermine, bobcat and fox and take their pelts to trading posts where they would be traded for goods that they needed or wanted. A network of traders, voyageurs, clerks and rendezvous areas moved the fur bales from native lands in America over to Europe. , There were independent traders at first but in the end, the Hudson Bay Company (British), Northwest Company (Montreal based) and John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company controlled the overall network of trade., The trade goods, to exchange for furs, were made by shop owners in Europe. They made glass beads, tin objects, pots, blankets, rifles, scissors, needles, ax heads and more. Tea and vermillion were brought from China. The ships going to North America were laden with these trade goods and the ships coming from America carried the furs.