The Fur Trade

The Fur Trade. A Fur Trading Post. , Bountiful fur-bearing animals provided the foundation for a robust fur trading business between European explorers and the Native American inhabitants of the Oswego River corridor. The Native Americans camped and established seasonal trading posts at several points on the Oswego River, including one at the mouth of the river., The Winter Trade , Native and newcomers exchanged the products of their labor in the trading posts that were built along the west bank., Fort Oswego: A Stone House of Strength , To safeguard the fur trade at Oswego, in the spring of 1727, Governor William Burnet sent carpenters and masons to Oswego to build a fortification, or as he put it, "... a stone house of strength." Although it was named Fort Oswego, it was also referred to as Fort Pepperell, Fort Burnet and Chouaguen, which was the French name for Oswego., Bertram's Map of Oswego, 1743 , John Bartram, the noted botanist, gave the following account of his visit to the seventy-house settlement at Oswego:, "... one-half are in a row near the river, the other half opposite to them. Between were two streets divided by a row of posts in the midst, where each Indian has his house to lay goods, and where any trader may traffic with him.", By the mid 18th century the fur trade became the focus of the struggle between the French and English in North America. As a result Lake Ontario and the Oswego River were of great strategic and commercial importance.