20 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



province was named, which included personal ownership of 

 landed estates, exclusive rights of trade, freedom from 

 taxes and duties, and authority to nominate executive 

 officers of the colony subject to confirmation by the King. 

 Under the charter, Crozat's province extended from New 

 Mexico to "the lands of the English of Carolina" and "from 

 the edge of the sea as far as the Illinois." 



The "exclusive rights of trade" included peltries, with 

 the exception of beaver skins, and an immense fortune 

 appeared to be ripe for the grasp of the French merchant, 

 but Crozat's venture ended in failure. "Having a monopoly 

 of trade, he could not resist the temptation to profiteer — to 

 overprice his merchandise and undervalue the furs and 

 other produce tendered him in exchange," says Chambers. 

 "This one-sided advantage led to indifference as to effort, 

 stagnation as to trade, actual loss to Crozat himself." In 

 five years, the merchant was sick of his bargain and asked 

 to be released, and so ended the first attempt to "corner 

 the fur market" of Louisiana. 



Next came John Law and his famous "Company of the 

 West," a speculative enterprise of stupendous proportions 

 which also ended in panic and failure of a magnitude that 

 corresponded to that of Crozat. Law's "Mississippi Bub- 

 ble," as his scheme has been characterized in history, and 

 named by him Compagnie de la Louisiane ou d'Occident, 

 united the already profitable fur trade of French Canada 

 with the proprietary exploitation of Louisiana. Within a 

 short time this prince of promoters united several trading 

 companies, dubbing the association La Compagnie des 

 hides, which soon acquired a monopoly of the foreign trade 

 of France, including that of furs. 



One of the first and most important acts of the company 

 was the restoration of Bienville to the governorship, and 

 one of Bienville's first acts was to found a city on the banks 

 of the Mississippi. So New Orleans sprang into being and 

 from its very incipiency became the "fur centre" for the 

 great fur-producing area of the center of the North Amer- 

 ican continent. From the far reaches of the continent, 

 drained by the twining fingers of the tributaries of the 



