266 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [ Von. IIT. 
that they were in the habit of resorting to Fort La Reine on a river flow- 
ing into Lake “ Winnepeek” to trade with the “ Assinipoils.” Coasting 
along the north shore of Lake Superior and Huron he made his way back 
to Detroit. 
Louis Chevalier, a French Canadian trader, who had acquired great 
influence among the neighboring tribes continued to reside at St. Joseph’s 
until removed by force during Revolution. His establishment then 
numbered fifty men, women, and children. By turns trusted and suspect- 
ed, Chevalier appears on the whole to have been faithful to his allegiance 
during the contest. Like many others of his calling he had taken an 
Indian wife and one of his half breed children, Amable Chevalier, 
rendered important service during the war of 1812. 
A member of the noted Lorimier family had a trading-house for many 
years near the portage from the Miami of the Lakes which became a 
favorite halting-place for war-parties from Detroit in their raids upon 
Kentucky. Loraine, La Motte, Richardville, and many other unlicensed 
traders were permanent residents of Ouiatenon and Vincennes. As at 
Detroit, most of the inhabitants at those places subsisted by the fur-trade. 
The furs obtained at Ouiatenon were supposed to be worth £8000 
annually. The exports from Vincennes were estimated at £5000. 
Among the English at least, these settlements had an evil reputation. 
Croghan in 1765 terms the inhabitants “an idle lazy set, a parcel of 
renegades from Canada, much worse than Indians.” Sir Wm: Johnson 
five years later speaks of them as “that lawless colony of the Wabash 
who are daily increasing in numbers and whilst they particularly hate us 
as English are really enemies of all goverment.” Making due allowance 
for national prejudice these estimates of their character seem fully jus- 
tified by their contemptible conduct during the Revolution. 
The trade of this region however was not undisputed. The merchants 
of Detroit complained that in 1765 when they were prohibited from going 
among the Indian villages for fear of renewing their hostility, French and 
Spanish traders from the Mississippi had come within sixty miles of 
Detroit and carried off furs for which they had already advanced goods 
the year before. At the same time, Mr. Fraser who had been sent to 
take possession of Kaskaskia, found the shops and most of the houses at 
that place crammed with goods from New Orleans. The merchants in 
general protested vigorously against any regulations that would prevent 
them from going among the different tribes, and urged that if these were 
enforced they would have the effect of diverting the trade from the St. 
Lawrence and turning it down the Mississippi. Besides the French and 
Spanish they sometimes had to compete with enterprising English traders 
