20 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



profitable customers prior to 1840, for many of the white 

 settlers ran accounts which some of them were slow to 

 pay or sought to default. The Indians, on the other 

 hand, most of whom were Potawatomi, periodically 

 brought in large quantities of cranberries and bundles 

 of furs which they traded for articles of food, clothing, 

 or ornaments. The cranberries were probably shipped 

 by wagon to Peoria, Chicago, or Detroit. 1 Whether Rob- 

 inson acted as an agent for John Jacob Astor and the 

 American Fur Company, as one account states, or oper- 

 ated independently in the sale of his furs, is not definitely 

 known, but he had no difficulty in disposing of the many 

 choice skins which came to him. 2 By 1840 even wander- 

 ing bands of Indians had departed from the region and 

 the fur trade ceased to be an item of importance. 



Robinson's accounts from 1840 to 1853 have been pre- 

 served. An examination of the store record shows that 

 he handled a surprising variety of stock and that much 

 of his business was done on a barter and exchange basis, 

 very little actual currency changing hands. Likewise 

 noticeable is the detail and exactness of the bookkeeping, 

 fractions of a cent being regularly noted and carried over 

 on the accounts. Profits of the store after 1840 were 

 small, but they afforded Solon and his family a com- 

 fortable living. 3 



Von Schweinitz, in writing of his visit with Robinson 

 in southern Indiana in 1831, criticised his host because 

 of the presence in the cabin of atheistic and antitem- 

 perance literature. 4 Possibly a natural curiosity about 

 everything and a desire to be informed on such subjects 

 led Robinson to assemble the writings to which Von 

 Schweinitz referred. There is nothing known about So- 

 lon's life to bear out the suggestion that he was ir- 

 religious. It is true he did not attach himself to any 



1 Robinson, "History of Lake County, 1833-1847," op. tit., 44. 

 1 Post, 65 n. 



3 Robinson Account Book, 1840-1853. 



4 See ante, 8. 



