GAMESTERS OP THE WILDERNESS 7 



The Mackinaw traders had all they could handle 

 from the Lakes to the Mississippi. Therefore they did 

 little but try to keep other traders out of the western 

 preserve. The Hudson s Bay remained in its somno 

 lent state till the very extremity of outrage brought 

 such a mighty awakening that it put its rivals to an 

 eternal sleep. But the Nor Westers were not asleep. 

 And John Jacob Astor of New York, who had accumu 

 lated what was a gigantic fortune in those days as a 

 purchaser of furs from America and a seller to Europe, 

 was not asleep. And Manual Lisa, a Spaniard , of New 

 Orleans, engaged at St. Louis in fur trade with the 

 Osage tribes, was not asleep. 



