PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE 

 the river, Brainard took the remainder and 

 went down stream, They returned to camp in 

 the afternoon and reported their trip and pros- 

 pect of a building site. Brainard had found a 

 beautiful small island near the river on a bayou 

 which he thought would be a very suitable spot 

 for a shanty. Folsom, on his hunt up stream, 

 had found the material to build the shanty. He 

 had found an old wigwam made of puncheon 

 and barks, well dried and smoked, in a short 

 time they had a cozy little trappers' shanty on 

 an island they named "Little Paradise," which 

 is yet known by that name today. This was 

 the first American trapper's shanty on the Kan- 

 kakee that I have any knowledge of. There 

 were a few French huts and traders' shanties 

 along the borders of the swamp regions for the 

 purpose of trading and trafficing with the Indians 

 and the early hunters. Twenty years prior to 

 the building of the shanty on Paradise Island 

 the fall catch of furs at Little Paradise proved a 

 success, The sale of furs brought something 



38 



