Studies in American History 
97 
remain to show the extent of their business. The capture of 
Vincennes by George Rogers Clark diverted still more of this 
trade to St. Louis. The Spanish march against St. Joseph 
possibly had something to do with the desire to extend this 
trade into the Great Lakes region.^^ In the Maumee Valley, 
Canadian traders still strove with those from New York and 
Pennsylvania for the pelts of the native hunters, but neither 
had the military support that had formerly made their activi- 
ties safe. If the British gave no protection they likewise 
offered no interference, and for some years the trader went 
where he would with rum and trinkets to sell at war prices. 
Starvation and disease afflicted the Indians and the supply of 
furs greatly decreased.^^ 
During the later years of the war some semblance of super- 
vision was restored. Major De Peyster, the commander at 
Detroit, sent a licensed trader among the Indians of the Wa- 
bash to keep them quietly at home. Sir John Johnson, the 
new superintendent of Indian affairs in the north, bent every 
effort to keeping his wards satisfied. He gave the post com- 
manders wide authority to restrain the traders so that justice 
for the red men would be secured. Finally, in order to drive 
out the unlicensed traders and to bring the trade under ad- 
equate control, De Peyster promoted an association of mer- 
chants called the “general store”. It was made up of 
merchants from Montreal and Mackinac with about fifteen 
traders from the country south of the Great Lakes basin. 
This “general store” was to have a practical monopoly of the 
fur trade under the supervision of the post commanders.^® 
This partnership controlled the trade of the Maumee Valley 
and the country bordering on the Great Lakes for several 
years, but it never restored to the British traders the hold on 
the lower Wabash and the country west of it. 
In the negotiations for the treaty that gave America her 
independence, the fur trade was not a subject of dispute. 
Franklin, who was most insistent in the claims to the North- 
west, had long before expressed his appreciation of the im- 
portance of this trade.^^ Altho in his discussions with the 
23 Cruikshank, xyp. cit., 270-274. 
24 Cruikshank, “Fur Trade, 1783-1787”, in Royal Canadian Institute Transactions 
(Toronto, 1898), V, 74. 
25/6id., 74. 
2® Cruikshank, “Early Traders and Trade Routes”, in Royal Canadian Institute 
Transactions, III, 270-274, 
2^ Benjamin Franklin, Writings (ed. Smyth) (New York, 1905), IV, 467. 
