Studies in American History 
105 
elusion of the British, he sought to make the American Fur 
Company a monopoly. 
In the Maumee-Wabash country the trade was in confusion. 
Many of the old fur traders had quit the business. Some of 
them were British and were no longer allowed to trade. 
Others were Americans, but they had been opposed to the 
Indians during the War of 1812 and found it difficult to regain 
their old influence.®^ New traders were coming in, and many 
of them were Astor’s men. Before 1819 he had started the 
“Wabash Outfit” headed by William H. Wallace and supplied 
with three interpreters and four boatmen.®^ By 1820 he had 
in his employ, around Fort Wayne, Alexis Coquillard, Francis 
Comparet, Benjamin B. Kercheval, and John B. Duret. Astor 
soon divided his organization into two groups. The traders 
in the Maumee and upper Wabash with Fort Wayne as their 
headquarters were known as the “Upper Wabash Outfit”, and 
Wallace and his men around Vincennes comprised the “Lower 
Wabash Outfit”. The papers of these two concerns have been 
destroyed, but some remaining records of the early American 
Fur Company indicate that their business was about the aver- 
age of the fifteen posts in the Old Northwest.^^ 
A number of small traders operated in the Indiana district, 
52 Lasselle, “The Old Indian Traders of Indiana”, in op. cit., 8. 
52 American Fur Company Journals (in Dominion Archives at Ottawa), June 15, 
1819. In the Burton Collection in the Detroit Public Library are bonds A. B. and C. 
dated August 27, 1821, and signed by Wallace and Ramsey Crooks for the American 
Fur Company. Bond A is for $2,500 that Wallace and his five interpreters and boatmen 
will obey the fur trading regulations. Bond B is for $1,100, and Bond C for $1,000, 
that all trading goods are the property of United States citizens. 
54 In the American Fur Company Journals for September 26, 1820, occur the fol- 
lowing entries: 
Folle avoine Outfit goods for trade 1820 
$2,304.77 
Lac Court oreille “ “ “ “ “ 
2,362.28 
Jos. Gautier 
960.31 
Michael Cadotte 
1,432.74 
Auce Qui 
3,559.05 
Illinois 
4,059.18 
St Jos & Kuikiki 
3,124.84 
Iroquois River 
1,008. 
Lower Wabash 
2,330.91 
Upper Wabash 
1,330.96 
The Ledgers show the following : 
Wabash Outfit 1819 
Sept. 12, 1820 By F. & P. 
3,913.74 
P. & L. 
1,067.99 
6,828.03 
Wabash Outfit 1820 
Aug. 27, 1821 By F. & P. 
3,189.39 
P. & L. 
749.57 
