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the Ewings did sign two argeements to end competition. The 
first was “to secure the business” of “the Fur Trade of the 
country between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River.” The 
capital stock of the American Fur Company was to be in- 
creased and the Ewings were to buy stock to the value of 
$100,000. The Ewings were to be agents of the company at 
a salary of $2,000 each, and were to have charge of the coun- 
try from Lake Erie south to the Ohio. By a supplemental 
agreement the Ewing territory was to be known as the south- 
ern department, and the American Fur Company was to sell 
its furs at a commission of two and one-half per cent.^^ 
The Ewings showed dissatisfaction at once with the agree- 
ment. W. G. Ewing took the Maumee, the upper Wabash, 
and upper White rivers while G. W. Ewing was to have the 
lower Wabash, the lower White River, and the Ohio Valley. 
The first felt that his territory was not large enough so he 
insisted upon adding the Grand River country.®^ A short 
time later G. W. Ewing declared to William Brewster that 
the Ewings had important trading interests in Missouri 
which they would not give up.^^ In October, W. G. Ewing 
stated that he had misunderstood the contracts and his part- 
ners were “most dissatisfied” with them and he therefore 
would not be bound by them.^^ 
Crooks was angry at the “treachery of the Ewings” and 
threatened war thruout the whole country north of the Ohio. 
“The strife will be bitter”, he wrote, “but we hope to get a 
larger share of skins at less than last years prices.”®® The 
American Fur Company bought at moderate prices during 
the fall of 1839, and the Ewings remained quiet. When the 
legislature met in January, 1840, G. W. Ewing, who was a 
state senator, introduced a bill taxing the operations of the 
American Fur Company in Indiana. The measure passed the 
Senate but failed in the House.®"^ It greatly disturbed Ramsey 
American Fur Company Papers. 
W. G. Ewing- to W. Brewster, August 1, 1839, in American Fur Company, Detroit 
Department, Papers. 
August 18, 1839, in ibid. 
W. G. Ewing to American Fur Company, October 14, 1839, in ibid. 
Crooks to Lampson, December 26, 1839, in American Fur Company Letters, No. 11. 
“Col. G. W. Ewing has introduced a Bill in the Senate of our State laying a 
heavy Tax on the Stock of the Am. Fur Co. expended in Indiana . . . Let any 
member of the Legislature vote for this Bill in our Raccoon State and . . . his Hide 
will be on the fence and well Stretched at that.” N. D. Grover to William Brewster, 
Logansport, January 29, 1840, in American Fur Company Letters. 
