Commerce

1688 · 368775 — Montreal 1688. In French. 2pp. recto and verso on a single leaf. Signed by Perrot Bleinz and notary Benigne Basset. With an English transcription. Quarto. Old folds. Near fine. Provenance: Archibald de Léry MacDonald; Lawrence Lande. Exhibition: An Exhibition of Early Documents and Printed Material Relating to the Beginnings of Trade in North America from the Private Collection of Dr. Lawrence M. Lande McGill University May 30-July 15 1985 with an 8-page exhibition catalogue. In French. 2pp. recto and verso on a single leaf. Signed by Perrot Bleinz and notary Benigne Basset. With an English transcription. Quarto. Scarce seventeenth century voyageur fur trade contract for an expedition to the wilderness to trade with the Ottawa signed by one of the most important early traders and explorers of Canada and the upper midwest. "Partnership agreements such as this one of Nicholas Perrot are of great rarity" Lande.<br /> <br /> Perrot 1644-1717 was an explorer interpreter trader commandant diplomat and seigneur. He was one of the best-known figures in the early fur trade of New France particularly during the latter part of the 17th century and took possession of large tracts of land in the Great Lakes region in the name of King Louis XIV. His travels commonly took him deep into unexplored territory and he was the first Frenchman to explore the Upper Mississippi in what is now Wisconsin and Minnesota.<br /> <br /> Perrot arrived in New France about 1660 as a young donné or contracted assistant in the company of Jesuit Missionaries and travelled to the western Great Lakes region where he gained the friendship of the local First Nations people by trading guns for furs believing that they were entitled to defend themselves from their enemies. He also took the opportunity to learn several Native languages which served him well during his career. Perrot soon entered the fur trade full time and began forming business partnerships. He enlisted himself as a translator with government authorities and participated in peacekeeping missions to bring warriors of several First Nations together to sign peace treaties. By 1685 he was appointed Commandant-in-Chief at Bais des Puants present day Green Bay Wisconsin and surrounding regions and travelled to the upper reaches of the Mississippi River in the territory of the Sioux tribes where he built Fort St. Antoine in present-day Minnesota.<br /> <br /> During the spring of 1687 in preparation for taking part in raids on Indian villages in the Seneca country Perrot left his store of furs with the Jesuits at St. Francois-Xavier mission in present-day Wisconsin. While out with the raid party a fire at the mission destroyed his entire fur inventory valued at more than 40000 livres. Financially ruined Perrot returned to Montreal to deal with creditors and renew partnership agreements like the present.<br /> <br /> In the summer of 1688 Perrot partnered with Simon Bleinz to undertake an expedition to trade with the Ottawa Indians and other Nations. Perrot had always been a staunch ally of Governor Frontenac and had obtained a fur trade license from the governor for this venture to ensure that his activities were in keeping with the rules and regulations of the trade.<br /> <br /> The agreement states that Perrot would supply Bleinz with goods food provisions a canoe and other necessary supplies for the voyage and that Bleinz would convey the goods to the trading area and do all that he was able for the success of the partnership. Bleinz had the option of taking at his own expense six shirts two capots or hooded coats of blanket cloth moosehide or other material and one rifle to trade for his own personal profit. The pelts resulting from the venture were to be distributed evenly amongst Bleinz another unnamed associate of the partnership and Perrot. An "apichimon" or bonus of six beaver pelts was to be paid to Bleinz by the partnership upon the successful conclusion of the expedition. <br /> <br /> "Perrot who was often unappreciated even during his lifetime was France's best representative among the Indians of the west. His knowledge of the languages of the country his natural eloquence the happy blend of daring and coolness that were the essence of his character had made it possible for him to win the esteem confidence and even affection of the Indians. The Potawatomis the Menominees the Foxes the Miamis the Mascoutens and the Sioux granted him with the honours of the pipe of peace the rights and prerogatives enjoyed by their own chiefs. His credit was not less among the Ottawas and the Hurons. During the last four decades of the 17th century at a time when alliance with the nations of the west was indispensable in order to ward off the Iroquois peril and allow access to new territories Perrot thanks to the influence that he had acquired rendered valuable assistance to the colony" Dictionary of Canadian Biography.<br /> <br /> The present document is from the famed collection of Lawrence M. Lande 1906-1998 detailed as item 107 in his second bibliography of his collection The Founder of our Monetary System John Law Compagnie des Indes & the Early Economy of North America Montreal: 1984. Lande began collecting manuscript material relating John Law the Compagnie des Indes and the fur trade - North America's first economy - as early as the 1960s principally working with dealers Izzy Ehrlich and Alfred Van Peteghem purchasing material from the collections of Thomas Phillips Philip Sang and historian Archibald Lery MacDonald the assemblage of which Van Peteghem termed an "unparalleled feat." All of the printed material and many of the documents were donated by Lande in his lifetime; however a grouping of the manuscript items including the present document were sold by his heirs after his death. Lande Founder of our Monetary System 107 unknown