em thirty feet long by twenty wide, and two
others twenty-five feet long and the same width as the first. His fort
is entirely furnished with the exception of a redoubt of oak, which he
is to have made twelve feet square, and which shall reach the same
distance above the gate of the fort. His fort is 110 feet square.

"As for the cultivation of the lands, the Sieur de Repentigny has a
bull, two bullocks, three cows, two heifers, one horse and a mare from
Missilimakinac.... He has engaged a Frenchman who married at Sault Ste.
Marie an Indian woman to take a farm; they have cleared it and sowed it,
and without a frost they will gather 30 to 35 sacks of corn. The said
Sieur de Repentigny so much feels it his duty to devote himself to the
cultivation of these lands that he has already entered into a bargain
for two slaves[150] whom he will employ to take care of the corn[151]
that he will gather upon these lands."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 144: Fergus, Historical Series, No. 12; Breese, Early History
of Illinois; Dunn, Indiana; Hubbard, Memorials of a Half Century;
Monette, History of the Valley of the Mississippi, I., ch. iv.]

[Footnote 145: Henry, Travels, ch. x.]

[Footnote 146: See Memoir in Wis. Hist. Colls., VII.; III., 224; VII.,
127, 152, 166.]

[Footnote 147: Henry, Travels.]

[Footnote 148: Wis. Hist. Colls., I., 35.]

[Footnote 149: Minn. Hist. Colls., V., 435-6.]

[Footnote 150: Indians. Compare Wis. Hist. Colls., III., 256; VII., 158,
117, 179.]

[Footnote 151: The French minister for the colonies expressing approval
of this post writes in 1752: "As it can hardly be expected that any
other grain than corn will grow there, it is necessary at least for a
while to stick to it, and not to persevere stubbornly in trying to raise
wheat." On this Dr. E.D. Neill comments: "Millions of bushels of wheat
from the region west and north of Lake Superior pass every year ...
through the ship canal at Sault Ste. Marie." The corn was for supplying
the voyageurs.]

THE TRADERS' STRUGGLE TO RETAIN THEIR TRADE.

While they had been securing the trade of the far Northwest and the
Illinois country, the French had allowed the English to gain the trade
of the upper Ohio,[152] and were now brought face to face with the
danger of losing the entire Northwest, and thus the connection of Canada
and Louisiana. The commandants of the western posts were financially as
well as patriotically interested. In 1754, Green Bay,