Fort Folle Avoine and the Northwest Fur Trade: 1802-1805

Abstract

Fort Folle Avoine was a fur trading area located in northwestern Wisconsin. A branch off of the fur trade based in Montreal, the trade that occurred around the Folle Avoine area was unique in several ways. In the early 1800s, this area contained two competing fur trading companies within considerably short distance from one another. After breaking from the North West Company (NWC), the XY Company (XYC) instigated the unique competition that would ensue. Several journals from clerks and traders in these two companies overlapped not only during the period of 1802-1805, but also in the vicinity of the Folle Avoine area. These journals demonstrate paradoxes among common fur trading characteristics. The side-by-side competition along with contradictions in American Indian involvement and views of traders has allowed the fur trade around Folle Avoine to be analyzed unlike any other area of the time.