WISCONSIN BLUE BOOK 1989-1990


  The upper St. Croix Valley posts, on both sides of the St. Croix River,
are
examples of North West Company's less elaborate but very significant winter
trader quarters. Both were small temporary posts similar to the many estab-
lished far into the wilderness to facilitate local trade. These post locations
were chosen with great care, selection being determined by proximity to
prime Indian hunting territory and accessibility by canoe. The traders
brought trade goods in by canoe in exchange for great bundles of furs pro-
cured from the Indians which were transported to larger company posts in
preparation for the great summer rendezvous.
  At the Pine City site on the Snake River, a very careful reconstruction
of
the wintering post began after it was identified through the journal kept
by
the principal North West Company trader in charge there, and after an arti-
fact collector in Pine City found evidence of the post site in a farmer's
field.
The Minnesota Historical Society completed the restoration and opened the
post in 1971. At the site costumed guides depict the activities of North
West
Company trader John Sayer during the winter of 1804-05 illustrating the way
interior post sites were selected and constructed and the nature of winter
trading and trapping operations. Archaeological remains permitted recon-
struction of the 6-room log cabin and log stockade on its original site.
The
diary and other historical documents have made possible a very accurate in-
terpretation of the post's use and significance.
8. North West and XY Company Trading Post Sites*, Forts Folle Avoine His-
torical Park, 3 miles north of Webster, Wis. on Hwy. Wis. 35 and 2 and 3/4
miles west on County Trunk U to Yellow River
  Now officially open to the public, Forts Folle Avoine Historical Park is
the
site of the Yellow River fur trade posts, one built by the North West Com-
pany and the other by the XY Company in 1802. Located on a terrace rem-
nant about 30 feet above the Yellow River in a woodland setting, the site
was
discovered in 1969 and became the focus of an intensive archaeological inves-
tigation. Now completed, the dig, directed by archaeologist Ed Oerichbauer,
revealed the buried remains of the post buildings which burned in 1804
shortly after they were abandoned. The findings enabled the Burnett County
Historical Society, assisted by a Wisconsin state economic development
grant, to reconstitute the North West Company stockade walls, its three inte-
rior buildings, and nearby, the XY Company structure, a single cabin with
a
cellar used as a warehouse. Work on all of these, as well as a Chippewa
Indian village and the interpretive center's fur trade museum, was well under-
way when the grand opening of the park took place June 24, 1989.
  The park provides a valuable demonstration of North West Company ac-
tivities in the upper St. Croix Valley. The Yellow River site is one of 5
lying
within northwestern Wisconsin and operated by the British-owned North
West Company, long after legal title to the region had passed to the United
States by terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 at the close of the American
Revolution. Powerless to exert its authority, the struggling young republic
could not expel the British traders operating in U.S. territory where they
had
established a firm, friendly relationship with Indian peoples. The other
North West Company posts in northern Wisconsin included those at Lac du


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