Below is a part of this chapter. You can read the whole chapter on the Iowa History Site. STORIES OF IOWA FOR BOYS AND GIRLS CHAPTER XIII THE INDIAN AND THE FUR TRADE The lure of furs and lead brought Frenchmen, Englishmen, Spaniards, and American to the Iowa country to trade with the Indians. French control of the fur trade in Iowa began when Nicolas Perrot came to the Upper Mississippi Valley in 1685. You remember that he erected two trading houses, or forts, as they were called, across the river from Iowa. One of these was at Prairie du Chien and the other was in Illinois, not far from teh present site of Dubuque. Other Frenchmen following Perrot came to the Iowa country to trade for furs. The songs of French boatmen could be heard on rivers of northeastern Iowa as they pushed their canoes into the Indian country. And over a long road across northern Iowa, the Chemin des Voyageurs, traders went afoot. Prairie du Chien was the center of the fur trade during the French period. From here the packs of pelts (skins) were taken by boat over the Fox-Wisconsin waterway to Green Bay, and from there by the Great Lakes to Quebec or Montreal. Then many were shipped from these cities to far-off Europe. After England won Canada from France, English traders came to the Iowa country. They employed many of the French boatmen and trappers to help them. By giving the Indians many presents and selling them goods of high quality, they soon made the red men their friends. Debbie Clough Gerischer Iowa Gen Web, Assistant CC, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ IAGENWEB: Special History Project: http://iagenweb.org/history/index.htm Gerischer Family Web Site: http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/