GRAND PORTAGE Grand Portage: A History of The Sites, People, and Fur Trade

In past reports I have restricted the bibliography to those sources cited in the footnotes. In the case of Grand Portage, I am including dozens of sources not cited. One of the objectives of this study was to examine archival material and published documents concerning the Grand Portage wherever they were found. Thanks to the policies of the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, the time and the funds were available to visit the various archives. Even the material that added little or nothing to knowledge of the Grand Portage is listed below. Thus, by referring to this bibliography, one may determine if a particular document was consulted. Hopefully, the future will bring more details of the appearance of and life at Grand Portage. However, the future researcher, by referring to this bibliography, will know what has already been consulted.

1. Manuscript Material

Séminaire de Québec, Quebec, Canada

"Accord et convention entre Alex. MacKenzie et McTavish Frobisher & Co., 24 juillet 1790."

Ledger Book, Sir Alexander Mackenzie and Company (XY Company), including dates 1798-1804.

Ledger, Dr. to Outfits, 1802-05, Sir Alexander Mackenzie and Company.

Statement of Outfits, 1799-1805, Sir Alexander Mackenzie and Company.

Ledger, 1805-1830, Sir Alexander Mackenzie and Company, filed under North West Company.

Letter Book, 1802-09, Sir Alexander Mackenzie and Company.

Université de Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Baby Collection, Minutes of Meetings of the North West Company, 1801-1804.

Baby Collection, Register, XY Company, containing an Inventory of the XY Company at Grand Portage.

McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Masson Collection, Joseph Frobisher, Letter Book, 1787-1788.

Masson Collection, North West Company Partnership Agreement, 1790; North West Co. Agreements, 1792; and North West Co. Partnership Document, 1795.

John Macdonall "Lake Athabasca et les Chipweans." This manuscript shows evidence of editing, possibly by either Roderic McKenzie or L. R. Masson.

Toronto Public Library, Ontario, Canada

William Drummer Powell Papers, vol. 75, "Quebec Papers, McTavish, Marchand, Col. Fortune, McGowan, 1786-1788," and vol. 92, "Selkirk Papers."

Ontario Provincial Archives, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

"An Account of the Athabasca Indians," probably by Roderic McKenzie.

Agreement concerning a reorganization of the North West Company, 1804, 49 pp.

Joseph Bouchette, "Map of the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada with the Adjacent Parts of the United States of America." This map has a sketch of Fort William, Ont., mistakenly captioned as being Grand Portage. Map is numbered SV 1100-1815, and comes in four sections.

Dougal Cameron, N.W. Co., "The Nepigon Country, A Sketch of the Customs, manners, and way of living of the Natives in the barren country around Nepigon, with extracts from his Journal in 1804 and 1805." Editorial marks evident. Photostats and typescript only.

Alexander Henry, Journal, 1799, in Merritt Papers. 2 packages.

Irving Papers, Boundary Question, Ontario.

John Johnson, "An Account of Lake Superior," 1809, typescript.

John McDonell, "Some Account of the Red River," ca. 1807, typescript.

Charles McKenzie, an account of the North West Co., 1806, typescript.

George Henry Monk, "Some Account of the Department of Fond du Lac or Mississippi," 1807, typescript.

North West Company Trials

A Partner of the North West Company (Roderic McKenzie?) "An Account of the Athabasca Indians."

Russell Papers. Contain an agreement whereby Indians at Sault Ste. Marie gave land to North West Co., 1798.

Five Selkirk Documents, Hudson's Bay Co., including Lord Selkirk's maps of Fort William.

Strachan Papers, including a North West Co. letter book, 1812-1834.

David Thompson, Journals and Maps. Of this large, exceedingly important collection, volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4 were particularly useful.

Edward Umfreville, "Journal of a Passage in a Canoe from Pais Plat in Lake Superior to Portage de l'Isle in Riviere Ouinipique," June 16-July 31, 1784. Photostats.

Canadian Public Archives, Ottawa, Ontario

"Arrangements of the Proprietors, Clerks, Interpreters, etc., of the North West Company in the Indian Department, 1799."

Askin Papers

Charles Napier Bell, Northwest Papers, 1787-1859.

Jean Baptiste Cadotte Papers, including Articles of Agreement, Grand Portage, 1796.

Charles Chaboillez, Journal, 1797-1798 (from Grand Portage to Pembina River and return).

Ermatinger Paper (Frederick William Ermatinger, sheriff, District of Montreal, 1820's), (Laurent Ermatinger, Engagement Book, 1773-75, and Letter Book, 1770-1778).

Joseph Frobisher, Letter Book, 1787-1788. Handwritten copy of original at McGill University, Montreal.

Daniel Williams Harmon, N. W. CO., "A Journal of Travels . . .1800 to 1819," photostats and typescript. (Original said to be in Library, State University of Iowa.)

Alexander Henry, Journal across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, 1799 to 1816, 2 vols., 1,642 pages.

Alexander Henry, Sr., letter to Joseph Banks, Oct. 18, 1781, wherein Henry proposes to cross the continent on behalf of the King. "Copied by Mr. Phelps, from M. J. Gagnon, Quebec, Jan. 12, 1907."

James Keith, Documents from Estate Trust Files of James Keith, of Aberdeen, microfilm.

François Mabrillant, Engagement with Alexander Mackenzie and Co., Feb. 23, 1802.

John Macdonald of Garth, "Autobiographical Notes of John Macdonald of Garth," photostats. Written in 1859 at age 89.

Duncan McGillivray, Journal, photostats. Original is in Colonial Institute, England.

(William McGillivray?), "Some Account of the trade carried on by the North West Company," 1809, photostats.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Letter Book, 1802-05, photostats. For original, see Séminaire de Quebec, above.

Alexander Mackenzie, Correspondence between Alexander Mackenzie and Roderic McKenzie, 1786-1816, and Memorandum by Roderic McKenzie. Copies.

Charles McKenzie, Lac Seul, April 20, 1842, to Roderic McKenzie, Terrebonne, Quebec.

Roderic McKenzie, "Memoirs."

Angus Mackintosh, Letter Book, 1798-1803.

North West Company Correspondence, 1791-1799, in Hudson's Bay Company Record, Microfilm 5 MI.

North West Company, Letter Book, 1798-1802.

North West Co. Partners' Trust-Deeds & Agreements, 1799-1820, Hudson's Bay Company Records, Microfilm, 5M13.

Peter Pangman, Sale of his shares in N. W. Co., photostat.

Selkirk Papers, vol. 28, N. W. Co. Papers Seized at Ft. William, 1815-16.

Strathcona Papers: Box 1, Correspondence, N. W. Co. traders, 1791-1816. Box 2, Correspondence. Box 3, Court Cases.

Detroit Public Library, Michigan

Burton Collection, John Askin, Memorandum Book, 1785-1786; Ledgers, 1795-97; Account Book, 1780-1790.

Frederic Baraga Papers, 1828-1933.

Mackintosh Letterbook, 1801-1802, photostats.

Mackintosh Papers, 1798-1800, 2 vols., photostats.

U. S. War Department, unsigned letter, Aug. 1, 1812, to Brig. General Hull, Detroit.

Little Wiley, letter, Michilimackinac, Aug 4, 1816, to Mrs. Suzan Allen, photostat.

Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul's.

Thomas Connor, "Journal of Daily Occurances," 1804-1805, photostats. Original is at the Canadian Public Archives, Ottawa.

Douglas Dunham, "The French Element in the American Fur Trade, 1760-1816," PhD dissertation, U. of Michigan, 1950, 272 pp., microfilm.

Ruth Helgeson, "The XY Company," term thesis, U. of Minnesota, 1924.

Archibald Norman McLeod, Diary, Nov. 15, 1800-June 4, 1801, photostats and typescripts. Original is at McGill University, Montreal.

2. Government Publications. U. S. and Canada.

Brumner, Douglas, Report on Canadian Archives, 1890, Ottawa, 1891.

House Executive Document No. 450, 25th Cong., 2d Sess.

House Executive Document No. 451, 25th Cong., 2d Sess., "Boundary Between the United States and Great Britain," July 3, 1838.

La Rochefoucault-Liancourt, François Alexandre Frédéric, "Tour Through Upper Canada," in Alexander Fraser, Thirteenth Report of the Bureau of Archives for the Province of Ontario, 1916. (Toronto, 1917), pp. 15-119.

Mattes, Merrill J., Robert Riley, Wilfred D. Logan, and Francis R. Roberson, "Historic Structures Report, Reconstruction of the North West Company Stockade, Grand Portage National Monument," National Park Service, July 1964.

(McGillivray, Duncan?), "Some Account of the Trade Carried on By the North West Company," in Arthur G. Doughty, Report of the Public Archives for the Year 1928 (Ottawa, 1929), pp. 56-73.

Riley, Robert J., "Grand Portage: Fur Trade Metropolis of the Past," National Park Service, Sept. 28, 1962.

Senate Document No. 90, 22d Cong., 1st Sess., containing a report by Indian Agent Henry R. Schoolcraft, Sault. Ste. Marie, Oct. 24, 1831, pp. 41-46.

Senate Document No. 1, 27th Cong., 3d Sess., "Message from the President of the United States." (Tyler)

Voorhis, Ernest, compiler, "Historic Forts and Trading Posts of the French regime and of the English Fur Trading Companies," Dept. of the Interior, Ottawa, 1930. Mimeograph.

Woolworth, Alan R., "Archeological Excavations at the Northwest Company's Fur Trade Post, Grand Portage, Minnesota, in 1936-1937, by the Minnesota Historical Society." National Park Service.

Woolworth, Alan R., "Archeological Test Excavations at Grand Portage National Monument, June-September, 1961," National Park Service. Report prepared by the Minnesota Historical Society, Jan. 1962.

Woolworth, Alan R., "Archeological Excavations at Grand Portage National Monument, 1962 Field Season," National Park Service. Report prepared by the Minnesota Historical Society.

3. Periodicals and Articles

Alcock, Frederic J., "Past and Present Trade Routes to the Canadian Northwest," The Geographical Review, 10 (1920), 57-83.

Babcock, Willoughby M., "Grand Portage Rises Again," The Beaver, Outfit 272, Sept. 1941, pp. 52-55.

Baker, James H., "History of Transportation in Minnesota," Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, 9 (April, 1901), 1-34.

Barton, Richard and Grace Lee Nute, eds., "A Winter in the St. Croix Valley, 1802-03," Minnesota History, 28 (1947), 142-59. (Reminiscences of George Nelson, XY Co., at Grand Portage in 1802.)

Bruyeres, Capt. M. H., Royal Engineers, Sept. 10, 1802, letter to Lt. General Hunter, Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society Collections, 23 (1895), 406-08.

Buck, Solon J., "The Story of the Grand Portage," Minnesota History Bulletin, 5 (1923-24), 14-27.

Burpee, Lawrence J., "The Beaver Club," The Canadian Historical Society Annual Report, 1924, pp. 73-92.

Burpee, Lawrence J., "Grand Portage," Minnesota History, 12, (1931), 359-77.

Burpee, Lawrence J., "Some Letters of David Thompson," The Canadian Historical Review, 4 (1923), 105-26.

Curot, Michel, "A Wisconsin Fur Trader's Journal, 1803-04," ed. Reuben Gold Thwaites, Collections of the Historical Society of Wisconsin, 20 (1911), 396-471.

Fleming, R. Harvey, "The Origin of 'Sir Alexander Mackenzie and Company'," The Canadian Historical Review, 9, (1928), 137-47.

Fleming, R. Harvey, "McTavish, Frobisher and Company of Montreal," The Canadian Historical Review, 10 (1929), 136-52.

"The Fur-Trade in Wisconsin, 1815-1817," Minnesota Historical Society Collections, 19 (1910), 375-488.

"Fur-Trade on the Upper Lakes, 1778-1815," Wisconsin Historical Society Collection, 19 (1910), 234-374.

Innis, H. A., "The North West Company," The Canadian Historical Review, 8 (1927), 308-21.

Malhiot, François Victor, "A Wisconsin Fur Trader's Journal, 1804-05," Wisconsin Historical Society Collections, 19 (1910), 163-233.

Mann, Gother, Capt. of Royal Engineers, letter to Lord Dorchester, Oct. 29, 1792, "A General View of...the several Military Posts in Upper Canada...with some remarks on the Frontier and the Boundary line of the Province," in Pioneer and Historical Society Collections, 24 (1895), 502-09.

Maxwell, Thompson, "Narrative, 1760-1763," Minnesota Historical Society Collections, 11 (1888), 213-17.

Mitchell, Elaine Allan, "New Evidence on the Mackenzie-McTavish Break," The Canadian Historical Review, 41 (1960), 41-47.

Nor'Wester, 1859-1869. A newspaper, microfilm, Canadian Public Archives, Ottawa, Ontario.

Nute, Grace Lee, "Voyageurs' Artist," The Beaver, Outfit 278, June 1947, pp. 32-36.

Nute Grace Lee, "Posts in the Minnesota Fur-Trading Area, 1660-1855," Minnesota History, 11 (1930), 353-85.

Nute, Grace Lee, "A British Legal Case and Old Grand Portage," Minnesota History, 21 (1940), 117-48.

"Papers From the Canadian Archives, 1778-1783," Minnesota Historical Society Collections, 11 (1888), 97-212.

Ross, Frank E., "The Fur Trade of the Western Great Lakes Region," Minnesota History, 19 (1938), 271-307.

Stevens, Wayne E., "The Fur Trade In Minnesota During the British Regime," Minnesota History Bulletin, 5 (1923-24), 3-13.

Stevens, Wayne E., "The Organization of the British Fur Trade, 1760-1800," The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 3 (1916), 172-202.

Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed., "Fur Trade on the Upper Lakes, 1778-1815," Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 19 (1910), 234-375.

Tohill, Louis A., "Robert Dickson, the Fur Trade, and the Minnesota Boundary," Minnesota History, 6 (1925), 330-42.

"Trade in the Lake Superior Country In 1778," Historical Collections, Collections and Researches made by the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, 19 (Reprint, 1911), 337-39.

Upham, Warren, "Earliest Explorations Far Westward from Lake Superior," The Magazine of History, 10 (1909), 231-37.

Utley, Henry M., "The Fur Trade in the Early Development of the Northwest," American Historical Magazine, 1 (1906), 45-51.

Wallace, W. S., "Northwesters' Quarrel," The Beaver, Outfit 273, Dec. 1947, pp. 3-11.

Wallace, W. S., "New Light on Simon McTavish," The Beaver, Outfit 272, Dec. 1941, pp. 48-49.

Wallace, W. S., "The Pedlars from Quebec," The Canadian Historical Review, 13 (1932), 387-402.

Wilson, Clifford P., "Tadoussac, the Company and the King's Posts," The Beaver, Outfit 266, June 1935, pp. 8-12, 63 and 66.

4. Books and Pamphlets

Atcheson, Nathaniel, American Encroachments on British Rights, London, 1908.

Ballantyne, Robert M., Hudson's Bay, or Every Day Life in the Wilds of North America, Edinburgh, William Blackwood & Sons, 1848.

Bancroft, Hubert Howe, History of the Northwest Coast, 1543-1800, vol. 27 of The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., n.d.

Bayliss, Joseph E. and Estelle L. Bayliss, in collaboration with Milo M. Quaife, River of Destiny, the Saint Marys, Detroit, Wayne University Press, 1955.

Begg, Alexander, History of the North-West, 3 vols., Toronto, Hunter, Rose & Co., 1894-95.

Bell, Charles Napier, The Earliest Fur Traders on the Upper Red River and Red Lake, Minn. (1783-1810), the Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba, Transactions No. 1 (New K Series), Nov. 24, 1926, Winnipeg, Saults & Pollard Ltd., 1926.

Biggar, H. P., The Early Trading Companies of New France, Toronto, University of Toronto Library, 1901.

Bigsby, John J., The Shoe and Canoe, or Pictures of a Travel in the Cascades, 2 vols., London, Chapman & Hall, 1850.

Blegen, Theodore C., Minnesota, A History of the State, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1963.

Bryce, George, The Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company, London, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1900.

Burpee, Lawrence J., ed., Journals and Letters of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes De La Vérendrye and His Sons, Toronto, The Champlain Society, 1927.

Burpee, Lawrence J., The Search for the Western Sea, the Story of the Exploration of North-West America, 2 vols., Toronto, The Macmillan Co., 1935,

Burt, A. L., The United States, Great Britain, and British North America, From the Revolution to the Establishment of Peace After the War of 1812, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1940.

Carver, Jonathan, Three Years' Travels Thoughout [sic] the Interior Parts of North America, Walpole, N.H., Isiah Thomas & Co., 1813.

Coues, Elliott, ed., New Light on the Early History of the Greater Northwest, the Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry...and of David Thompson, 1799-1814, 3 vols., New York, Francis P. Harper, 1897.

Cox, Ross, Adventures on the Columbia River, New York, J. & J. Harper, 1832.

Davidson, Gordon Charles, The North West Company, University of California Publications In History, 7, Berkeley, 1913.

Davison, S. J., Report on the Exploration of the Country between Lake Superior and the Red River Settlement, Toronto, John Lowell, 1859.

Delafield, Major Joseph, The Unfortified Boundary, A Diary of the first survey of the Canadian Boundary Line from St. Regis to the Lake of the Woods, ed. by Robert McElroy, and Thomas Riggs, New York, privately printed, 1943.

Drummond, William Henry, Habitant Poems, Toronto, McClelland & Stewart, 1966.

Gates, Charles M., ed. Five Fur Traders of the Northwest, n.p., University of Minnesota Press, 1933.

Giraud, Marcel, The Canadian Half-Breed, His Role in the History of the Provinces of the West, Works and Memoirs of the Institute of Ethnology, 44, Institute of Ethnology, University of Paris, 1945. Translated by Harold S. Boedeker. Typescript at Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minn.

Giraud, Marcel, History of Canada, Paris, University Presses of Canada, 1946. Translated by Harold S. Boedeker, typescript at Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minn.

Glover, Richard, ed., David Thompson's Narrative, 1784-1812, Toronto, The Champlain Society, 1962.

Hadfield, Joseph, An Englishman In America, 1785, Being the Diary of Joseph Hadfield, ed. by Douglas S. Robertson, Toronto, Hunter-Rose Co., 1933.

Harmon, Daniel Williams, Sixteen Years in the Indian Country, The Journal of Daniel Williams Harmon, 1800-1816, ed. by W. Kaye Lamb, Toronto, The Macmillan Co., 1957.

Henry, Alexander, Travels and Adventures, In Canada and the Indian Territories. . .1760 and 1776, ed. by James Bain, Boston, Little, Brown & Co., 1901.

Heriot, George, Travels Through the Canadas, London, 1807.

Hind, Henry Youle, Narrative of the Canadian Red River Exploring Expedition of 1857, and of the Assiniboine and Saskatchewan...1858, 2 vols., London, Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1860.

Innis, H. A., Peter Pond, Fur Trader and Adventurer, Toronto, Irwin & Gordon, 1930.

Innis, H.A., The Fur Trade In Canada An Introduction to Canadian Economic History, revised edition, S. D. Clark and W. T. Easterbrook, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1962.

Jackson, Donald, ed., The Journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, 2 vols., Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1966.

Jenness, Diamond, The Indians of Canada, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 65, Anthropological Series No. 15, Ottawa, Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationery, 1967.

Jones, Arthur E., S. J., ed., Rare or Unpublished Documents II, The Aubneau Collection, 1734-1745, Montreal, 1893.

Keating, William H., Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River, Lake Winnepeek, Lake of the Woods, etc.,...1823...under the command of Stephen H. Long, 2 vols., London, 1825.

Kellogg, Louise Phelps, The British Régime in Wisconsin and the Northwest, Madison, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1935.

Long, J., Voyages and Travels of an Indian Interpreter and Trader, London, 1791.

McGillivray, Duncan, The Journal of Duncan McGillivray of the North West Company...1794-5, ed. by Arthur S. Morton, Toronto, Macmillian Co., 1929.

Mackenzie, Alexander, Voyages from Montreal on the River St. Lawrence, Ann Arbor, University Microfilms, 1966.

Masson, L. R., Les Bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest, 2 vols., Quebec, 1889.

Moore, John B., History and Digest of International Arbitrations to which U. S. Has Been a Party, 6 vols., Washington, 1898.

Nute, Grace Lee, The Voyageur, New York, D. Appleton and Co., 1931.

Nute, Grace Lee, Lake Superior, New York, Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1944.

Phillips, Paul Chrisler, The Fur Trade, 2 vols., Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1961.

Quaife, Milo M., ed., The John Askin Papers, 1747-1820, 2 vols., Detroit, 1928 and 1932.

Quaife, Milo M., ed., War on the Detroit, The Chronicles of Thomas Verchères de Boucherville and The Capitulation by an Ohio Volunteer, Chicago, 1940.

Rich, E. E., The History of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1670-1870, 2 vols. London, The Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1959.

Rich, E. E., Montreal and the Fur Trade, Montreal, McGill University Press, 1966.

Rich, E. E., The Fur Trade and the Northwest to 1857, Toronto, McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 1967.

Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed., "Evans Pedestrious Tour, 1818," Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, 8, Cleveland, Arthur H. Clark Co., 1904.

Wakefield, Priscilla, Excursions in North America, Described in Letters From a Gentleman and his Young Companion, London, Darton and Harvey, 1806.

Wallace, W. S., ed., Documents Relating to the North West Company, Toronto, The Champlain Society, 1934.

Wallace, W. Stewart, The Peddlars from Quebec, and Other Papers on the Nor'Westers, Toronto, The Ryerson Press, 1954.

Weld, Isaac, Jr., Travels Through the States of North America and the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. . .1795, 1796, and 1797, London, John Stockdale, 1800.