The French didn’t actually trap and prepare the skins. The American Indians did.
If a trading post was close by, the Native Americans might bring their preserved skins and trade for iron pots, metal hatchets, guns and gunpowder, cloth blankets, metal knives, and many other items they could not make themselves.
This log cabin was built by Joseph Bailly, a French trader who lived in Northwest Indiana in the 1820’s. Potawatomi Indians brought furs to Bailly’s store each spring to trade for merchandise.
Bailly would pack the furs he bought into 60 lb. bundles and ship them (by boat) to Mackinac. At Mackinac, Bailly’s furs, along with furs from many other traders, were shipped (again by boat) to Montreal and on to Quebec. In Quebec, the furs were loaded onto large sailing ships bound for France. In Europe, the hair was removed from the skin, processed into felt and fashioned into waterproof men’s and women’s hats.
