1,
fourteen.[368] The amount of this trade was very large, as is indicated
by the case of Mr. Faribault who traded on the Cannon River. One year he
marketed 50 buffalo-robes, 39,080 muskrats, 2050 pounds of deer skins,
125 pounds of beaver, 130 martin, 1100 mink, 663 raccoons, 331 otter, 25
lynx, and 5 foxes.[369]

There was a great deal of vagueness as to the application of the trade
laws--"a mist of uncertainty" as Taliaferro called it.[370] Governor
Cass of Michigan Territory allowed foreigners to enter into
expeditions as interpreters or boatmen, who upon entering the wilderness
took active charge of the crew and all operations.[371] As far as Fort
Snelling was concerned there was little call for the ejection of
foreigners by force. In 1833 it was rumored that a foreigner was trading
on the Sheyenne River--a tributary of the Red River. But with the
despatch of a company of troops and the rumor of their approach, the
culprit immediately decamped.[372]

The building of the fort was in itself enough to impress British
subjects with the firmness of the United States government. Joseph
Renville, Kenneth McKenzie, and William Laidlaw, former employees of the
English companies, in 1822 organized the Columbia Fur Company, and
obtained a license from Major Taliaferro. In five years they had posts
from Green Bay to the Missouri River, with their headquarters at Land's
End, a short distance up the Minnesota River from Fort Snelling. But in
1827 a union with the American Fur Company was brought about.[373]

Traders licensed by the agent at Fort Snelling covered the territory as
far west as the Missouri River. No post could be established without his
approval; and he even attempted to regulate the form in which the
establishment should be built.[374] On the whole, cooeperation between
the factors of the fur companies and the officials at the post was
desired by both parties. The most notable disagreement is that which
existed between Alexis Bailly, the chief factor at Mendota, and
Major Taliaferro. This disagreement continued until September 15, 1834,
when the agent reported that he had refused to allow Bailly to hold
further intercourse with the natives, "not only in Consequence of his
bad tongue, but on account also of his frequent Violations of the
intercourse laws". In this action he was seconded by the authorities of
the fur company, who sent Mr. H. H. Sibley to fill Mr. Bailly's
place.[375] The pleasant relations which