Excerpts from Books
Fur Trade Book Quotes
Source: Mitchell, Elaine Allan. Fort Timiskaming and the fur trade. University of Toronto Press, 1977.pp 195-196, 210-211, 214- 216, 220-222.
“As time went on and old ‘Dukas’ himself stayed close to his Nipissing headquarters, his two sons conducted the trade in the interior, Alexander settling in 1876 beside the Company’s new post on Bear Island in Lake Temagami and his brother at Matachewan.”
“Thompson not only outfitted Dukis, the Company’s most persistent and successful rival, but other lesser traders who went out among the Timiskaming, Lake Superior, and Kenogamissi Indians. Repeated attempts on the part of the Company’s officers to persuade Dukis to return to the service had always failed because Sir George would never agree to his terms, and although the Company lowered its tariff and paid cash for furs, the measures apparently had little success.”
“The Company’s most persistent opponent there was an Indian named Michel L’Aigle, or Dukas (alternately spelled Dokis or Ducas). Formerly in the Company’s service, he established by 1845 at the head of the French River, outfitted from Penetanguishine. That summer Chief Factor John Ballenden of Sault Ste Marie had gone to Nipissing to investigate Roderick McKenzie’s affairs and, on Simpson’s orders, had tried unsuccessfully to persuade Dukis to return to the service. Ballenden afterwards reported to Sir George that the Indian trader intended to settle on Grand Point Island in Lake Nipissing, some two leagues from the island on which the Company’s post stood. This peninsula just east of the mouth of the Sturgeon River, is known today as Dukis Point.”