Réaume's Trading Post
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Réaume's Trading Post (
Smithsonian trinomial A Smithsonian trinomial (formally the Smithsonian Institution Trinomial System, abbreviated SITS) is a unique identifier assigned to archaeological sites in many states in the United States. Trinomials are composed of a one or two digit coding fo ...
21WD15) was a
trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...
established on the Leaf River in 1792 in what is now Wing River Township, Minnesota, United States. No visible traces remain at the site, which is on private property, but archaeological investigations have identified several features. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1974 for having state-level significance in the themes of commerce and
historical archaeology Historical archaeology is a form of archaeology dealing with places, things, and issues from the past or present when written records and oral traditions can inform and contextualize cultural material. These records can both complement and conflic ...
. It was nominated for its role in and research potential on the opening of the
fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...
in north-central
Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
.


Establishment

Joseph Réaume was trading among the
Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...
on Red Lake as early as 1785. Around 1789 he joined with John Sayer, Jean Baptiste Cadotte, Jr., and Gabriel Attina dit Laviolette to trade in the Mississippi headwaters region. In 1792 he accompanied Cadotte on an expedition down the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
into central Minnesota, which was then a hunting territory of the
Dakota people The Dakota (pronounced , or ) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe (Native American), tribe and First Nations in Canada, First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultur ...
. When Cadotte stopped to build a trading post on the
Crow Wing River The Crow Wing River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed November 29, 2012 tributary of the Mississippi River in Minnesota, United States. The river rises at an elevation ...
, Réaume continued upstream to the Leaf River where he established his own post. Both posts were on an established water route between
Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...
and the
Red River of the North The Red River (), also called the Red River of the North () to differentiate it from the Red River of the South, Red River in the south of the continent, is a river in the north-central United States and central Canada. Originating at the confl ...
. Réaume's post was abandoned at an unknown date and later burned to the ground. Réaume himself must not have spent long at the post, because he is recorded working on the
Assiniboine River The Assiniboine River ( ; ) is a long river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River. The Assiniboine is a typical meandering river with a single main channel embanked ...
after 1794. In 1797 he joined the
North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...
, serving as a clerk and interpreter. In the 1802–1804 diary of fur trader George Nelson, Réaume is referred to as "a respectable old gentleman" in charge of the Folle Avoine region and trading on the
Snake River The Snake River is a major river in the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States. About long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Begin ...
.


Excavation

Surveys in 1869 and 1901 first noted ditches, two diamond-shaped depressions, and piles of rock at the site, but these were presumed to be traces of a Native American fortification. It wasn't until 1972 that further surveys, correlated with historical narratives, suggested the site was that of Réaume's trading post. Those efforts identified a
stockade A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived f ...
comprising two angled palisades, a ditch, and possibly a
blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...
. Within the stockade were depressions indicating the presence of buildings, and piles of rock suggesting collapsed chimneys. On the riverbank were two canoe landing sites. The few artifacts recovered at the time included some bone fragments and a
nail Nail or Nails may refer to: In biology * Nail (anatomy), toughened protective protein-keratin (known as alpha-keratin, also found in hair) at the end of an animal or human digit, such as fingernail * Nail (beak), a plate of hard horny tissue a ...
. Archaeologist Amelie Allard of the
University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
began conducting new studies of the site in 2011. Its exact location remains undisclosed as part of the agreement with the property owner.


See also

* National Register of Historic Places listings in Wadena County, Minnesota


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reaume's Trading Post 1792 establishments in the United States Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Commercial buildings completed in 1792 Geography of Wadena County, Minnesota Trading posts in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Wadena County, Minnesota