Today, the United States and Canada maintain the largest bilateral trade relationship in the world, and trade between the province of Ontario and the Great Lakes states accounts for more than half of the total.

Historically, this trade relationship dates back to the Native Americans, who first mined copper in the northern parts of the Great Lakes region and traded it as far east as New York. Later, French fur traders followed the water routes used by the Indians, traveling the lakes in their canoes with loads of pelts bound for the East Coast and Europe. The fur trade lasted until the early 1800s and was followed by logging, commercial fishing and agriculture and, more recently, by manufactured goods.

Copper on Isle Royale

Located in Lake Superior this island's great copper deposits attracted native American miners, and evidence indicates copper was mined from about 2000 to 1000 BC. . Material made from the copper found on the island was traded throughout the eastern portion of what is now the United States.

Native Americans visited, hunted and fished, picked up copper nuggets, and later mined copper on the island they knew as Isle Minong.

The first white to visit the island was a Jesuit missionary in 1670. Isle Royale was located due east of Grand Portage, center of the 17th century fur trade, and among the early Europeans to visit the island were French trappers in 1671. The island's name--pronounced as Isle Royal--was given in honor of French king Louis XIV.

In 1837 the first fishery on the island was established by the American Fur Company. In 1841 Michigan geologist Douglas Houghton recorded his exploration of Michigan's upper peninsula and Isle Royale, and by 1843 exploration for copper had begun.

Although there were several periods of heavy mining activity--specifically, 1843-1845, 1873-1881, and 1889-1893--it was never economically successful because of the crude methods of extraction and the isolation of the island.

The Fur Trade

Long before the Europeans discovered North America the natives were trading everything from copper to pottery, but it wasn't until they arrived that trade really took off.

For a century and a half after the discovery of the Great Lakes their commerce was chiefly furs. It was a valuable trade. The lakes penetrated inland nearly a thousand miles, and by means of portages gave ready access to a still wider scope of country, inhabited only the native Indian tribes. When the Canadian settlements were established, trade quickly sprang up with the natives, and the Indians made voyages from the upper lake region to Montreal to exchange furs and peltries for the weapons and cheap ornaments of the immigrants. For a long series of years Montreal was the center of a large and profitable trade.

Thousands of Frenchmen of all grades of life came over to better their fortunes, and ships bearing the white banners of France crossed the Atlantic, carrying westward passengers and supplies and returning with a freight of peltry. The earliest demand was supplied by the Indians near by. As the beaver, mink and otter began to disappear, the hardy "voyageurs" pushed and rowed their bateaux in all directions, yet made their home in Montreal, where they spent the winters. Still later it was necessary to establish frontier stations to serve as outposts for the merchants of Montreal, and this movement it was that stimulated exploration.

One of the first to realize the potential of trade in North America was Samuel de Champlain.

The French explorers who first visited the Great Lakes, beginning with Lake Huron in 1615, found Native Peoples who had mastered their environment and were economically self-sustaining. These Europeans brought implements of iron--needles, fishhooks, hatchets, traps and guns--items that the Native Peoples immediately saw could make their lives easier and they began trading furs and skins for these implements. The pelts of fur-bearing animals, especially beavers, were most sought after by the European traders.

Many Natives abandoned their traditional needs and became dependent on trade. Such was the basis of the Indian trade over which wars were waged and the history of the Great Lakes region was shaped. The Native Peoples of the upper lakes often traveled hundreds of miles by canoe down the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers to Three Rivers or Montreal, where they exchanged their furs for goods they desired. Beginning around 1660, the traders swarmed over the western Great Lakes wilderness.

The fur-trader, the wild, daring wood ranger, or coureur de bois, was the pioneer of New France; in his footsteps followed the priest. The trading post and the mission house are the twin types of the French occupation on the shores of the lakes.

Under the French government of Canada, the fur trade was subject to a variety of regulations, established and enforced by royal authority.

It was not long before the English also saw how much money could be made in the fur trade. The competition between England and France became fierce. They both wanted to be in control of the land and its resources. The English and the French were soon sending shiploads of beaver pelts back to Europe.

Competition in the fur trade helped spark fighting between First Nations tribes. The Iroquois would ambush the Huron traders who were bringing furs to Quebec. As a result, the fur trade almost came to a stop.

The fur trade was brought back to life with the help of two French coureurs de bois : Médard Chouart des Groseilliers and Pierre Radisson. The two partners traveled far inland in search of furs. They met people from the Sioux nation who told them about the great supply of beaver in the north near Hudson Bay. When they returned to the colony, they had almost 100 canoes overflowing with furs. They did not, however, receive the warm welcome they expected.

Des Groseilliers and Radisson had not gotten a license to trade fur before they began their adventure. The furs were taken away, Des Groseilliers was put in jail and both were given fines for breaking the law. It is related that their goods were seized by the French, which so enraged them that they went to England and induced the formation of the Hudson Bay Company, one of the early causes of friction between the French and English in the New World.

The English welcomed them with open arms.. In 1665 they were invited to meet with King Charles II. The King agreed to support their quest for furs. After three years of preparation, they were ready to begin. Des Groseilliers set sail in his ship the Nonsuch and Radisson left in his ship the Eaglet. Radisson's ship was forced to return to England because of the fierce storms.

The Frenchman, Joliet, one of the most successful traders, was selected by Talon, intendant of Canada, to explore the "great water," of which there had been many reports, west of the lakes. He was calm and dispassionate in temperament and inflexible in purpose, well adapted to the mission for which he was chosen. In the spring of 1673 Joliet and Father Marquette, with five compatriots, started in two canoes on their journey through the wilderness, which stretched far beyond what is now called Green Bay.

He eventually found the Mississippi, and travelled as far as the mouth of the Arkansas river, where they became satisfied that the Mississippi did not, as had been for many years supposed, lead into the Gulf of California, but instead into the Gulf of Mexico.

As the demand for furs and the possibility of profits grew, the fur trading companies established outposts where they could trade directly with the Indians. These fur trading posts became an important fixture in the interior from the late 1700's until the end of the fur trade era in 1850.

Grain Trade

In 1825, and for many subsequent years, all the grain cargoes were handled in buckets, and from three days to a week were consumed in discharging a single cargo, during which time the vessel would, on an average, lose one or two fair winds.

The improvements in the way of handling grain up to this period, over the old way, by buckets, was an increase of elevators at all the principal ports of shipment. The first of these important inventions on the lakes was constructed at Buffalo by Joseph Dart during the winter of 1842-43.

Iron Ore Trade

The iron ore trade is, of course, the trade of the Great Lakes, but it was not always so. The premier trade for so many years was grain, then lumber took first place, giving way subsequently to coal. In fact, it was not until 1888 that iron ore became the dominant trade of the Great Lakes.