PELTS and PALISADES
Friend, once ’twas Fame that led thee forth
To brave the Tropic Heat, the Frozen North;
Late it was Gold, then Beauty was the Spur;
But now our gallants venture but for Fur.
John Dryden, 1672.
Pelts and palisades: The story of fur and the rivalry for pelts in early America
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About This Book
The narrative traces the centrality of fur from prehistoric garments to the commercial engine of colonial America, showing how demand for beaver pelts shaped exploration, settlement, and imperial rivalry. It describes traders who forged diplomatic and economic ties with Indigenous peoples, the building of palisaded trading posts, and how mercantile interests influenced colonial policy. The work combines broad overview and selected case histories of merchants and frontier traders, follows the transition from trading to trapping and eventual fur farming, and concludes by linking the trade's dynamics to the conflicts that culminated in the French and Indian War.