Early times and events in Wisconsin

              112   Wisconsin Historical Collections    [voi.ii
a person who understands something of their nature and disposi¬ tion, but their bourgeois or employer must be what they consider a gentleman, or superior to themselves, as they never feel much respect for a man who- has, from an engaged^ risen to- the rank of a clerk.
The traders in this country, at the time I came into it, were a singular compound; they were honest as. far as they gave their word of honor to be reslied upon; and, in their business^ transac¬ tions beit"\veea themselves, seldom gave or took notes for balances or assumptions. It rarely happened that one of them was found who did not fulfill his promises; but when trading in the Indian country, any advantage that could be taken of each other in a transaction, was not only considered lawful—^such as trading ea,ch other's credit—^but an indication of tact and cleverness in busi¬ ness. TWo traders having spent the winter in the same neighbor¬ hood, and thus taken every advantage they could of each other, v^O'iild meet in the spring at Prairie dp Chien, and amicably settle all difiiciilties over a glass of wine.
There was not, at the time I came tO' Prairie du Ohien, any Indian corn raised there. The traders for the Upper Mississippi, had to send down, for their corn which they used, to the Sauks and the Foxes at Eock Island, and trade with them for it. It is believed that the first field of corn raised at Prairie du Chien was by Thomas McWair, an American,, who had inarried a French girl and settled do'wn to farming.
The farmers of Prairie du Ohien appeared to be a more thrifty and industrious people than those of Green Biay; they raised a large quantity of small grain, such as wheat, barley, oats, peas, and also soane potatoes and onions. Elvery two or three farmers united and had a horse flouring-mill—^tlie stones being cut from the granite rook 'found in the couintry. There they gro'und their wheat, and sifted the flour by hand. The surplus flour was sold to the Indian traders for goods, or exchanged with the Indians for ven¬ ison, ducks, and geese, or dressed deer-skins, as tlierewas no money