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Who could this person be? He is alone and has stopped on his
water route long enough to build a fire, have a bit to eat and
drink, maybe even to dry items that have got wet along the way.
This is the 18th century—somewhere. Is he English…
or their enemy, the French? We cannot see enough of his flintlock
to tell if it is of French or English design. He appears to be
a trader, but doesn’t have much with him. The cloth near
his leg reveals his goods: silver trade items. His pistol is
fully cocked; is he fearful? He has no furs and his Algonquin
canoe isn’t large enough for many anyway. His mismatched
paddles might have come from two different Indian tribes.
Could this man be the English trader, John Frasier, as he
escaped downriver from the French soldiers at Venango—his
trading post on the Allegheny River—in 1752? The French
had come down from what is now Canada into the Ohio Valley, along
the Allegheny River, to rid the region of English influence.
They confiscated Frasier’s trading post and a blacksmith
shop. Fraser lost all his trade goods but escaped capture. |