Dry Moccasins

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 gotten 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. Frasier lost all his trade goods but escaped capture.