John Johnston (fur Trader) - Career

Career

As a young man, Johnston was thrilled at the opportunity he saw with the North West Company. He was impressed by the partners he met and their refined lives. When formed in 1787, the company had 23 partners and 2000 employees: "Agents, factors, clerks, guides, interpreters, and voyageurs."

Over the years Johnston became successful himself, with fur trading and relations with the Ojibwa enhanced by Susan's family ties to the Ojibwa community. The Johnstons were known as a refined and cultured family, leaders in both the Ojibwa and Euro-American communities who maintained a wide range of relations.

As part of their culture of building relationships, the Johnstons welcomed to their home an array of significant players in the region, including surveyors, explorers, traders, governmental officials, trappers and political leaders. With his wife and her family's help, Johnston developed a broad knowledge of both the Ojibwa ways and the Great Lakes region. He played an integral role in developing the Michigan frontier and was appointed a Justice of the Peace.

Sault Ste. Marie was a community with a mix of fur traders, most of whom had Native American wives; Ojibwa natives, some of high status; and workers who were Métis, European, and Native American. Structures were both permanent and temporary, featuring warehouses for furs, scattered housing and Indian wigwams, and sheds for boats. Many of the Ojibwa stayed in the area for the fishing more than for the settlement.

Increasing economic tensions between Great Britain and the US affected the fur trade. In 1806 US changes to the Jay Treaty of 1794 restricted British fur traders to operating in Canada. Both they and the Ojibwa wished to return to the previous arrangement, which allowed free passage across the border for trade by nationals of both countries and by the Indians.

During the War of 1812, Johnston's longstanding British affiliations led him to assist the British. After a direct appeal from the garrison at Michilimackinac, Johnston supplied about 100 of his men and took two batteaux for their relief in 1814. When an American force failed to intercept him, it went on to Sault Ste. Marie. There the US raiders burned the North West Company warehouses on both sides of the St. Mary's River, causing substantial losses to Johnston and the Company. The troops also raided his house, called Johnson Hall. They looted the library and furnishings, and burning the house down. (Johnston's wife and children fled into the woods when the soldiers arrived.) Johnston never became a U.S. citizen.

The Johnstons' oldest son Louis (also appears as Lewis) was a lieutenant in the British Navy and served on the Queen Charlotte during the War of 1812. He was captured by Commodore Oliver Perry during the battle on Lake Erie. His treatment by the Americans while he was held prisoner at Cincinnati, Ohio turned him against living under their rule.

After the war, Johnston made a direct appeal to Governor Lewis Cass of Michigan to have the restriction against his trading in the interior lifted because of his other services to the region, but to no avail. He suffered financially from his losses and reduced trading, and was never able to rebuild his former wealth. Although he applied to the British government for compensation for his losses, no payment was made. Believing he was too old to remove to Canada, he stayed in Sault Ste. Marie. In 1821 Johnston served as a Commissioner during negotiations to end the rivalry between the North West and Hudson's Bay companies and helped achieve their merger.

Still worried about potential British agitation of Native Americans along the border, in 1822 the US government built and staffed Fort Brady at Sault Ste. Marie. With the fort and troops, other American settlers started to come into the area in greater number. The culture of Sault Ste. Marie changed markedly. Johnston and others who had earlier formed and dominated the community were passed by as the newcomers banded together. The presence of military troops formalized the role of government. The new American residents were reluctant to become involved with the French, Ojibwe or Métis, and disdained most of the existing society.