Competition among the European nations and among the Indian tribes for the fur trade was a major factor in many of the intertribal conflicts and colonial wars.
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On the Winona County Historical Society's Web site link The Mdewakanton Era the following statement is presented. "The Dakota engaged in the fur trade through their connections with the French and later the British. Competition in this trade between the Chippewa and the Dakota led to a series of conflicts between the two tribes."

"Alcohol was an important and permanent part of the trade. It had devastating effects on many Indian tribes. Numerous witnesses have written of the violence that the liquor trade brought to Indian villages."
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"Another unfortunate result of the fur trade was the introduction of alcohol to the Indians by the French fur traders. Because they had no tolerance for alcoholic beverages, some Wisconsin Indians quickly became addicted to them. As the fur trade depleted the natural world around them, and as Indian communities suffered great losses due to European diseases, many Indians became impoverished. Some Indians turned to alcohol thinking it would help them to forget their problems. The alcohol, however, often made the problems worse.
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In the end, the fur trade escalated into inter-tribal war, which became even more deadly with the infiltration of European guns and ammunition. Sadly, alcohol also came into the picture as a result of European trade. Traders introduced alcohol to the Wabanakis (Indians), who later traded expensive furs to support their newfound addiction. English negotiators even went so far as to use alcohol to get the Wabanakis drunk before signing treaties.
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"French (fur trade) penetration into the interior exacerbated and intensified the intertribal warfare....."
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"Your Traders now bring scarce anything but Rum and Flour; they bring little powder and lead, or other valuable goods. The Rum ruins us. We beg you would prevent its coming such quantities by regulating the Traders. We never understood the Trade was to be for Whiskey and Flour. We desire it may be forbidden, and none sold in the Indian Country...."
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"When these Whiskey Traders come, they bring thirty or forty kegs and put them down before us and make us drink, and get all the skins that should go to pay the debts we have contracted for goods bought of the Fair Traders...."
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"...to pay off their debts, they often resorted to selling land to the European settlers..."
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"The difficult problem of alcohol in the fur trade was never eliminated. In fact, its effect on the Indians increased as the fur-bearing animals were depleted and the Indians began to surrender their lands."
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Unscrupulous traders sometimes cheated natives by plying them with alcohol during the transaction, which subsequently aroused resentment and often resulted in violence.
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"The battles were fought at trading posts with alcohol, diseases, and strange economies which divided the Chippewa nation and altered its culture in ways that were corrosive to its traditional lifestyle."
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"Fur traders gave food, rum, and trade goods to the Chippewa on credit for future exchanges of fur, labor, or food."
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"In the late 17th century, the Chippewa established a settlement at Chequamegon, acting as middlemen for the French traders. Traders manipulated the Chippewa with the incentives of trade goods such as alcohol, steel knives, copper kettles,..."
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Using alcohol for exchange, the traders would buy up much of the storable food the Chippewa produced to create scarcity during the winter.(116) Animal hides were in their best condition during the colder months, and the scarcity of food gave the fur traders leverage to force the Chippewa to gather pelts and hides. Alcohol, usually rum, was the perfect trade good for the fur traders to exchange with the Chippewa. Rum was concentrated and could be carried in small quantities to later be diluted, it was storable, and tended to be addictive to those who consumed it."
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"The period of fur trade competition in Lac Du Flambeau lasted from about 1796-1805, leaving in its wake death, cultural destruction, and social turmoil."
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The competition between the English and the French culminated in the French and Indian War. The Native American chiefs saw that each side was using them, but...."
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