Trading Mystery
Elementary: Grades 3–4
Story
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 with Native Americans in exchange for animal pelts.'))
"When did the Americans start?" Joseph wondered.
"After the War of 1812, the British finally left the area," Uncle Boots explained. "Then the Potawatomi began to make partnerships with trading companies like the American Fur Company. The company had posts all around the Great Lakes. Kinzie and Colonel Beaubien worked for the Chicago post. We gave the American Indians guns and manufactured goods for pelts and dried fish that we sold in the east. It kept going until the 1830s—but by then so many animals had been trapped that there weren't that many left. Fur-lined hats weren't as popular either. Besides, most of the tribes had been forced off the land. Then everything began to change fast!"
"How?" both children asked. They had been wrong about Uncle Boots. There was so much to learn about Chicago!
"Everyone started to buy up land, and by 1837 Chicago was a city. Everything was growing and changing. People started keeping animals, starting the stockyard. The trains came. In a few years, I could hardly recognize the place. Then there was the Great Fire. Flames everywhere, people running and screaming, everything destroyed."
"Tell us more!" Joseph begged.
The old man laughed as he began to pack up his safe. "I think that's enough for today. I've got to get back to my writing," he said. "But don't worry, I'll tell you more tomorrow."
Joseph and Lily couldn't wait.
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