OCR Text |
Show 10 1075 ) down to the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century . * * * * * * During the period inentioned the fur trade was a a leading branch of commerce in the western territory , and it was ( regularly reguhirly ) conducted upon the Desplaines River . Supplies in large quantity and variety , , needed by the early settlers , also were transported over this route between Chicago and St . Louis , , and other points . . Canoes and other boats of various Idnds were employed , , having light draft but capable of carrying several tons each , and manned by ( crews crows ) of six or eight men . The . route was navigated by the American Fur Company regularly during a period of years down to about 1825 , after which it was disused because the trade had receded to interior portions of Illinois that could be reached more conveniently with horses . The opinion of the Circuit Court of Appeals in Economy Light & Power Company v . United States , 256 Fed 792 798 discusses the . . , , early navigation of the Desplaines River in even greater detail . . In contradistinction to the above cases no such extensive early use appears in the Red River case , Oklahoma v . . Texas , , 258 U . . S . . 574 ; or in ( Brewer- Brewer ) Elliott Oil & Gas Company v . . United States , 260 U S 77 in which the . . . . , , streams were held to be ( non- non ) navigable . An inquiry , , therefore , , into the ancient and early uses of the Green and Colorado Rivers becomes . pertinent . |