Jacques Legardeur De Saint-Pierre: Officer, Gentleman, Entrepeneur

Preparations for the Western Sea Expedition, 1750

Beyond Michilimackinac: The Jiliestern Sea (Part I), 1750-1751 135 I am with very deep respect, My lord, your most humble and obedient servant. La Jonquiere PREPARATIONS FOR THE WESTERN SEA EXPEDITION, 1750 Now optimistic about increasing his income in the years immediately ahead, Saint-Pierre in February 1750 bid 9,360 livres, almost nine times his annual captain's salary of 1,080 livres, in the auction of the home of the late Franyois de Gannes, king's lieutenant of Montreal. This house was located on Notre Dame Street in Montreal, only two blocks from la rue Saint-Gabriel, where he and Marie-Joseph were then living. His bid was accepted and Saint-Pierre and his wife took title to the house, which they paid for in full over the course of the three years that Saint-Pierre spent in command of the Western Sea posts.13 Their new home was centrally located on a fifty-by-eighty-foot lot one block south of the town's northern fortification wall. Across the street from the house were the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires chapel and the convent of the Congregation de Notre-Dame. Next door on the west side of their property was the royal prison. Nearby houses on la rue Notre-Dame were occupied by other officers or their widows, several surgeons, merchants, a bailiff, an innkeeper, and a cabinetmaker. Saint-Pierre's neighborhood illustrates well E. Z. Massicotte's observation on the Montreal of 1741: In actual fact, one could not imagine a more democratic town than Montreal during this period, for the day laborer's little house or the artisan's shop were very often found side by side with a prosperous commoner's residence or a nobleman's mansion.14 Before leaving Montreal for his new assignment, Saint-Pierre laid the groundwork for engaging in the fur trade at the Western Sea posts. On 20 March he entered into a private, unnotarized agreement with Jean Lechelle, a Montreal merchant and agent (commissionnaire) and partner of Saint-Pierre's former partner, Louis Damours de Clignancour.15 This agreement did not make Lechelle a partner in the Western Sea fur trade with Saint-Pierre, who had other partners as will be seen. Nevertheless, Lechelle was a key figure in the operation, and since he was paid com- doc. 47 136 Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre Portion of scale model of mid-eighteenth-century Montreal showing the Saint-Pierres' horne (1) on the corner of rue Notre-Dame and rue SaintLambert (lot #244 on the plan on page 137). Across rue Notre-Dame to the south is the Chapelle de Notre-Dame-des-Victoires (2), adjoining the convent of the Congregation de Notre-Dame (3). To the south and west of the Saint-Pierre horne is the Hotel-Dieu (hospital) (4), and one long block to the west of their house is Notre-Dame Church (5). Eighteenth-century documentation shows that the royal prison was located (on lot #235 on the following plan) on the west side of the house, rather than the two houses shown here in the model of 1742 Montreal. A gate in the north fortifications of Montreal was just two short blocks north on rue Saint-Lambert. Photograph by Lucie Bernard, Centre d'histoire de Montreal. mensurately with the volume of business, he had a stake in the success of the trade. The agreement gives the details of the arrangement: 16 We, Jacques Legardeur de St. Pierre, captain of a company of the Marine detachment in this country, presently in Montreal, and Jean Lechelle, merchant at the aforesaid Place, have entered into the Following Agreements for as long as the aforesaid Sieur de St. Pierre is assigned to explore for the Western Sea. Beyond Michilimackinac: The T#stern Sea (Part I), 1750-1751 137 315 ~ 327 8?8 9'Z5 329 ~ 7801 330 3Z9! \) ~-;..-, ~I 'lSll 786 r L....J _.J 'l82 7a3 ~ Eighteenth-century plan showing lots and major buildings in the SaintPierres ' Montreal neighborhood. Their house was on lot 244, on the northwest comer of the rue Notre-Dame and rue Saint-Lambert (today Boulevard St. Laurent). Les Origines de Montreal: Memoires de la Societe historique de Montreal, onzieme livraison (Montreal, 1917), planches 6 et 7. Reproduced with permission ofthe Societe historique de Montreal. The house, built in 1726, was destroyed in a fire before 1772. As of the publication...