Bailly traded with the Native people himself and also hired men to trade for him: these employees were the voyageurs who spent the winter at small trading posts that Bailly maintained in Michigan, Indiana, or Illinois, exchanging manufactured goods for furs.
In his account books—all of which are in French—Bailly recorded the goods that he purchased, the goods that he sold, and the furs or skins he received from his Native trading partners. He also listed his employees and the wages paid to them, though we have not reproduced that information here.
Here are excerpts from some of the lists of merchandise and furs that are recorded in one of Bailly’s account books dating from 1800.
First of all, we see two partial lists of merchandise that Bailly and his men traded with the Native people for furs, first in French and then translated into English. Note that Bailly’s spelling in French sometimes differs from the modern French spelling.