Among those who sought to rebuild the French fur trade, devastated by the destruction of Huronia in the late 1640s, were two bourgeois/coureurs de bois, MΘdard Chouart, Sieur Des Groseilliers and Pierre-Esprit Radisson. Journeying northward to locate the source of the finest furs among the Cree, they returned to MontrΘal in 1660 from near "the Bay of the North Sea" with a splendid cargo of furs and, more importantly, an idea that was to forever alter the fur trade in North America. They proposed replacing the long, dangerous canoe trip from MontrΘal to locations north of Lake Superior with a sea route from France into Hudson Bay or James Bay. There was no support for their radical idea in either New France or France and both men were fined for trading illegally. This resulted in their attempts to obtain support first in New England, then in England where they were successful. The implementation of their idea resulted in the formation of the Hudson's Bay Company, put the fur trade on a maritime basis and initiated an economic challenge to the St. Lawrence-based trade. The map indicates the two emerging transportation routes to the interior which would be utilized by competing fur traders.
