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MERCHANDISING IN PICKERING We may assume that the various peoples of Pickering, from prhistoric man down to th known tribes of Indians, and the white people who have been here such a short time in comparison, all used barter from the beginning of time. By the middle of the 17th century the Iroquois who had settled on the north shore after the destruction of Huronia, were carrying on the largest trade ever to be carried on in our township, the enormous beaver trade of 1,200,00 livres of the best beaver pelts. It was this trade from Gandatsekwyagon, which brought the French to protect their north shore so that they subsequently established missions and forts from Kingston to Toronto. There has, therefore, been a continuous history of merchandising here, but after the disappearance of the beaver, a few traders are mentioned in a small way, Rousseau of Montreal and Toronto, Duffin, the Irishman who was murdered, Peake, and finally Timothy Rogers, had a store which was broken into in 1807. (See "The Journal of Timothy Rogers" contained in this book.) After Mrs. Rogers died apparently the store was abandoned and from tales of our hardy pioneers, it would appear that many settlers walked to Whitby during the early 1800's for tea, chairs, etc. They also walked to York with wheat and potash in order to secure their supplies. Money was almost non-existent. In the late 1820's, Francis Leys, of Aberdeen, Scotland, settled on Lot 12, Concessionl. He carried on a small store business and Post Office here as well as a few rooms to rent to the travellers who were unfortunate enough to have to coach down the Kingston Road. In the 1830's, John Michell, set up a store on the Brock Road just north of Concession 8; and in 1847, Thomas Noble built his stone store on the Brock Road at the 9th Concession. It is still standing. As the cluster of houses about the Pickering mills grew, by 1850, there were the following shops within the village, W. Lumsden, A. Lepper, James Sterling and P. F. Whitney. However, the early settlers lived so far apart that they depended largely upon the good offices of travelling pedlars or merchants, who drove their wagons through the mud and corduroy, and creeks of the back roads of Pickering Township. Mr. C. L. Burton, in his book "A Sense of Urgency", describes the life of his father, George Burton, who sold his produce from a wagon in Pickering durint the 1860's. 'My father was the youngest of his family. From his love of fun, good company and fast driving horses, I imagine he must have been allowed as a child certain licence which ordinarily would be denied to older children. He was a good salesman, knew his business and worked hard at it within certain limitations. His first experience of merchandising was in a peddling wagon. That particular activity was not specially high in the social scale, but in those days a peddling wagon was an important link between the early settler and his fellowmen. The peddling wagon was a familiar part of the country scene just as the delivery van of the big store is in cities today. The itinerent merchant would drive to Toronto and stock his wagon with certain staples, - smallwares, hardware, cloth in bolts and even clothing, such as overalls and work shirts. Being mobile, he could suit his small stock to the seasons. Then he would drive the long road back to his familiar territory, and visit the farms, particularly those at a distance from the villages, or those occupied by families tied by numerous children or other circumstances to their work. He was always welcome. Many a farm wife watched for his coming, with his travelling store, as the modern farm wife watches for the arrival of the resplendent mail order catalogue to day. The mobile merchant was invited to dinner wherever it befell in his travels, and stopped the night with old friends along the way. It was a wonderful way to learn merchandising, for the peddler could not buy rashly, because of his limited space; and in visiting the homes of every variety in his territory, from the well-established farmer down to the most precariously situated newcomer, he learned the public taste on the widest front." Mr. Burton continues his vivid description of his father's life as a merchant. He gives us a wonderful picture of the Burton's store in Green River in 1878-1888, and from this description of family life and the store, we may get a true picture of all our Township country stores of this period. "A country general store in the horse and buggy days served only a few square miles of territory. Most of the trade was by barter. The Postmastership carried with it a sort of guarantee of traffic and trade. The merchant had to keep posted on the requirements of the customers, ensure that his suppliers' accounts were paid up and his credit clear, so that he could always buy the needed supplies.