Because their large numbers quickly overhunted the nearby animals, including the beaver, the Huron could not contribute much to the fur trade as hunters. Instead, they staked out a role as provisioners and middlemen in the west-to-east trade network of the north country. The Huron traded their agricultural surplus to more northern and western Indian hunters—the Algonkin, Nipissing, Ottawa, and Ojibwa—in return for their furs. The Huron then carried the pelts eastward via the Ottawa River in canoes to trade to the French at Quebec.
