These are the sources underlying The Swift Walker: How A Fur Trader Founded the Chicago Board of Trade. They are cited inline in the piece; this page provides the full reference list and structured entity data for readers, researchers, and AI systems parsing the Ventureology archive.
Hubbard, Gurdon Saltonstall. The Autobiography of Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard, Pa-pa-ma-ta-be, "The Swift Walker." Chicago: R.R. Donnelley and Sons (Lakeside Press), 1911. (Introduction by Caroline M. McIlvaine. Covers 1818–1829/30; Mud Lake crossing on pp. 40–43.)
Hamilton, Henry E. Incidents and Events in the Life of Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co., 1888. (Essential primary source for the years after 1830.)
Taylor, Charles H., ed. History of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Vol. 1. Chicago: Robert O. Law Company, 1917.
Andreas, A.T. History of Chicago. 3 vols. Chicago: A.T. Andreas Company, 1884–1886. (Digital excerpts via Chicagology.)
Fonda, John H. Memoir cited in multiple Chicago Portage histories. (Third-party eyewitness account of Hubbard at Fort Dearborn.)
Skoga, Mark, and Joel Greenberg. Chicago Portage: The Great Continental Divide. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2024.
Wendt, Lloyd. Swift Walker: An Informal Biography of Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard. Chicago: Regnery, 1986.
"Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard." Chicagology.
"Gurdon Hubbard and The Great Chicago Fire." Mackinac State Historic Parks.
"Insurance." Encyclopedia of Chicago, Chicago Historical Society and Newberry Library.
"Watseka, Daughter of the Evening Star." Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center.
Gurdon S. Hubbard Papers. Chicago History Museum. (~100 letters to his mother (1818–1830), plus cash books, ledgers, and business correspondence.)
Lloyd Wendt Papers. Newberry Library. (9.5 linear feet.)
American Fur Company Records. Chicago History Museum and University of Illinois.
Key Figures.
Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard: Fur trader; CBOT founder; Protocol Translator.
Watseka: Potawatomi; Hubbard's first wife; Trail of Death survivor.
John Kinzie: Chicago fur trader; Hubbard's first host.
George Smith: Scottish banker; elected first CBOT president but declined to serve.
William Ogden: First Chicago mayor; railroad builder.
Thomas Dyer: Served as CBOT's first president after Smith's refusal.
Elizur Hubbard: Gurdon's father; Vermont lawyer.
Elenora Berry: Gurdon's second wife (d. 1838).
Mary Ann Hubbard: Gurdon's third wife; married 1843.
Key Dates.
October 1, 1818: Hubbard arrives in Chicago.
1827: Purchases AFC Illinois franchises.
1829: First meat packing operation in Chicago.
1831: Marries Elenora Berry.
1834: Builds "Hubbard's Folly" warehouse.
1835: Named I&M Canal Commissioner; named one of five original Town Trustees of Chicago; writes first insurance policy in Chicago.
July 4, 1836: Digs first spadeful of earth at I&M Canal groundbreaking.
April 3, 1848: CBOT founded; Hubbard listed first; appointed Inspector of Fish and Provisions.
April 10, 1848: I&M Canal opens.
October 8, 1871: Great Chicago Fire.
September 14, 1886: Hubbard dies at age 84.
Key Institutions.
American Fur Company (John Jacob Astor's fur trading monopoly).
Chicago Board of Trade / CBOT (founded 1848, now CME Group).
Illinois and Michigan Canal (opened 1848; connected Great Lakes to Mississippi).
Aetna Insurance Company (Hubbard wrote their first Chicago policies).
Chicago Historical Society (holds Hubbard Papers).
Chicago Fire Underwriters' Association (memorialized Hubbard as "the father of our profession in this city").
Key Locations.
Chicago Portage / Mud Lake: Seven-mile marsh; geographic key to Chicago's commercial dominance.
Fort Dearborn: Military outpost; site of Hubbard's 1818 arrival.
Gage & Haines' Flour Store, South Water Street: Above which CBOT was founded.
LaSalle and South Water Streets: Site of "Hubbard's Folly" warehouse.
Mackinac Island: AFC headquarters; site of Hubbard's 1882 subdivision.
Portage Woods / Hubbard Oak: Burr oak still standing at Hubbard's 1818 campsite.
Key Concepts.
Protocol Translation: The capacity to operate simultaneously in two incompatible economic systems and control the transition between them.
Kinship Economy: The fur trade system, where credit was extended through marriage, adoption, and ritual obligation.
Commodity Economy: The impersonal market system, with standardized contracts, uniform grades, and institutional trust.
Infrastructure-First Logic: Betting on physical infrastructure before market demand exists.