Place: Grand Rapids [Red River Settlement]
From: Wm Cockran
To: Rev. J. Smithurst, I[ndian] Settlement
Delivery: Carried by courier, possibly on account of Church Missionary Society
Details: 3.5pp + integral address face
Notes: Reverend William Cockran writes that the thaw has made the Red River very dangerous, interrupting travel. Cockran contacted Mr. McAllum [Reverend John Macallum, headmaster of the Red River Academy] and informed him that Smithurst was unlikely to make the trip to Grand Rapids as scheduled. He also relates that importers from the United States are refusing to pay an import fee. Cockran recounts how Mr. McAllum confronted one importer, Henry Cook, whom Smithurst has also had business with, and insisted on paying the import on a purchase of bonnets or Mr. Cook could take his contraband elsewhere.