 The following year, he and another trader, Jacob Franks, obtained from the Menominee Indians "for value received," a 999-year lease on a total of on both sides of the Fox at La Baye; at the time Ducharme already possessed a concession on one side of the river beside one of the leased lots.He is presumed to have continued to engage in fur trading in the west for the next 15 years; certainly he acquired a working knowledge of several native dialects.Ducharme eventually returned to the Montreal district, settling at Lac des Deux Montagnes.