 They had three "little" tents in a spot some 50 feet from the North West Company canoes and ten feet from the shore.In testimony by Thomas Forsyth, Esquire, a Montreal trader with the XY Company, and Maurice Blondeau, a "merchant voyageur" since 1752, the area had been cleared by a John Erskine (Askin) in the mid-1750s and there had been a "free right to pitch their tents" in any open area although this area was normally occupied by the North West Company.Shortly after they had set up camp, Duncan McGillivray and Simon McTavish appeared among their tents and ordered Rastoute, Hervieux's clerk, to move beyond the "little fort".