Ten years later the fief of Durantaye made a somewhat better showing.  The census of 1692 gave it a marked increase in population, in lands made arable, and in herds of domestic cattle.  A house had been built for the seigneur, whose family occupied it at times, but showed a preference for the more attractive life at Quebec.  Durantaye was not one of the most prosperous seigneuries, neither was it among those making the slowest progress.  As Catalogne phrased the situation in 1712, its lands were ‘yielding moderate harvests of grain and vegetables.’  Fruit-trees had been brought to maturity in various parts of the seigneury and were bearing well.  Much of the land was well wooded with oak and pine, a good deal of which had been already, in 1712, cut down and marketed at Quebec.

Morel de la Durantaye could not resign himself to the prosaic life of a cultivator.  He did not become a coureur de bois like many of his friends and associates, but like them he had a taste for the wild woods, and he pursued a career not far removed from theirs.  In 1684 he was in command of the fortified trading-post at Michilimackinac, and he had a share in Denonville’s expedition against the Onondagas three years later.  On that occasion he mustered a band of traders who, with a contingent of friendly Indians, followed him down to the lakes to join the punitive force.  In 1690 he was at Montreal, lending his aid in the defence of that part of the colony against raiding bands of Iroquois which were once again proving a menace.  At Boucherville, in 1694, one historian tells us with characteristic hyperbole, Durantaye killed ten Iroquois with his own hand.  Mohawks were not, as a rule, so easy to catch or kill.  Two years later he commanded a detachment of troops and militiamen in operations against his old-time foes, and in 1698 he was given a royal pension of six hundred livres per year in recognition of his services.  Having been so largely engaged in these military affrays, little time had been available for the development of his seigneury.  His income from the annual dues of its habitants was accordingly small, and the royal gratuity was no doubt a welcome addition.  The royal bounty never went begging in New France.  No one was too proud to dip his hand into the king’s purse when the chance presented itself.

In June 1703 Durantaye received the signal honour of an appointment to the Superior Council at Quebec, and this post gave him additional remuneration.  For the remaining twenty-four years of his life the soldier-seigneur lived partly at Quebec and partly at the manor-house of his seigneurial estate.  At the time of his death, in 1727, these landed holdings had greatly increased in population, in cleared acreage, and in value, although it cannot be said that this progress had been in any direct way due to the seigneur’s active interest or efforts.  He had a family of six sons and three daughters, quite enough to provide for with his limited income, but not a large family as households went in those days.  Durantaye was not among the most effective of the seigneurs; but little is to be gained by placing the various leaders among the landed men of New France in sharp contrast, comparing their respective contributions one with another.  The colony had work for all to do, each in his own way.