USA > Montana > Yellowstone County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 9
USA > Montana > Park County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 9
USA > Montana > Dawson County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 9
USA > Montana > Rosebud County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 9
USA > Montana > Custer County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 9
USA > Montana > Sweet Grass County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 9
USA > Montana > Carbon County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 9
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The post was erected on the neck of land between the Jefferson and Madison rivers Lieutenant James H. Bradley describes it and its location as follows : "It was a double stockade of logs set three feet deep, enclosing an area of about 300 square feet, situated upon the tongue of land (at that point only half a mile wide) between the Jefferson and Madison rivers, about two miles from their confluence, upon the south bank of the channel of the former stream called Jefferson slough." Trap- ping was begun at once and every day's catch showed that they were in the midst of a great harvest. The territory was virgin, and, the old trappers stated, the greatest they had ever seen for beaver.
But in the midst of their glowing success a black cloud of disaster broke upon them; the Blackfeet swept down upon the trappers while tending their traps and several lost their lives. This was the first seen of the Indians and the introduction was disheartening. No opportun- ity had presented itself by which the Indians could be informed of the intention of the trad- ers. Depredations continued at intervals of every few days. One thing must be done-the Indians informed of the purposes of the fort.
It will be remembered that this was the place where Potts killed an Indian of the Blackfeet and where Colter made his remarka- ble escape from the same people. These inci- dents the Indians no doubt remembered. They also knew of the post on the Yellowstone, where their enemies, the Crows, were receiv- ing merchandise for their furs. Considering the newcomers in the light of enemies, and be- ing jealous because the Crows had been fav- ored with a trading post. they determined to intercept the white trappers on all sides. In order that the Blackfeet might be informed of the true purpose of the post. Menard proposed to visit the Flathead and Snake Indians with .1
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HISTORY OF MONTANA.
view of getting them to assist in a war against the Blackfeet. His purpose was to take a pris- oner, and after having informed him of the friendly intentions of the whites and their de- sire to trade, to release him and let him return to his people. But before this scheme could be carried out the Blackfeet fell upon then again with more fury than before.
Disheartened with these experiences, Men- ard with the greater part of the men, most of them unwilling to remain longer, started for St. Louis. Henry with the few remaining men stayed at the fort for some time, then crossed over the continental divide and established him- self on the north fork of the Snake, where lie spent the winter. Game was very scarce and many hardships were endured before the open- ing of spring. Recrossing the continental di- vide in the early spring of 1811, he set out for St. Louis. Whether he descended the Yellow- stone or Missouri on this trip out of the coun- try is not known. He reached the Mandan village in July and here met Lisa, who was re- turning from St. Louis.
Because of the hostility of the Indians the Missouri Fur company had not proved a finan- cial success, and the company went out of business.
It was not until the spring of 1822 that another fur company began operations on an extensive scale in the territory which is now known as the state of Montana. That year William H. Ashley, a trader, business man and politician, organized the Rocky Mountain Fur company, which during the years of its exist- ence became one of the most powerful concerns engaged in the fur trade in the Rocky moun- tains south of the British possessions. Asso- ciated with Ashley was Andrew Henry, who has been mentioned in these pages in connection with the operations of the Missouri Fur com- pany.
Two expeditions, consisting of one hundred men each, were equipped, one under Henry, the other under Ashley. The expedition com-
manded by Henry left St. Louis in April, 1822; the one commanded by Ashley did not depart until March 10 of the following year.
The plan was to establish trading posts as far up the Missouri as the three forks, thus making it possible to trade with all the tribes of the upper Missouri country. The country around the upper waters of this river was known to abound in beaver, and the trapping of these was another coveted object of the or- ganizers of the company.
Henry left St. Louis with two keel-boats loaded with merchandise, trapping equipment and such utensils as would be useful to the party. On the way up the river the party pur- chased horses. The expedition's progress was nct impeded until it ascended to or near the mouth of the Little Missouri. Here the land party was attacked by a party of the Assini- boine Indians, who got possession of the horses.
It was the object of this party to ascend as far as the falls and establish a fort there, but the loss of the horses prevented the carrying out of this object. A post was built at the mouth of the Yellowstone and the party win- tered there. The men engaged in hunting and trapping during the winter, and in the spring of 1823, having secured a fresh supply of horses, they set out for the country of the Blackfeet. Having ascended as far as the great falls, they were attacked by the Blackfeet. Four men lost their lives and the party was driven out of the country. The return was then made to the fort at the mouth of the Yellowstone.
In the meantime General Asliley had as- cended the Missouri from St. Louis. He was fiercely attacked by the Aricaras and driven down the river. Henry, anticipating his ar- rival, had descended the Missouri from the fort on the Yellowstone and brought the win- ter's catch with him. He was not molested by the Indians and passed through their village. joining General Ashley at the mouth of the Cheyenne river.
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HISTORY OF MONTANA.
The attack on General Ashley was reported to the United States troops, and in the com- paign which followed the Indians were badly defeated and taught a severe lesson.
The road being again clear for the traders, Ashley, after securing the required number of horses from the Indians, sent Henry with eighty men across to the post at the mouth of the Yellowstone, where twenty men had been left. This place was abandoned and the party as- cended the Yellowstone as far as Powder river. Henry here organized a party which was sent toward the southwest, while he with the main body went on to the confluence of the Big Horn and Yellowstone and there established a post. Trapping parties were sent out in different di- rections, and when they met the next year they had collected a great number of beaver furs, which Henry took to St. Louis in the spring. The expedition was a success and Henry re- turned the next year.
Jedediah S. Smith was one of the leading employes of the Rocky Mountain Fur company. From the post at the mouth of the Big Horn he crossed over to the west side of the continental divide, where he met with detached trappers of the Hudson's Bay company. After spend- ing some time in this country he went north, and it has been said spent the winter with the Flathead Indians. Wherever he may have spent the winter, he went to St. Louis in the spring. Henry resigned from the partnership and Smith became a partner, being identified with the company until 1826.
General Ashley returned to St. Louis, not having attempted to establish a post in the Blackfoot country. The next year he equipped an expedition and went into the Salt Lake country. Detachments were sent out in every direction and many valuable furs were secured. The party worked well toward the headwaters of the Yellowstone and determined to descend that stream to the Missouri, and from thence go on to St. Louis. When they reached the mouth of the Yellowstone Ashley beheld for
the first time the fort built by Henry. It was here that the party met General Atkinson with a large military force, who was in this country to make peace treaties with the Indians of the upper Missouri country.
We shall here interrupt the story of the Rocky Mountain Fur company long enough to tell of this government expedition. The In- dian tribes of the Missouri and Yellowstone had become restless and the government deter- mined to make treaties with them. Accord- ingly in 1824 congress passed an act providing for the equipment of an expedition to visit and treat with the various tribes inhabiting the country. The president appointed General Henry Atkinson, of the army, and Major Ben- jamin O'Fallon, Indian agent, to act as com- missioners to visit the Indians and conclude the treaties.
The commissioners left St. Louis on March 20, 1825, and proceeded to Council Bluffs, arriving there April 19. Here they were joined by an escort of 476 men, of whom 40 were mounted, the intention being to have the others travel by boat. On August 17 the party reached the mouth of the Yellowstone. having visited the Indian tribes inhabiting the valley between Council Bluffs and that point. One mile above the mouth of the Yellowstone the expedition came upon the traders' fort. Here they were surprised at hunters descend- ing the river in boats. The hunters proved to be General Ashley with a party of 24 men, who had just arrived from Salt Lake valley with a cargo of furs. Being invited to wait until the military expedition should ascend the river and to accompany it, General Ashley did so.
Ashley had not seen the Indians anywhere on the Yellowstone, and from what informa- tion he had gathered from straggling bands, he concluded that the Blackfeet, the ones whom the authorities most desired to meet, were somewhere on the Missouri above the falls. The Assiniboines were supposed to be on the Yellowstone, but Ashley's party found no trace
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HISTORY OF MONTANA.
of them. This information was discouraging to the expedition. General Atkinson deter- mined, however, to ascend the river. Part of the force remained at the fort; the others, ac- companied by General Ashley, set out on the 20th to go up the river.
No trace of the Indians was found and the party returned to the fort. Soon after the com- missioners returned to the states, the expedi- tion, so far as accomplishing anything was con- cerned, having been a failure. General Ash- ley accompanied the party to St. Louis.
In April of the next year. 1826, Ashley returned to the Salt Lake valley. While here he sold his interests in the mountains to Jed- ediah S. Smith, David E. Jackson and William L. Sublette, the leading spirits of the company, retaining, however, his company interests in St. Louis. This transfer marks the beginning of the second period of the company's history. General Ashley was a man of much ability. Having tired of mountain life, and having made his fortune, he retired to enter the politi- cal arena.
Smith, Jackson and Sublette agreed on plans to be executed during the next three years. Jackson and Sublette went into the mountains, while Smith crossed into Cali- fornia, thence north to the Hudson's Bay post on the Columbia. He sold his furs to the com- pany and struck out for the headwaters of the Snake. Here he was to meet Sublette and Jackson in the summer of 1829.
Smith was royally treated by the Hudson's Bay men, and he agreed not to hunt in the ter- ritory claimed by that company. According to the plans of three years before, when the three partners struck out in different directions, they all met at the headwaters of the Snake. Smith informed his partners of his agreement with the Hudson's Bay company, who were not friendly to this move, but reluctantly consented to abide by their partner's promise.
Concerning the adventures of the partners
during their management of the company we quote from Chittenden as follows :
All set out on their fall hunt in October, taking a northeasterly direction to the Yellowstone, with the intention of swinging around into the Big Horn basin, where Milton Sublette had been left. Just as they were starting they had a slight brush with the Black- feet Indians, who attempted to steal their horses. It was a little too early in the morning, before the horses had been turned out to graze, and the Indians were beaten off through the energetic action of Fitzpatrick.
While crossing the range of mountains between the Gallatin and Yellowstone rivers, a little to the north of the modern National park, they had a severe skir- mish with the Blackfeet, in which two men were killed and the rest of the party scattered. It was some time before they all came together again; in fact not until they were east of the mountains and in the Big Horn basin. The journey through the rugged mountains bordering the park on the north was one of great peril and suffering. One of the party, Joseph Meek, became separated from the rest and utterly lost, wandering into the springs country just east of the Yellowstone river, where he was found by some of his companions.
At length the party was reunited in the Big Horn basin, where they found Milton Sublette, and all to- gether went south with the furs to the valley of the Wind river. It being 100 late to carry the furs to St. Louis, they were cached in the side of a cut bank. This locality was fixed as the next rendezvous, and there- upon Sublette, with one man, set out for St. Louis to bring out the outfit for the following year. It was about Christmas time that he started on the journey, and he reached his destination on the LIth of February following. This is one of the very few examples at this early day of crossing the plains in the dead of winter.
The party which remained behind was too large to find subsistence in one locality, there being no. buffalo in the vicinity, and Smith and Jackson were compelled to shift their camp. although in mid-winter, to better ground. They accordingly went over into the Powder river country, where they found buffalo, and spent the winter in plenty. On the first of April Jackson set out for a spring hunt at his old stamping ground in Jack- son Hole, while Smith, with Young Jim Bridger as guide, started by way of the Yellowstone for the upper Missouri. Smith went as far as the Judith basin, made a successful hunt, and returned to the rendezvous on Wind river without any untoward accident. Jackson likewise came back after a successful hunt, and here the two partners waited the arrival of Sublette from the states. At about this time an unfortunate accident occurred. While removing the furs from the cache made the previous December the bank caved in, killing
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HISTORY OF MONTANA.
one man and severely injuring another.
Smith, Jackson and Sublette, following the ex- ample of Ashley four years before, relinquished their trade and sold out to several young men, who had now become distinguished by their ability and experience. These were Thomas Fitzpatrick, Milton G. Sublette, Henry Fraeb, Jean Baptiste Gervais and Jamies Bridger, and the firm was called the Rocky Mountain Fur Con- pany, the only instance when any firm did business un- der this specific name. The transfer of the business from the old to the new firm took place August 4, 1830. Smith, Jackson and Sublette left the same day for St. Louis with 190 packs of beaver.
The new company carried out much the same plans as those inaugurated by the old com- pany. Trapping parties were sent over the old grounds, and some virgin territory was opened. From the Wind river rendezvous Fitzpatrick, Sublette and Bridger, with a party of two hun- dred men, crossed over to the Big Horn basin, through it to the Yellowstone, thence across to the Missouri river in the vicinity of the great falls. The party was so strong that the Black- feet did not molest it. After spending some time in the neighborhood of the great falls the expedition moved up to the three forks, thence up the Jefferson to the divide. This expedition proved to be a very profitable one, and a large quantity of furs was taken.
They now moved south to the Salt Lake country, where they also met with success, and returned to the Powder river valley to spend the winter.
Says Chittenden of an event of the follow- ing spring: "With opening of spring of 1831 the partners again set out for the Blackfoot country, but they had not gone far when the most of their horses were stolen by the Crows. A catastrophy of this kind, so fatal to the mobility of a party, destroyed its effectiveness, and it was imperative to retake the horses. A party was organized for this purpose, and. after considerable delay and adroit manage- ment, succeeded in not only retaking their own horses, but in capturing those belonging to the Indians."
Much of the same territory was traversed
this season as the year previous. At various intervals the furs would be taken to St. Louis. The company continued in business until the summer of 1834, when a dissolution of the partnership was agreed upon. During the last few years the profits had not been so large; the American Fur company was scouring the same territory. Bitter animosities arose between the rival concerns. The American Fur company was the more powerful of the two, and the Rocky Mountain Fur com- pany, the weaker of the adversaries, could no longer take from the country the great wealth it had up to the time of the coming of the com- peting fur company. Then, it has been said, the new company used its influence to induce the Indians to oppose the old company. Whether this contention was true or not, the Indians became more hostile to the Rocky! Mountain company. These causes led to the dissolution of the Rocky Mountain Fur com- pany, the first powerful concern of the kind to operate in the Rocky mountain country.
The next fur company to begin operations in the upper Missouri country was the Ameri- can, which proved to be the strongest that ever carried on business with the Indians of Mon- tana. It continued in existence many years and its operations were an important event in the early history of our country.
The American Fur company was incorpor- ated in New York, April 16, 1808. John Jacob Astor, a trader in furs in New York and Lon- don, constituted the company. Heretofore Mr. Astor had not engaged in operations in the field, but he now determined to broaden his business and extend his transactions to the field operations as well as the traffic after the furs had been gathered and placed on the market. The earlier operations of this powerful con- cern were confined to the headwaters of the Mississippi and the territory around the great lakes ; and not until 1822 did it extend its field of operations to the country farther south and west. In that year the company established a
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HISTORY OF MONTANA.
western headquarters at St. Louis, which move was bitterly opposed by the traders of St. Louis.
The Rocky Mountain Fur company, the only large company at that time which was operating in the upper Missouri and surround- ing country, had brought to St. Louis furs of almost untold value. The American Fur com- pany, desirous of a portion of this vast wealth, determined to invade those regions from which wealth was being so easily gathered.
Accordingly, in the summer of 1828, a definite advance was commenced, and in a few months a fort was established near the mouth of the Yellowstone. This was the objective point, for from all directions the trade must pass through here. Kenneth Mckenzie was given charge of this northern trade. He had been at one time a member of the Hudson's Bay company, and had also been associated with smaller trading and trapping companies operating in the upper Mississippi country. He desired to strike boldly into the mountain coun- try and at once open up trade with the Indians of the upper territory and to send out trapping parties to that country. The head office, less sanguine in its councils, thought best to go a little slow and to first establish a post at the mouth of the Yellowstone, and to extend future operations from there into the upper country.
A post was erected near the mouth of the Yellowstone and called Fort Union. In 1872- 73 Mr. James Stuart prepared an article relat- ing to the upper Missouri river which is of much value in describing conditions as they ex- isted in the early days of the fur trade. Es- pecially interesting is the description of Fort Union and the manner of living of those who made their homes there under the protection of the American Fur company. His information was gathered from trappers, traders and others who happened to be in the country at that time. The article was published in the Montana His- torical Society's contributions of 1876. From
these contributions we quote the following :
Fort Union was the first fort built on the Missouri river above the mouth of the Yellowstone. In the summer of 1829 Kenneth Mckenzie, a trapper from the upper Mississippi, near where St. Paul, Minnesota, is now located, with a party of 50 men, came across to the upper Missouri in looking for a good place to es- tablish a trading post for the American Fur Company. (Mckenzie was a member of said company.) They selected a site a short distance above the mouth of the Yellowstone river, on the north bank of the Missouri, and built a stockade, two hundred feet square, of logs about twelve inches in diameter and twelve feet long, set perpendicular, putting the lower end ten feet in the ground with two block house bastions on diagonal corners of the stockade, twelve feet square and twenty feet high, pierced with loopholes. The dwelling houses, warehouses and store were built inside, but not form- ing the stockade, leaving a space of about four feet be- tween the walls of the buildings and the stockade. All the buildings were covered with earth, as a protection against fire by incendiary Indians. There was only one entrance to the stockade-a long double-leaved gate, about twelve feet from post to post, with a small gate three and one-half by five feet, in one of the leaves of the main gate, which was the one mostly used, the large gate being opened only occasionally when there were no Indians in the vicinity of the fort. The houses, warehouses and stores were all built about the same height as the stockade. The above description, except the area enclosed by the stockade, will describe nearly all the forts built by traders on the Missouri river from St. Louis to the headwaters. They are easily built, convenient. and good for defence.
The fort was built to trade with the Assiniboines, who were a large tribe of Indians, ranging from White Earth river on the north side of the Missouri to the mouth of Milk river, and north into the British pos- sessions. They were a peaceable, inoffensive people, armed with bow and arrows, living in lodges made of buffalo skins, and roving from place to place according to the season of the year, occupying certain portions of their country in the summer, and during the winter remaining where they could be protected from the cold with plenty of wood. For fear of trouble with them the traders did not sell them guns; but when an In- dian proved to be a good hunter and a good friend to the traders by his actions and talk, he could occasionally borrow a gun and a few loads of ammunition to make a hunt.
The principal articles of trade were alcohol, blankets, blue and scarlet cloth, sheeting (domestic), ticking. tobacco, knives, fire-steels, arrow points, files, brass wire, beads, brass tacks, leather belts (from four to ten inches wide), silver ornaments for hair, shells, axes, hatchets, etc .- alcohol being the principal article of trade until after the passing of an act of congress
FATHER DE SMET
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HISTORY OF MONTANA.
(June 30, 1834), prohibiting it under severe penalty. Prior to that time there were no restrictions on the traffic. But notwithstanding the traders were often made to suffer the penalty of the law, they continued to smuggle large quantities of spirits into the Indian country until within the last few years (i. e. 1873).
St. Louis was the point from which the traders brought their goods. They would start from there with mackinaw boats, fifty feet long, ten feet wide on the bottom, and twelve feet on the top, and four feet high. loaded with fourteen tons of merchandise to the boat, and a crew of about twelve men, as soon as the ice went out of the river, usually about the first of March, and would be about six months in getting to Fort Union, the boats having to be towed the greater part of the way by putting a line ashore, and the men walking along the bank pulling the boat. Every spring, as soon as the ice went out of the river, boats would start from the fort for St. Louis, each boat loaded with three thousand robes, or its equivalent in other peltries, with a crew of five men to each boat, arriving at St. Louis in about thirty days.
All the employes in the Indian country lived en- tirely on meat-the outfit of provisions for from fifty to seventy-five men being two barrels flour, one sack coffee, one barrel sugar, one barrel salt. and a little soda and pepper. After the fort was established and proved to be a permanent trading point, large quanti- ties of potatoes, beets, onions, turnips, squashes, corn, etc., were raised, sufficient for each year's consumption. The wages for common laborers were 220 dollars for the round trip from St. Louis to Fort Union and back again to St. Louis, taking from fifteen to sixteen months' time to make it. Carpenters and blacksmiths were paid 300 dollars per annum. The traders (being their own interpreters) were paid 500 dollars per an- num.
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