History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 10

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198

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Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Doane Robinson, who has investigated the pre-settlement history of the Upper Missouri Valley quite thoroughly and intelligently, had this to say in his History of Dakota, regarding the infancy of the fur trade in the Northwest :

From 1764 the French of St. Louis begun trading up the Missouri. There is very little of record indicating how far up the river this trade extended, but it is certain that long before 1800 they were trading within the South Dakota Territory. Loisell's Post, a strong fortified trading house, was built on Cedar Island in the Missouri River, thirty-five miles below Pierre, in 1796. In the fall of 1796. Treaudeau, a St. Louis trader, established a house for trade with the Pawnees on the east bank of the Missouri, and a little above the site of Fort Randall.

To compress inte a paragraph the conclusions relating to the exploration of South Dakota prior to the nineteenth century, it may be said that it is highly improbable that South Dakota was explored by the Spaniards in the early portion of the sixteenth century; or that any white man saw the territory during the sixteenth century at all. That it is quite possible that white men, employees of LeSeuer and LeMoyne, visited Sioux Falls in 1683, and very probable that LeSeuer's men were here to trade in 1700; and that it is also possible that LeSeuer visited South Dakota in person about 1695. That Verendrye was certainly here in 1742. and that DeLusignan visited our borders in 1745. That the French had established a general fur trade in our territory and had built two strong posts prior to 1800. That, so far as is yet developed all other reputed explorations are based on conjecture.

Small trading posts were also established at Big Stone Lake and along the James river by small traders, or as branch establishments of the larger com- panies. They endured for a brief time and were then abandoned for a more favorable location, or were merged with other concerns.

The Columbia Fur Company, about 1827, had trading posts at the mouth of the Niobrara. James and Vermillion rivers.

In the lower Missouri country a profitable and growing trade with the natives was carried on by citizens of St. Louis, first of whom in point of wealth and ability was the Chotean family and its connections by marriage. whose ancestors founded St. Louis in 1764. The Choteans were deeply engaged in the fur trade as far west as the Kansas River, during the closing years of that century, and were extending their business up the Missouri Valley as

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

rapidly as practicable. A prominent character in the trade early in 1800 was a wealthy Spanish gentleman named Manuel Lisa, also a St. Louisian, and asso- ciated with him were Benoit, Gregory, Sarpy and Charles Sanginet, who con- ducted their enterprise under the partnership title of Lisa, Benoit & Co. This gave way in 1806 to a new partnership headed by Lisa, in company with George Druillard, who was a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The part- ners made a trading trip to the mouth of the Yellowstone in 1807, and built a trading post near that locality which they named Fort Manuel. It was the first trading post built in the Dakotah country. Druillard remained in charge of the post, while Lisa returned to St. Louis in 1808, and organized the American Fur Company of St. Louis, with Capt. William Clark, of Lewis and Clark, and Sylvester Labbodie, a relative by marriage of the Choteaus. In 1800 these three gentlemen, with a party of 150 men, trappers, hunters, frontiersmen and em- ployes, made a trip to Fort Manuel, locating a small trading post at the Arickaree village near Big Knife River on their way up, which was named Fort Clarke. They also established posts at a Mandan village a few miles above, and still an- other at a village of the Gros Ventres on the opposite side of the river. This party proceeded to the headwaters of the Missouri, erecting a fort at the three forks of the river, and began trapping on an extensive scale, as well as trading. They encountered serious trouble with the Blackfeet Indians, losing nearly a third of their men. Their employes became discouraged and deserted, some of them entering the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, which condueted an itinerant trading business through that section. The Lisa company abandoned the country. What is known as the second war with Great Britain, 1812-15, fol- lowed, the fur trade beeame too hazardous for Americans in that section, and it languished for four years. In 1816 it revived, however, with great spirit, and a number of new partnerships were formed at St. Louis, conducting their oper- ations mainly south of the Dakota line. In 1819 another partnership under the head of Lisa was formed at St. Louis, embracing nine individuals, men of wealth and business experience. Their names were Manuel Lisa, who was elected president of the partnership; Thomas Hempstead, Jr., Lisa's brother-in- law ; Joshua Pilcher, an experienced upper river trader : Joseph Perkins, Andrew Woods, Moses B. Carson, Andrew Dripps, Robert Jones and J. B. Zaroin. The firm sent Mr. Pilcher with about seventy-five men and a large stoek of Indian wares into the Sioux country that same season and loeated trading posts, first at Cedar Island, about midway between Fort Randall and Chamberlain, or what is now Gregory County; they also built a post near Chamberlain, which they ealled Fort Lookout, and Fort Kiowa was afterward erected near this locality. Passing on to the great bend of the river above Crow Creek, they built Fort George, and also put in a very complete frontier repair shop with a blacksmith outfit, and closed their season's building operations by the erection of Fort Tecumseh, opposite the mouth of Bad River and very near the site of the present capital of South Dakota. This post was looked upon as occupying hostile Indian country and was surrounded with a substantial stockade.

In the meantime Mr. Astor had been pushing his great enterprise with all the energy and celerity possible in those days. With no lack of means, it was not an easy matter to secure the necessary assistants in an undertaking such as Astor contemplated. Ile needed experienced men who combined honesty, effi- ciency, courage, good judgment-qualities that go to make up not only a first- class. business man but a great military commander, and as resolute as Napoleon. His first move was the sending of two expeditions to the Oregon country-one by sea and one by way of the Missouri and Columbia rivers. This was in 1810. The first was attended with great misfortune and an appalling sacrifice of life. It forms a chapter of tragic history, the most thrilling and disastrous in the annals of those early days of resolute adventure and exploration. The Missouri expe- dition fared little better, though its misfortunes were due to the difficulty of finding a path through the mountains, and its formidable enemy was starvation.

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

aluch threatened its members for months and brought them possibly to feed upon a human body.

The Missouri expedition was under the command of Mr. Washington Hunt. in experienced fur trader, of fine executive ability, undaunted courage and reso- 'ution, but a comparative stranger to the duties and experiences of such an un- dertaking. After visiting Canada and possessing himself of such information concerning his trip as he could obtain, securing the most experienced boatmen and other assistants, and outfitting with the necessary boats, he crossed to the Mississippi and voyaged down that stream to St. Louis, where he completed his outfit and his complement of hunters and voyageurs, engaging for an interpreter a son of the Frenchman Durion, who had accompanied Lewis and Clark in a similar capacity as far as Yankton. Mr. Hunt found considerable difficulty in securing what he needed, certain St. Louis interests, notably those controlled by Lisa, seeming to take particular pains to obstruct his negotiations.

Being amply supplied with money, however, and known as the agent of Astor. he was finally successful, and, everything being in readiness, he set out from St. Louis on the 21st of October, 1810, with a strong company, thoroughly equipped. having planned to follow, as near as possible, the route taken by Lewis and Clark. The time of starting was late, the stage of water was low, and winter coming on early, the expedition made but 450 miles, when reaching the Nodawa River, 150 miles above old Fort Osage, they found an excellent point for a permanent camp. On the 16th of November they landed and prepared their winter quarters. This encampment was surrounded by a country abundantly supplied with game and groves, and the winter was passed very pleasantly. The breaking up of the river, the following spring, came unusually late, and the expedition was obliged to remain in camp until about the 20th of April, 1811. when the voyage toward the mountains was resumed, and continued with fair success.

If this expedition made any important halt in the vicinity of Yankton, along the river or other points, the record does not mention it, but does relate meeting with members of the Yankton tribe at the Omaha village below, who informed Mr. Hunt that the Teton Sioux, in the upper country, were inclined to be hos- tile. and advised him to act with caution. A village of the Poncas was found about four miles south of the mouth of the Niobrara River, and the Indians proved to be very friendly. During the voyage Mr. Hunt had been, most unfor- tunately, persuaded to change the plan of his route, and instead of following in the path of Lewis and Clarke, he had resolved to abandon the river at the Arickarce village, near the mouth of the Cannon Ball River, and strike across the plains as a more expeditious route and affording many trading advantages. The Arickarce village was reached June 10th, after many interesting experiences. And here Mr. Hunt, after long and vexations delays, in which Mr. Lisa again appears as a trouble maker and then as a most valuable and cordial cooperator, succeeded in procuring about eighty horses, which. however, was not as many as he required for pack animals, having in addition to the ordinary sup- plies for his men, a large quantity of goods for barter and for presents to the Indians. Finally the cavalcade got away from the Missouri about the 20th of Fuly, having been nearly six weeks making the necessary arrangements caused by the change of route. Mr. Hunt. however. believed he would be able to get through the mountains before winter set in and join the expedition sent by the ocean route. .

The subsequent journey of this expedition, after reaching the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, forms a fearful chapter of early Northwest history. Starting out with great pomp, and about as well equipped for the journey as it was possible to be furnished, the members of the party were called upon to endure every hardship and privation that human beings could endure and survive. The Indians proved sometimes friendly and often treacherous; ignorant guides led the party into impassable canyons and barren deserts ; storms and floods de-

GENERAL HENRY LEAVENWORTH Commanded in first Indian war on Dakota soil, 1817

FORT UNION, ON THE UPPER MISSOURI Built by Choteau and Company, 1-30

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

stroyed and swept away their supplies and raiment, horse flesh and dog meat became a luxury, and finally this was denied them. Their sufferings were inde- scribable -- they were horrible. The party became necessarily separated in order to obtain subsistence, and labored on, half demented, and finally, almost literally naked, emaciated, barefooted and bleeding, Mr. Hunt, with a small number of his men, reached the new fort of Astoria, near the mouth of the Columbia River. about the middle of February, 1812. This post had been built the summer before by the Astor party which went around by sea on the chartered vessel Tonquin, which, with its captain and crew, had already met with a most tragic and mel- ancholy fate. He received a welcome so sincere and heartfelt that no language can properly portray it. A portion of his party had preceded him by a full month, and had about given up their leader as lost. The reunion was cordial beyond expression. They had been seventeen months out from St. Louis, and it was estimated that they had traveled 3.500 miles.

We question seriously whether the annals of adventure in any part of the world can furnish an instance where men endured the bitter experiences of this band of pioneers and survived to tell the story of their journeyings and their hairbreadth escapes.

This expedition, occurring at that time and journeying through a region largely unexplored, must be regarded as only second in importance to that of Lewis and Clarke, for, although attended with much loss and suffering to those engaged in it, the survivors were enabled to furnish to the world a vast amount of useful information regarding the region traversed and the people who inhab- ited it.

Following this Astor expedition came the war between the United States and Great Britain, from 1812 to 1815, which placed an effectual embargo on the foreign commerce of our country. It was to Europe and China that our mer- chants looked for their commerce of furs. The fur business, including the traffic with the Indians, so far as Americans were concerned, languished during this period. The British traders, however, maintained a continual bartering, and although Congress had enacted laws prohibiting foreigners from trading in the Missouri country, little attention was paid to the law and the enforcement of its provisions was not practicable as long as the British possessed the friendship and confidence of the Indian, which they did to a great extent, having gained it by a wise, if not an honest, course of dealing with them long prior to the purchase of Louisiana by the United States. The long association of the British fur com- panies, the Hudson's Bay and the Canadian Northwest Company, operating through itinerant traders from the Red River of the North and the Assiniboine. with the upper Missouri Indians, had established terms of friendship that en- abled the British influence to control their sympathies and their trade during the War of 1812 and for many years after that contest was settled. The aggressive character of the American traders, however, was year by year gaining the ad- vantage. The provision of law requiring traders to obtain permits from the Government was a great help to the legitimate business on this side of the boundary. After the close of the war there was a rapid revival, and the upper Missouri country, from the mouth of the Bix Sioux to the headwaters of the Missouri, was the scene of greatest activity. Mr. Astor's American Fur Company and the American Fur Company of St. Louis, controlled by Choteau, were both energetic and backed by ample capital. The resident manager of the Astor in- terest was Kenneth Mckenzie. a Scotchman, who had learned the fur trading business very thoroughly during the many years of service with the Hudson's Bay Company. He was considered one of the most competent men in the trade in experience and executive ability. The Pacific Fur Company, the Southwest Company and the Columbia Fur Company were organized by Mr. stor between 1810 and 1817, and the North American Fur Company in 1823. The three first named were merged with the North American in 1826 and the Astor establish- ment conducted its affairs under the title of the American Fur Company, and

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

ilso the North American, until 1834, when Mr. Astor disposed of all his western interests cast of the Rocky Mountains to the American Fur Company of St. Louis, of which Pierre Choteau, Jr., was the principal owner, a man of rare business talents and great enterprise. In purchasing the Astor interests, Choteau secured the services of MeKenzie, whom he highly valued, and made him general manager of his entire upper Missouri trade, with headquarters at Fort Tecumseh, opposite the mouth of Bad River. Mckenzie had located a post eight miles above the mouth of the Yellowstone in 1829, for the Astor American Fur . Company, and called it Fort U'nion. It occupied one of the finest sites on the river. It was at the time the most complete post in the country ; enclosed within a strong log stockade 325 x 350 feet in area, with two strong stone bastions in front, each two stories, supplied with cannon. Inside were a large store, a comfortable residence, a workshop for the carpenter, a blacksmith shop and buildings for employes. The post was supplied with a small herd of beef and dairy cattle, and a garden was successfully cultivated. An abundance of pasturage was convenient, and hay was cut and stacked for winter use and for the accommodation of visiting expeditions and adventurous travelers. Fort George, this side of Fort Tecumseh, was built in 1832 by an independent firm made up of Premen, Harvey and Boise, but was soon absorbed by Choteau's company.

CHAPTER VII THE FUR TRADE AND THE FIRST STEAMBOAT

FORT PIERRE CHOTEAU-FORT VERMILLION AND BENTON-INTRODUCING THE STEAMBOAT, A MACKINAW BOAT ; AND THE FIRST STEAMBOAT ON THE UPPER MISSOURI-MAGNITUDE OF THE FUR TRADE-THE TRADERS.

At this time Mr. Mckenzie resolved upon changing the location of Fort Tecumseh to the west bank of the river. Experience had taught the manager that the west side was the most convenient for those Indians whose trade was the largest and most profitable, such as the Ogallallas and Arickarees, while on the opposite side were the Yanktons and Yanktonnais, but to reach them it was frequently necessary to go across the prairies to the James River, where com- petition would be met with. Mckenzie therefore resolved to change the location of the trading post to the south bank, and, having obtained the consent of the Arickaree Indians, who seemed to control that country at the time, he, in com- pany with William Laidlaw, another Choteau employe, selected a site for a new trading post about three miles above the mouth of Bad River and 300 feet back from the Missouri River, where they erected a stockade 280 x 300 feet square, enclosing a number of buildings that were necessary for a central trading post and depot of supplies. The portable property of Fort Tecumseh was abandoned and business was begun at Fort Pierre Choteau, the name bestowed on the new post in honor of the head of the American Fur Company of St. Louis, about June 15, 1832. George Catlin, the famous Indian painter, arrived at the new post from the Yellowstone, very soon after its completion. He found it in charge of Laidlaw, whose delighted guest he became, and in writing of his visit, says: "This gentleman has a finely built fort here of two hundred or three hundred feet square, enclosing eight or ten of their factories, houses and stores, in the midst of which he occupies spacious and comfortable apartments, which are well supplied with the comforts and luxuries of life, and neatly and respect- fully conducted by a fine looking, modest and dignified Sioux woman, the kind and affectionate mother of his little flock of pretty and interesting children." This post, according to the same author, was 1,300 miles from St. Louis, and the distance is given by Lewis and Clark as 1,283 miles.

Fort Pierre Choteau covered an area of about two acres in the form of a square. The outer walls were composed of cottonwood logs twenty feet long, set upright in the ground to the depth of four feet. Blockhouses were built at the northwest and southeast corners, which projected outside of the stockade some eight feet. There were two gates on the east side, each ten feet wide and reaching nearly to the top of the wall. Within this enclosure were about twenty buildings devoted to various purposes, including a store 100 x 24 feet, where the Indian goods were kept. There was a carpenter shop. saddler's shop, blacksmith shop, living quarters for the employees, kitchens, storerooms for the furs and robes taken in, awaiting shipment to St. Louis, and very ample and comfortable quar- ters for the manager, Mr. Laidlaw and his family. There were also stables and a sawmill, and a small concrete structure made to store powder in. By crowding, the fort would accommodate 100 persons, but it was very seklom that more than twenty-five would people it at the same time. While it was named by its founders

111STORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

Fort Pierre Choteau, the last name was soon dropped and "Fort Pierre" became more widely known throughout the United States than any military or trading post in the country. Not only was it a great central mart for Indian barter, as many as 6,000 Indians being in camp around it at the same time, but it became the most prominent landmark in the Northwest for Government expeditions sent out on scientific errands, and in this way it became well and favorably known throughout the nation. It occupied a geographical position also that brought it in line with the first circle of military forts erected by the Government along the Northwest frontier from Minnesota to Western Nebraska-a fortunate circum- stance for its owners in years to come.

Fort Vermillion, situated on the bank of the Missouri River about two miles below the present village of Burbank, in Clay County, was built by the American Fur Company in 1835. under the direction of Larpenteur, a famous trader. It was abandoned about 1850.

A trading post called "Dickson's Post" was built about the same time as Fort Vermillion. It stood on the bank of the Missouri very near the present boundary line between Yankton and Clay counties. Dickson had been in the employ of the British companies, but this post is presumed to have been his personal enterprise.

Fort Benton was built in 1846 by Alexander Culbertson for the American Fur Company, and named in memory of Thomas 11. Benton, of Missouri, for thirty years a member of the Senate of the United States. Fort Berthold was built about the same time.

Maj. Charles E. Galpin, who had been employed by Choteau, in company with Capt. Joseph LaBarge, both well known to the carly white settlers of Da- kota, engaged in the fur trade in 1848, and built Fort Campbell, above Fort Benton, and also a number of other posts. LaBarge was a pioneer steamboat captain and merchant, while Galpin was an old fur trader and had a wide ac- quaintance with the Indians. The building of these fur trading posts continued up to about 1850, when the trade entered upon its declining stage, and fifteen to twenty years later was numbered among the industries that had had its day and never could be restored.

Intoxicating liquors were used by the fur traders in their dealings with the Indians. It was discovered that the red men were fond of it, and were willing to jay, in barter, any price almost the trader would ask. It was discovered that when under the influence of liquor the Indian could be traded with to much better advantage to the trader than when sober, and this led the unscrupulous trader to use it freely as a means of driving a good bargain. This criminal and general use of intoxicants became a matter of such serious importance that Con- gress. in 1832, enacted the law prohibiting the carrying of liquors into the Indian country, and as a means of enforcing the law made it the duty of all army officers along the Missouri at the various posts to inspect the steamboats traversing the river, and to seize all spirituous liquors consigned to fur traders or their repre- sentatives. Intoxication among the Indians was materially lessened as a result of this beneficent measure, as forfeiture of the trader's license was one of the mildest penalties for transgressing the statute; but it seemed impossible to stop the traffic altogether, for some of the traders were shrewd enough to manufac- ture, it was claimed, good enough intoxicants for trading purposes at their posts, and used it in bartering where they could feel safe from detection. The Indians is a rule would not divulge the trader's name who furnished them liquor, knowing that it would result in depriving them of it. The law of 1832, prohibiting the introduction of intoxicants into the Indian country, is still in force.

Mr. W. C. Randolph, a merchant of St. Louis in 1867, then something more than sixty years of age, related to a Dakota pioneer his own experience as a Dakotan as far back as 1840. In that year Mr. Randolph resided in Saline County, Missouri, and in connection with a Mr. Montgomery and a Mr. Breau- champ, organized a company of seventeen men at Council Bluffs. Towa, for the purpose of trading with the Indians in the upper Missouri country. They planned

FORT PIERRE IN 1932

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

a land expedition, and their outfit consisted of one wagon and five two-wheel carts drawn by mules, and in addition eleven saddle horses, in all eighteen ani- mals. They took along ten months' provisions and all the Indian goods they could transport. Their route took them up the valley of the Missouri, and over the tenantless townsite of Sioux City to the Big Sioux River, which they crossed near the mouth of Brule Creek, on the 15th of December. 18440. They then jour- neyed along the bluffs or highland until opposite old Fort Vermillion, to which post they made a visit and found the American Fur Company established there and doing a thriving trade. At this point the Randolph party dismissed their Indian guides, whom they had "discovered to be worse than useless." These guides were accompanied by their families and a multitude of dogs that were accustomed to breakfast off of Mr. Randolph's harnesses. Leaving Fort Ver- million, the Randolph party camped the same evening on the bank of the Vermillion River. Quite a number of the Indians had kept along with the party. and that night a squaw gave birth to a papoose, and the dusky mother washed and dressed it herself, and all the next day, carrying her infant child, kept along with the procession and camped with them the same night at a point near the present farm home of S. C. Fargo, not far from Gayville. The next day the Randolph party reached and crossed the James River, some distance north of the present wagon bridge on the main road to Yankton, and pursued their journey along the highlands north of the bottom, keeping two or three miles away from the Missouri, the better to enable them to observe both highlands and lowlands. They finally reached the Bijou Hills region without serious mishap, their desti- nation being the White River country, a stream that abounded in fur-bearing animals and Indians, whose source was somewhere in the Black Hills, as they had learned. Crossing the Missouri at Makazith (ziti), or White River, they followed up the west bank of the Missouri to old Fort George, where they halted and made their preparations for trade and barter. Here the company was divided into three detachments, each detachment being placed in charge of a member of the firm, and each detachment was to form a separate and distinct party for trading purposes. Randolph chose the White River Valley and Little Missouri as his field and traded with the Brules. Montgomery took up winter quarters on the Belle Fourche, or North Fork, of the Big Cheyenne, and bartered with the Two-Kettles, while Breanchamp drove a thriving business with the Ogallallas on the South Fork of the Cheyenne. A\ general name for the Sioux who inhabited the country west of the Missouri was Teton, or Tetonwan. They were all wild and warlike, but had been at peace with the whites so long that it was not known among them that they were ever hostile, although constantly at war with other Indian nations. In the spring of 1841 the three parties came to- gether again in accordance with their plan, at old Fort George, all well and un- harmed. All had enjoyed a very profitable trade, despite the misfortune that came to Randolph, who lost a small boat load of robes and furs by the sinking of the boat containing them in the Little Missouri River. Snow had been un- usually abundant, as they learned from the natives, and the average weather had been much colder, a condition, however, that prevailed throughout the Northwest. The peltries were repacked at Fort George and the party returned without event to civilization, retracing the ground they followed on their way out. The adven- ture proved very profitable, and furnished the members of the expedition with a fund of experiences that were well worth the toil and hardship each endured.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 10

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1198

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198