USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 10
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What is true of Manitoba, Minnesota and Wisconsin is also true to a greater or less degree of every northwestern state. The fur trade as carried on by the French was conducted by individuals or firms, some of whom were operating in the country about the Great Lakes as early as the middle of the Seventeenth Century. The English were not far behind the French, and they were the first to organize and equip one of the great fur companies mentioned by Professor Chamberlain.
THE IIUDSON'S BAY COMPANY
On May 2, 1670, this company was granted a charter by the English authorities and it was the first of the great trading associations. It was given absolute proprietorship over a region of indefinite extent, with greater privileges than any English corporation had ever received up to that time. Its agents or factors were mostly English and Scotch, though a few Frenchmen entered its employ. As the name of the company indicates, its principal field of operation was in the country about Hudson's Bay, though it gradually extended its trade farther to the westward and for many years it was the leading power in the trade with the Indians. This great monopoly was opposed by the French traders and the Canadian authorities, who claimed much of the territory included in the company's charter. There is no positive proof that the agents of the Hudson's Bay Company ever traded in what is now the State of Wyoming, though some writers state that its trappers were at one time operating in the valley about the Great Salt Lake.
THE NORTH-WEST COMPANY
The Treaty of Paris in 1763, which ended the French and Indian war, left the English in undisputed possession of North America, except that portion west of the Mississippi River and extending to the Pacific coast. During that war the French fur trade suffered greatly and at the close of the war the greater portion of the trade in the country about Lake Superior and farther to the west was con- trolled by some Scotch merchants of Montreal. These merchants took steps to
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revive the trade and by 1780 it had reached a considerable volume. In their competition with the Hudson's Bay Company they had learned the advantages of cooperation, which induced them to organize the North-West Company in the winter of 1783-84. Alexander McKenzie, one of the leading members of the company, made extensive explorations west of the Mississippi and in 1793 reached the Columbia Valley on the Pacific slope.
In 1801 this Mckenzie, Simon McTavish and a few others seceded from the company and organized the new North-West Company (widely known as the "XY Company"), which in a short time became a formidable rival of the Hud- son's Bay Company. This rivalry was made still more formidable in 1804, when McTavish died and a coalition was formed between the old and new North-West companies. In October, 1814, the company bought the trading posts of the American Fur Company at Astoria. About this time the relations between the North-West and Hudson's Bay companies grew more strained than ever before, owing to the fact that in 1811 the former had granted to. the Earl of Selkirk a large tract of land in the Red River Valley, between the United States boundary and Lake Winnipeg, one of the most profitable trapping fields of the North-West Company. In 1816 actual war broke out between the trappers and the Selkirk colonists, in which lives were lost on both sides, though the latter were the greatest sufferers. Three years of litigation then followed, in which over half a million dollars were expended, and in 1819 the question of the rights of the two companies came before the British Parliament. While it was pending the matter was settled by the consolidation of the two companies, a remedy that had been proposed by Alexander Mckenzie twenty years before.
THE AMERICAN FUR COMPANY
On April 6, 1808, John Jacob Astor was granted a charter by the State of New York under the name of the American Fur Company, with liberal powers to engage in the fur trade with the Indians. Astor began business as a fur dealer in Montreal in 1784. After the purchase of Louisiana by the United States, he was quick to see the advantages offered for engaging in the fur trade in the new purchase and removed to New York. The charter has been called a "pleasing fiction," as Mr. Astor was in reality the company, the charter merely giving him the power to conduct his business along lines similar to those of the other great fur companies. It was not long, however, until the American Fur Company con- trolled by far the larger part of the fur trade of the Upper Missouri Valley and the Northwest. When a free trader could not be driven from the country by open competition, Mr. Astor would buy him out and then give him a lucrative position as agent or factor. By this method he associated with him such experienced traders as Ramsay Crooks, Robert Mclellan, Duncan McDougall, Alexander McKay, Pierre Chouteau, Jr., Kenneth Mckenzie, William Laidlaw, Alexander Culbert- son, David Mitchell, John P. Cabanne, Daniel Lamont, Lucien Fontenelle, Andrew Drips, Joseph Robidoux, Thomas L. and Peter A. Sarpy, and a number of others. all of whom were well known to the Indians in the region where the company operated.
For the Northwest trade Mr. Astor adopted the name of the Pacific Fur Company, which Chittenden says was "in reality only the American Fur Company
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with a specific name applied to a specific locality." Articles of agreement for this company were entered into on June 23, 1810, though active work was not commenced until the following spring. Besides Mr. Astor, the active members of the Pacific Fur Company were: Wilson P. Hunt, Donald McKenzie, Joseph Miller, David and Robert Stuart, and John Clarke, all experienced in the fur trade. Ramsay Crooks and Robert McLellan had been free traders before becom- ing associated with the Astor interests, having established a post on the Missouri River, near the mouth of the Platte, as early as 1807.
Next to Mr. Astor himself, Ramsay Crooks was the strongest man in the American Fur Company. He was born in Greenock, Scotland, January 2, 1787, and came to America when about sixteen years of age. For several years he was employed by Montreal fur traders. Next he was a clerk in the trading house of Robert Dickson at Mackinaw, and from there he went to St. Louis, where he met Robert McLellan and in 1807 formed the partnership with him, which lasted until both joined the American Fur Company. When the company established its western department, with headquarters at St. Louis, in 1822, Mr. Crooks was the virtual head of that department for twelve years. In 1834 he purchased the northern department and became president. He continued in the fur trade until the profits grew so small that there was no inducement to remain in it longer.
MANUEL LISA
In order that the reader may better understand the history of the American Fur Company, it is necessary to go back a few years and note the conditions of the fur trade about St. Louis and along the Missouri River. One of the first to engage in the trade in this section, after Louisiana became the property of the United States, was Manuel Lisa, who was born in Cuba in September, 1772, but came with his Spanish parents to New Orleans in his childhood. About 1790 he went up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, where he entered the employ of some fur traders, learning the business in all its details. Ten years later he obtained from the Spanish authorities of Louisiana the exclusive right to trade with the Osage Indians living along the Osage River. For some twenty years this trade had been controlled by the Chouteaus, but Lisa understood the Indian character and quickly won the Osage to his side. In 1802 he organized a company to trade in competition with the Chouteaus in other sections of the country, but the members could not agree and it was soon disbanded. Lisa then formed the firm of Lisa, Menard & Morrison, composed of himself, Pierre Menard and William Morrison, for the purpose of trading with the Indians on the Upper Missouri River. In 1807 he ascended the Missouri to the mouth of the Big Horn River, where he established a trading post. The next year he returned to St. Louis and was the moving spirit in the formation of the Missouri Fur Company. He continued in the fur trade until a short time before his death on August 12, 1820.
THE MISSOURI FUR COMPANY
In the spring of 1808 Manuel Lisa and the other fur traders of St. Louis saw that if they were to compete successfully with the British traders of the Hudson's Bay Company, the French and Scotch representatives of the North-West Com- Vol. I-7
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pany, and the newly organized America Fur Company, some system of cooperation was necessary. The result was the formation of the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company in August, 1808, though the "St. Louis" part of the name was dropped soon after the company commenced business. The original members of the com- pany were Manuel Lisa, Benjamin Wilkinson, Pierre and Auguste Chouteau, Reuben Lewis, William Clark and Sylvester Labadie, of St. Louis ; Pierre Menard and William Morrison, of Kaskaskia; Andrew Henry, of Louisiana, Mo .; and Dennis Fitz Hugh, of Louisville, Ky.
The original capital stock of the company was only $17,000, a sum entirely insufficient for successful competition with the larger companies, a fact that the projectors were to learn at some cost a few years later. The company succeeded to the business of Lisa, Menard & Morrison and began trading with the Indians of the Upper Missouri country, with Lisa's post at the mouth of the Big Horn as the center of operations. It did not take Lisa long to ascertain that the trade in this section was not likely to be as profitable as had been anticipated and at his suggestion the company withdrew the posts on the upper river and concen- trated the trade at Fort Lisa. This post was established in 1811. It was located a few miles above the present City of Omaha and commanded the trade of the Omaha, Otoe, Pawnee and other Indian tribes. From the time of its establishment until about 1823 it was the most important trading post on the Missouri River.
On January 24, 1812, the company was reorganized and the capital stock was increased to $40,000. A few weeks later another increase was made in the capital stock to $50,000. At that time Mr. Astor tried to purchase an interest, but was denied the privilege. Another reorganization was effected in 1819, with Manuel Lisa as president and the following stockholders: Joshua Pilcher, Andrew Drips, Robert Jones, John B. Zenoni, Andrew Woods, Joseph Perkins and Moses Carson. With the exception of Lisa not one of the original founders remained in the company, and Lisa, Pilcher and Drips were the only ones who had any experience in the Indian trade. When Lisa died in 1820, Pilcher became the head of the company, which continued in business until 1830, when it was disbanded.
HUNT'S EXPEDITION
Immediately after the organization of the Pacific Fur Company in June, 1810, Mr. Astor planned two expeditions to the Pacific coast. One of these, under the leadership of David and Robert Stuart, Alexander McKay and Donald Mc- Kenzie, was to go on the ship Tonquin around Cape Horn with men and materials for establishing a settlement at the mouth of the Columbia River. As this expe- dition has nothing to do with the history of Wyoming, it is not deemed necessary to follow its movements.
The other expedition, under Wilson Price Hunt, was to go by land up the Missouri River, following the route of Lewis and Clark over the Rocky Moun- tains until it reached the sources of the Columbia River. One of the principal objects of this expedition was to select sites for trading posts. Hunt reached St. Louis on September 3. 1810, and began his preparations. Later in the autumn he left that city with three boats, but upon reaching the mouth of the Nodaway River, near the northwest corner of the State of Missouri, the season being far advanced, he decided to go into winter quarters. Here another boat
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was added during the winter and early in the spring of 1811 the expedition, con- sisting of sixty men, started up the Missouri.
In the meantime the Missouri Fur Company was watching Hunt's movements and nineteen days after he broke camp at the mouth of the Nodaway, Manuel Lisa set out from St. Charles, ostensibly to find Andrew Henry and bring back the winter's collection of furs, but really to keep an eye on Hunt and see that he established no trading posts in the territory claimed by the Missouri Fur Com- pany. Lisa had a long keel boat-one of the best on the Missouri River-twenty- six picked men, well armed, and a swivel gun in the bow of his boat. He gained steadily on Hunt and upon reaching Council Bluffs was near enough to send a messenger to the latter asking him to wait, as it would be safer for the two expe- ditions to pass through the Indian country together. Hunt sent back word that he would wait, but instead of doing so pushed forward with all possible speed. Lisa also redoubled his efforts and overtook Hunt on June 2, 1811, a short distance above the mouth of the Niobrara River. In this race Lisa broke all previous records for keel boat navigation on the Missouri River, having averaged over eighteen miles a day for sixty days. After overtaking Hunt, the two traveled to- gether through the Sioux country, arriving at the Arikara villages, not far from the present City of Pierre, S. D., on the 12th of June, where they parted company.
Hunt's original plan was to ascend the Yellowstone River, but upon leaving the Arikara villages on June 18, 1811, he altered his course to avoid the Blackfeet Indians and traveled in a southwesterly direction. About the first of August he struck the Little Powder River and crossed the northern boundary of the present State of Wyoming. From this point it is difficult to trace his course, but from the best authorities available it is believed he moved westward through what are now Campbell and Johnson counties and arrived at the Big Horn Mountains almost due west of the City of Buffalo. Here he turned southward, seeking a pass through the mountains, until he reached the middle fork of the Powder River. Ascending this stream to its source, he found a way through the range and struck the headwaters of the No Wood Creek. Following this creek to its junction with the Big Horn River, he ascended the latter until he came to the Wind River, near the present Village of Riverton in Fremont County.
Considerable speculation has been indulged in regarding the movements of the expedition. It is reasonable to believe, however, that Hunt knew the general direction he wanted to pursue to reach the sources of the Columbia River, and, finding the Wind River coming from the northwest, decided to ascend that stream. There are abundant evidences that the party encamped for a short time near the present Village of Dubois, in the northwestern part of Fremont County. Then passing through the Wind River Range he struck the upper reaches of the Green River, where he halted for several days to take advantage of the excellent pasturage for his horses and procure a supply of dried buffalo meat. Crossing over to the Snake River he followed down that stream for some distance, then turned northward and finally reached the post known as Fort Henry, which had been established by Andrew Henry, on Henry's Fork of the Snake River the year before. At this point Hunt made the mistake of abandoning his horses and under- taking the remainder of his journey in canoes. After struggling with the difficul- ties of mountain river navigation, dodging rocks and shooting rapids, for a distance of 340 miles, the canoes were discarded and the journey was continued on
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foot. On the last day of January, 1812, the party arrived at the Falls of the Columbia and on the 15th of February reached Astoria, having spent six months in a wilderness never before explored by white men.
RETURN OF THE ASTORIANS
On June 29, 1812, a party of about sixty men left Astoria for the purpose of establishing trading posts in the Indian country. On the 28th of July Robert Stuart, Ramsay Crooks, Robert Mclellan, Benjamin Jones, Andri Vallar and Francis Le Clerc separated from the main party in the Walla Walla Valley and set out for St. Louis, from which place they intended to go to New York. They followed in the main the course of Hunt's expedition. While passing up the Snake River they met John Hoback, Joseph Miller, Jacob Rezner and a man named Robinson, who had been dropped from Hunt's party the year before and had been engaged in trapping along the Beaver River. These four men reported that they had taken a large quantity of furs, but that they had been robbed only a short time before by a party of Arapaho Indians, losing not only the furs they had accumulated, but also their stock of provisions. They were provided with food and a new outfit and remained in the wilderness, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Whether they were killed by Indians or died natural deaths is not known, but they were never again seen by white men.
On the first of October, Stuart and his party arrived at the Grand Tetons, which they called the "Pilot Knobs," this name having been given to them by Hunt the preceding year. Here Robert Mclellan left the others and went on alone. On October 11th the party came upon his trail and the next day found him on a tributary of the Green River, sick, exhausted and without food. About this time Ramsay Crooks also fell ill. The condition of Mclellan and Crooks necessi- tated a delay of several days, during which time the supply of provisions ran out. Le Clerc suggested that they cast lots to see which one should be killed to provide food for the others, but Robert Stuart threatened "to blow his brains out" if he persisted in advocating such a course. Not long after this one of the men killed a buffalo and the starving men had a feast. A few days later they came upon a camp of friendly Snake Indians, who furnished them with a supply of provisions sufficient for five days, and also sold them an old horse to carry their food and camp outfit.
From the Snake Indians Stuart learned something of the direction he was to pursue and on the 26th the party reached the Sweetwater River. Here Ben Jones was fortunate enough to trap a beaver and kill two buffalo bulls, which provided an addition to their food supply. Passing on down the Sweetwater, three more buffaloes were killed, and on the 30th they came to the North Platte River, but as the stream at this point flows in a northeasterly direction they failed to recognize it. They thought it was the Cheyenne, the Niobrara, or some other stream, and after following it for a day or two decided they had lost their way. This un- certainty as to their whereabouts, and the fact that winter was approaching, decided them to go into winter quarters. On November 2, 1812, they began the construction of a cabin "upon a fine bend of the river with a beautiful wooded bottom, which afforded protection against storms, with abundant promise of game."
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This cabin, which stood opposite the mouth of Poison Spider Creek, about twelve miles above the City of Casper, is believed to have been the first house built by white men in the present State of Wyoming. As soon as it was finished the men turned their attention to providing a supply of meat to last them through the winter, and within a few days over thirty buffaloes were killed. About a month later a party of Arapaho Indians on a war expedition against the Crow tribe visited the cabin. They made no hostile demonstrations, but lingered in the neighborhood for two days, during which time they managed to get the greater portion of the buffalo meat. As soon as they were gone. Ramsay and Crooks advised moving on to some place farther away from the Arapaho country. The advice was accepted and on December 13th the party left the cabin and proceeded on down the Platte.
Two weeks later, after having traveled a distance they estimated at over three hundred miles, they encountered a severe snow storm which made walking laborious. They were now out of the timber and knew they were on the Platte River, but the season was too far advanced for them to reach St. Louis. They therefore retraced their steps for about seventy-five miles and established a second winter camp. This camp was not far from the present Town of Haig, Neb. While located here they occupied their time in hunting and making canoes, in- tending to continue their journey by water as soon as the ice was out of the river.
On March 8, 1813. they launched their canoes, but had not gone many miles until they found the sandbars in the Platte River too numerous for safe and easy navigation and the canoes were abandoned. When they reached Grand Island they were entertained for a few days at an Otoe Indian village, where they met two traders-Dornin and Roi-from St. Louis, from whom they learned that the United States was at war with England. Dornin provided the Astorians with a large boat made of elk skin stretched on a pole frame, with which they were able to navigate the Platte, and without further mishap or adventure they arrived at St. Louis on the last day of April, 1813.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN FUR COMPANY
The Rocky Mountain Fur Company began with the following advertisement, which appeared in the Missouri Republican of St. Louis on March 20, 1822:
"To ENTERPRISING YOUNG MEN ;- The subscriber wishes to engage one hundred young men to ascend the Missouri River to its source, there to be em- ployed for one, two or three years. For particulars enquire of Major Andrew Henry, near the lead mines in the County of Washington, who will ascend with and command the party, or of the subscriber, near St. Louis.
"WILLIAM H. ASHLEY."
William Henry Ashley, the founder of the company, was born in Powhatan County. Virginia, in 1778. He came to St. Louis in 1802, but his early career in that city is not well known, further than that he was engaged for some time in the real estate business and about the time of the War of 1812 was a manufacturer of gunpowder. He was next interested in mining operations, where he formed the acquaintance of Andrew Henry, with whom he afterward was associated in the fur trade. Mr. Ashley was active in the organization and development of
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the Missouri militia. In 1813 he was commissioned a captain ; was promoted to colonel in 1819, and in 1822 was made major-general. He was the first lieutenant- governor of Missouri, when the state was admitted into the Union in 1820, and in 1824 was defeated for governor. In 1831 he was elected to Congress to fill the unexpired term of Spencer Pettis, who was killed in a duel on August 27, 1831, with Thomas Biddle, and was afterward twice reelected. General Ashley died at St. Louis on March 26, 1838.
Andrew Henry, the other active organizer of the Rocky Mountain Fur Com- pany, was a native of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and was about three years older than General Ashley. He went west before the United States purchased the Province of Louisiana and in 1808 he was one of the organizers of the Missouri Fur Company. Two years later he was engaged in a fight with the Blackfeet Indians at the Three Forks of the Missouri. He then crossed the divide and built Fort Henry on the stream that is still known as the Henry Fork of the Snake River. It is quite probable that his account of his adventures as a fur trader influenced General Ashley to engage in the trade. Major Henry died on January 10, 1832.
Ashley and Henry both received license on April 1I, 1822, to trade on the Upper Missouri. By that time the one hundred young men advertised for some three weeks before had been engaged, and on the 15th the "Rocky Mountain Fur Company," which was the name adopted by Ashley, sent its first expedition up the Missouri River. It was accompanied by General Ashley as far as the mouth of the Yellowstone, where a trading post was established. The next year he accompanied another expedition up the river to the Arikara villages, and that summer a post was established at the mouth of the Big Horn.
In 1824 Ashley led a company to the Green River Valley and the next spring he made the first attempt ever made by a white man to navigate that stream. From the beginning the Rocky Mountain Fur Company was prosperous and in five years its founders accumulated a fortune. By 1824 the "Ashley Beaver" became widely known among fur dealers as the finest skins in the market. During the summer of 1825 Ashley explored a large part of the states of Colorado and Utah and established a trading post on Utah Lake. By that time the company had almost abandoned the Upper Missouri trade and was operating chiefly in what are now the states of Wyoming, Utah and Colorado.
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