The Old French Houses Engaged In The Indian Trade Had Gathered
Round Them A Train Of Dependents, Mongrel Indians, And Mongrel
Frenchmen, Who Had Intermarried With Indians.
These they employed
in their various expeditions by land and water.
Various
individuals of other countries had, of late years, pushed the
trade further into the interior, to the upper waters of the
Missouri, and had swelled the number of these hangers-on. Several
of these traders had, two or three years previously, formed
themselves into a company, composed of twelve partners, with a
capital of about forty thousand dollars, called the Missouri Fur
Company; the object of which was, to establish posts along the
upper part of that river, and monopolize the trade. The leading
partner of this company was Mr. Manuel Lisa, a Spaniard by birth,
and a man of bold and enterprising character, who had ascended
the Missouri almost to its source, and made himself well
acquainted and popular with several of its tribes. By his
exertions, trading posts had been established, in 1808, in the
Sioux country, and among the Aricara and Mandan tribes; and a
principal one, under Mr. Henry, one of the partners, at the forks
of the Missouri. This company had in its employ about two hundred
and fifty men, partly American and partly creole voyageurs.
All these circumstances combined to produce a population at St.
Louis even still more motley than that at Mackinaw. Here were to
be seen, about the river banks, the hectoring, extravagant
bragging boatmen of the Mississippi, with the gay, grimacing,
singing, good-humored Canadian voyageurs. Vagrant Indians, of
various tribes, loitered about the streets. Now and then a stark
Kentucky hunter, in leathern hunting-dress, with rifle on
shoulder and knife in belt, strode along. Here and there were new
brick houses and shops, just set up by bustling, driving, and
eager men of traffic from the Atlantic States; while, on the
other hand, the old French mansions, with open casements, still
retained the easy, indolent air of the original colonists; and
now and then the scraping of a fiddle, a strain of an ancient
French song, or the sound of billiard balls, showed that the
happy Gallic turn for gayety and amusement still lingered about
the place.
Such was St. Louis at the time of Mr. Hunt's arrival there, and
the appearance of a new fur company, with ample funds at its
command, produced a strong sensation among the I traders of the
place, and awakened keen jealousy and opposition on the part of
the Missouri Company. Mr. Hunt proceeded to strengthen himself
against all competition. For this purpose, he secured to the
interests of the association another of those enterprising men,
who had been engaged in individual traffic with the tribes of the
Missouri. This was a Mr. Joseph Miller, a gentleman well educated
and well informed, and of a respectable family of Baltimore. He
had been an officer in the army of the United States, but had
resigned in disgust, on being refused a furlough, and had taken
to trapping beaver and trading among the Indians. He was easily
induced by Mr. Hunt to join as a partner, and was considered by
him, on account of his education and acquirements, and his
experience in Indian trade, a valuable addition to the company.
Several additional men were likewise enlisted at St. Louis, some
as boatmen, and others as hunters. These last were engaged, not
merely to kill game for provisions, but also, and indeed chiefly,
to trap beaver and other animals of rich furs, valuable in the
trade. They enlisted on different terms. Some were to have a
fixed salary of three hundred dollars; others were to be fitted
out and maintained at the expense of the company, and were to
hunt and trap on shares.
As Mr. Hunt met with much opposition on the part of rival
traders, especially the Missouri Fur Company, it took him some
weeks to complete his preparations. The delays which he had
previously experienced at Montreal, Mackinaw, and on the way,
added to those at St. Louis, had thrown him much behind his
original calculations, so that it would be impossible to effect
his voyage up the Missouri in the present year. This river,
flowing from high and cold latitudes, and through wide and open
plains, exposed to chilling blasts, freezes early. The winter may
be dated from the first of November; there was every prospect,
therefore, that it would be closed with ice long before Mr. Hunt
could reach its upper waters. To avoid, however, the expense of
wintering at St. Louis, he determined to push up the river as far
as possible, to some point above the settlements, where game was
plenty, and where his whole party could be subsisted by hunting,
until the breaking up of the ice in the spring should permit them
to resume their voyage.
Accordingly on the twenty-first of October he took his departure
from St. Louis. His party was distributed in three boats. One was
the barge which he had brought from Mackinaw; another was of a
larger size, such as was formerly used in navigating the Mohawk
River, and known by the generic name of the Schenectady barge;
the other was a large keel boat, at that time the grand
conveyance on the Mississippi.
In this way they set out from St. Louis, in buoyant spirits, and
soon arrived at the mouth of the Missouri. This vast river, three
thousand miles in length, and which, with its tributary streams,
drains such an immense extent of country, was as yet but casually
and imperfectly navigated by the adventurous bark of the fur
trader. A steamboat had never yet stemmed its turbulent current.
Sails were but of casual assistance, for it required a strong
wind to conquer the force of the stream. The main dependence was
on bodily strength and manual dexterity. The boats, in general,
had to be propelled by oars and setting poles, or drawn by the
hand and by grappling hooks from one root or overhanging tree to
another; or towed by the long cordelle, or towing line, where the
shores were sufficiently clear of woods and thickets to permit
the men to pass along the banks.
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