Old Forts Along the Upper Missouri River (Early St. Louis)

Note: The primary sources used for these brief descriptions were taken from: American Fur Trade of the Far West, Vol. 1-3, by Hiram M. Chittenden, Francis P. Harper, NY, 1902; Journal of a Fur-trading Expedition on the Upper Missouri 1812-1813 by John C. Luttig; and Joshua Pilcher, Fur Trader and Indian Agent by John E. Sunder, University of Oklahoma Press, 1968.

FORT ASSINIBOINE - pronounced Uh-sin-uh-boin , it was the site of the Hudson's Bay Company post in 1823, it was used as a supply and transportation point and was probably intended as an outpost to Union, but appears to have been abandoned in 1835.

FORT ATKINSON - erected in 1819 after a military expedition led by Colonel Henry Atkinson and dispatched by President James Monroe in for the purpose of establishing a series of forts along the Missouri. The first U.S. Army post erected west of the Missouri river, it was used for eight years as a place to keep peace with the tribes, pay annuities, exchange gifts and consul with the Indians and such prominent chiefs as On-Pa-Tonga or Big Elk of the Omahas, and Pitalesharoo of the Pawnees. Deemed no longer necessary, the fort was abandoned in 1827.

BELLEVUE - said to have been named by Manuel Lisa with he saw the beautiful valley, it is the oldest continuous settlement in Nebraska. An especially important place for the fur traders who traded with the Omaha, Ponca, Oto, and Pawnee. The Missouri Fur Company, under the managment of Joshua Pilcher was located here and in 1823 an Indian agency of John Dougherty was established. The American Fur Company moved to Bellevue from Cabanné's post and established a post here under the management of P. A. Sarpy.

FORT BENTON - located on the south bank of the Yellowstone near the Big Horn junction, Robert Jones and Michael Immell, established a fort here in the summer of 1821 after Joshua Pilcher of the Missouri Fur Company had sent them into the field with approximately 180 men. Here, they traded with the Crows.

COUNCIL BLUFFS - name given to the bluffs by Lewis and Clark where they held important council with the chiefs of the neighboring Oto and Missouri tribes. Although not specifically applied to any post, many trading posts, including Fort Atkinson, were built in this area where two great valleys, the Missouri and the Platte, came together.

CRUZATTE'S FORT - built in 1802, it was an early trading establishment two miles above old Council Bluffs.

FORT KIOWA - originally named Fort Lookout, it was established by the American Fur Company and built as early as 1822. In 1823 after responding to an advertisement in the Missouri Gazette and Public Adviser posted by General William Ashley, requesting a corps of 100 men to "ascend the river Missouri" as part of a fur trading venture, Hugh Glass, who had been scouting for game, was attacked by a mother grizzly bear. Left to die by two trapping partners who had helped him, Glass, who was badly mauled, made the journey alone and un-armed but aided by friendly Indians to this fort. It should be noted that Sublette and Campbell also had a house near here in 1834.

ENGINEER CANTONMENT - located about five miles above the mouth of Boyer River (James) and a half mile about Fort Lisa, it was the winter 1819-1820 encampment of Major Long's scientific party.

LOISELL'S POST - probably the first trading establishment built in the Sioux country along the Missouri river, and situated about thirty-five miles below Fort Pierre. Loisell was in possession of the house in 1803-1804 but may have been described first as eing Little Beaver's house and then referred to as Loisel-Henry's establishment which burned down in the spring of 1810. It is believed that Manuel Lisa and the The post was 65 to 70 feet square, with the usual bastions. The pickets were about 14 feet high. There was a building inside 45 x 32 feet Missouri Fur Company then built a post here in 1813 after being burned out at Fort Manuel by the Yanctonaise.

FORT LISA - located about a mile above Cabanné's post and five or six miles below old Council Bluffs. It was founded by Manuel Lisa as early as 1812 and it continued to be occupied as late as 1823. During this period it was the most important post on the Missouri river and commanded trade with the Omahas, Pawnees, Otoes, and other tribes.

FORT LOOKOUT - a post of the French Fur Company (Berthold, Chouteau & Pratte) built in 1822 near Fort Recovery built to vigourously compete with The Missouri Fur Company for the Sioux trade.

FORT MANUEL, MANUEL'S FORT or FORT LISA - located about a mile above Cabanne's Post and about five or six miles below Council Bluffs. It was built by Manuel Lisa in 1807, it passed into the hands of the new Missouri Fur Company in 1809, but after troubles with the hostiles in the summer of 1811, Henry abandoned the post. Fort Benton was the second post built here, but whether upon the same site as Fort Manuel is uncertain. It was built by the Missouri Fur Company under Joshua Pilcher in 1822, but was abandoned the following year.

FORT MORTIMER - was Fort William resurrected under a new firm, Fox, Livingston & Co., of New York. This event took place in 1842 and the post succumbed to the American Fur Company three years later.

NISHNABOTNA - in 1819 Robidoux, Papin, Chouteau, and Berthold, trading with a capital of $12,000, had their principal establishment near the mouth of this stream.

FORT ORLEANS - established in 1723 and situated on the mouth of the Grand River on the Missouri, and was to be the headquarters of the newly formed Louisiana territory. Built by Bourgemont, tradition says that when Bourgemont left the fort a year or two later to go down to New Orleans, the Indians attacked it and massacred every in- mate, but other accounts say it was merely abandoned.

FORT PIERRE - the first permanent settlement was a fur-trading post built in 1817 on the western side of the river by Joseph LaFramboise. In 1831, Pierre Choutea, of representative of the American Fur Company, built Fort Pierre to replace the old LaFramboise trading post and in 1855, the U.S. Army bought Fort Pierre for use as a military post. Although the military abandoned it two years later in favor Fort Randall, people continued to live at the site.

FORT RAYMOND - built by Manuel Lisa and his 1807 expedition party at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Bighorn Rivers, it was situated in the middle of Crow country some twenty miles downstream from Pompey’s Pillar. It was the first American establishment in the present state of Montana.

FORT RECOVERY - located at the lower end of American or Cedar Island a mile below the modern city of Chamberlain, SD, it had been established in 1822 by the Missouri Fur Company which then included the prominent traders, Joshua Pilcher, Charles Bent, Fontenelle, and Drips. It was also called Cedar Fort, which may have been its first name, and may in fact have been built ten years earlier to .It is possible this post was built ten years earlier to replace the Loisel post which had burned in 1810 with a large quantity of furs and had been the headquarters of Manuel Lisa during War of 1812-1815 - thus the name Fort Recovery.

FORT SARPY - the last of the Crow posts of the American Fur Company, it was built in 1850 near Rosebud Creek and was named for John B. Sarpy. Situated on the right bank of the Yellowstone about twenty-five miles below the mouth of the Bighorn, it was abandoned sometime between September of 1859 and September of 1860.

FORT TECUMSEH - established in about 1822, it stood two or three miles above the mouth of the Teton and was the principal establishment of the Columbia Fur Company. It was turned over to the American Fur Company on 05 Dec 1827, and retained its name for five years being managed by William Laidlaw, one of the old Columbia Fur Company men. In the course of time the river began to cut into the bottom where the fort stood and necessitated the rebuilding of it in a less exposed situation. The new site was three miles above the mouth of the Teton and back about a quarter of a mile from the Missouri. After it was completed in the spring of 1832, Laidlaw and Halsey, the clerk, moved into it. When Pierre Chouteau arrived on the steamboat Yellowstone around 31 May 1832, the new post was christened Fort Pierre.

TETON RIVER POSTS - the mouth of the Teton river which was first called Little Missouri and now Bad river, was the most im portant locality in the Sioux country. Its bend, nearest of any point on the river to the Black Hills and the upper Platte country, became a natural shipping point for the region. With its treeless bluffs, the area was safe in that the hostile Indians could not approach without being observed. It is believed that the original Missouri Fur Company was the first to build a post here.

THREE FORKS OF THE MISSOURI - The Missouri Fur Company built a large post here early in the year 1810, but was abandoned in the fall of that year owing to the persistent attacks of the Blackfeet. An anvil was left behind and remained on the site for upwards of forty years afterward and may now be in the bed of the river. With the lapse of years and the partial oblivion which overtook those early events, tradition linked this post with the expedition of Lewis and Clark, and it was the popular belief that these explorers passed a winter there. The post came to be known locally as " Lewis and Clark's fort." The only relic of this post known to exist is a letter written on the spot in the spring of 1810.

FORT UNION - said to be the grandest fort on the Upper Misourri, it was the most important fur trading post there from 1828 to 1867. Beads, guns, blankets, knives, cookware and other items were traded here with the Assiniboine, Crow, Cree, Ojibway, Blackfeet, Hidatsa, and other tribes. All of the buildings were of cottonwood lumber and every thing was of an unusually elaborate character. Nathaniel J. Wyeth, when he visited Union in 1833, declared that he had seen no British post that could compare with it. This fort always had a large complement of clerks, artisans, and engages about and was the most extensively equipped of any of the posts. It had the honor of entertaining numerous distinguished visitors, among whom were Catlin in 1832, Maximilian in 1833, and Audubon in 1843.

FORT VANDERBURGH - twelve miles above the Knife River, the new post was constructed under the supervision of Joshua Pilcher in the fall of 1822. Named after his good friend William H. Vanderburgh, it was established for trade with the Mandan-Hidatsa tribes and was an important stateion between Fort Recover and Fort Benton.

FORT WILLIAM - belonging to Sublette and Campbell, and named for the former, it was located on the left bank of the Missouri opposite the mouth of the Yellowstone; and on the site where Fort Buford was afterwards built. It was commenced 29 Aug1833 and was abandoned when Sublette sold out to the American Fur Company a year afterward.

YELLOWSTONE (MOUTH OF) - the Mouth of the Yellowstone was an important point above the Mandans and several posts sprang up here during the fur trade. It does not appear that the Missouri Fur Company ever established a post here, although it is not easy to understand why they did not. The first post was built by Ashley and Henry in 1822 on the tongue of land between the two rivers about a mile above the junction and next to the Missouri. It was abandoned in the fall of 1823. In 1828, when Kenneth McKenzie, then the leading partner in the Upper Missouri Outfit sent a party to the mouth of the Yellowstone to build a post. They probably commenced work around the first of October and it seems the post was named Fort Floyd, while the name Fort Union was applied to another post two hundred miles farther up.