Missouri Fur Company

Creation of the company

Members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition brought back tales of the riches of the upper Missouri River when they returned to St. Louis in 1806. They reported the region's abundance of beaver at a time when demand for fur was high, fueled by the fashion of beaver hats. A recent arrival to St. Louis, trader Manuel Lisa heard the reports and made his first fur-trading expedition to the upper Missouri. He partnered with Pierre Menard and hired several veterans of the Corps of Discovery, including the legendary trapper and guide John Colter and George Drouillard. They set out in 1807 and established Fort Raymond at the confluence of the Bighorn and Yellowstone rivers in present-day Montana. Returning to St. Louis from this expedition in August 1808, Lisa reported to merchants there about the potential of the region for fur trading.

On February 24, 1809, Lisa and other prominent fur traders from the St. Louis area formed an association company; its members included Benjamin Wilkinson (nephew of Louisiana Territorial Governor James Wilkinson), Jean Pierre Chouteau (son of St. Louis co-founder René Auguste Chouteau), Auguste Pierre Chouteau (son of Jean Pierre Chouteau), Reuben Lewis (brother of Meriwether Lewis), William Clark (co-captain of the Lewis and Clark Expedition), Pierre Menard, Andrew Henry, Sylvester Labadie, William Morrison, and Andrew Fitzhugh. The articles of association, signed on March 9, 1809, defined the roles of the company's partners: Lisa and Wilkinson were named as field traders, Clark was listed as agent in St. Louis, and no members were permitted to trade outside their role as company members. The company acquired the equipment and posts of its members' private fur operations (including Fort Raymond); capital resources totaled at least $40,000. Among the equipment and supplies to be traded with Native Americans for furs were guns, ammunition, and whiskey. The fledgling Missouri Fur Company defined its field of operations as the entire Missouri River valley upriver from the Platte River.

Henry-Menard Expedition of 1809–1811

The newly formed Missouri Fur Company raised enough capital to outfit a party of 350 men for trapping beaver along the headwaters of the Missouri and for trading with Indians. General Thomas James wrote a journal of how he enlisted in this expedition during his youth. In addition, the governor of Missouri Territory, Meriwether Lewis, contracted with the company to convey Mandan Chief Shehaka back to his people. The chief, wanting to meet the "Great Father" at Washington City, had accompanied Lewis and Clark when they returned from their expedition. After meeting president Thomas Jefferson, Shehaka had been stopped from returning to his people by an Arikara attack. Governor Lewis took the opportunity provided by the 1809 expedition, paying the Missouri Fur Company $10,000 to convey Shehaka to Fort Mandan.

Accordingly, two parties set out in the spring of 1809 and traveled up to the Missouri to Fort Mandan. Manuel Lisa and Pierre Chouteau returned to St. Louis in the fall after seeing Shehaka restored to his people. They left rest of the expedition in charge of Pierre Menard and Andrew Henry, who moved all the boats and supplies upriver to Fort Raymond where the expedition wintered. Contemplating what lay ahead, Menard wrote presciently to a friend, "It is said that one cannot imagine the quantity of beaver that there is, but there is the difficulty of the savage Black Feet who plunder often." Besides the danger from the Blackfeet of which Menard wrote, infighting threatened to tear apart the company. The American contingent thought that the expedition's leaders favored the French. One of the Americans, Reuben Lewis, wrote to his brother, "The heterogenious particles of which our Company are formed, some French, some Spaniards, some Americans, Some Gentlemen,... some men hired, & some upon shares altogether forms such different interest and opinions that I fear we shall not do so well as we had flattered ourselves we would."

In spite of the obstacles, Menard set out for the headwaters of the Missouri in March 1810 along with Andrew Henry, Reuben Lewis, and thirty-two other men. John Colter guided the expedition. Colter had twice escaped death at the hands of the Blackfeet, and he had vowed never to return to their territory. But the large group of men made him feel safe enough to guide the group to the Three Forks of the Missouri. The company arrived at the headwaters on April 3 and began construction of a post about two miles above the confluence of the Madison and Jefferson rivers.

As the expedition was trapping large numbers of beaver, its members expected to return to St. Louis with a substantial supply of furs that would yield a good profit. However, they had built the post at the Three Forks on Blackfeet territory without their permission, and the Blackfeet did not permit trapping on their land. Additionally, the Blackfeet disliked Lisa's having previously traded with the Crow Nation, whom they considered enemies. On April 12, 1810, a party of Blackfeet warriors attacked the traders, killing five and capturing horses, guns, ammunition, traps and furs. They attacked the party again on April 23, 1810, at which point several traders decided to return to St. Louis with Pierre Menard, while Andrew Henry was left in command of the remaining trappers. During the return journey of the Menard group, in early May 1810, George Drouillard, formerly an interpreter for the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was killed in an ambush. At one point the trappers under Henry's command at the Three Forks post were attacked by more than 200 Blackfeet warriors, and they were forced to abandon the post in late 1810.

Henry and the trappers bivouacked across the Continental Divide at a temporary trading post on the north fork of the Snake River, now known as Henry's Fork in present-day Idaho. When hunting at the new post did not yield enough food, the trappers had to kill their horses and subsist primarily on horse flesh. In the spring of 1811, the group dissolved when some members headed south toward Spanish territory and others (such as Andrew Henry) headed east toward the Missouri River valley and St. Louis. The first trade and trapping expedition of the Missouri Fur Company failed to supply the company with furs and resulted in their abandonment of Fort Lisa on the Yellowstone River.

Pilcher Expedition of 1827–1829

Pilcher led the last expedition of the Pilcher Company, and they left Council Bluff in September 1827 heading toward the Salt Lake Valley via the Platte and Sweetwater River rivers. While they were encamped in the South Pass, all of the expedition's horses were stolen; the expedition bivouacked on the Green River for the winter. During the winter camp, water destroyed all of the expedition's trade goods. In the spring of 1828, most of the men returned to Council Bluff. Pilcher and nine others, however, bought new mounts and in August 1828 explored the Pacific Northwest to reconnoiter prospective trade routes. The group wintered at Flathead Lake, but their horses were stolen in February 1829. Seven of the nine trappers resigned to return home, and Pilcher and one other attempted to reach Fort Colville on the Columbia River. Traders at Fort Colville, then owned by the Hudson's Bay Company, offered Pilcher a return to St. Louis, which he accepted.