Mr. Lavender has written widely in the field of western history. His most recent books are The Fist in the Wilderness (1964) and The American Heritage History of die Great West (1965).

Some American Characteristics of the

DAVID LAVENDER

WHEN launched Hudson's Bay Company for control of the the American Fur Company in 1808 he sup­ rich . He quite probably posed that he could achieve dominance over heard from the lips of one or another of the the Indian trade of the northern United agents — Alexander Henry, for States by emulating, in his own single per­ instance — something of the importance son, the corporate practices of the North which the Nor'Westers attached to finding West Company of Canada. He was wrong. Pacific approaches to the area, in order that Today, helped by the lens of historical per­ sea shipping might reduce the cost of sup­ spective, we can see, as Astor could not, that plying their western posts. He saw the com­ conditions south of the international border petition between the Canadian behemoths — those of geography, political climate, intensify after 1804, when the union of the economic attitudes, settlement, and so on —• XY and North West companies enabled the were very different from conditions to the "pedlars" from the St. Lawrence to resume north. These purely American determinants, their push across the continental divide with which often arose as irritations to Astor and still greater vigor. Although in 1807 Astor his field manager , soon may not have known the exact result of these forced the company to abandon the original adventures into what is now British Colum­ Canadian patterns and develop character­ bia, he almost certainly was aware of the istics of its own. Not all were admirable, but trend.^ they were nevertheless representative of the Astor was aware too that during these American frontier milieu in which the firm same years, 1805-06, Lewis and Clark had operated. completed their transcontinental explora­ The reasons for Astor's initial leanings to­ tions and had made their preliminary reports ward Montreal are obvious. He had been to President . Although the visiting the city almost annually on fur- explorers found the portage from the upper buying trips since at least 1788.^ There he Missouri to navigable waters on the Golum- bad learned to think of the Indian trade as a continent-wide enterprise. He knew of ' Kenneth Wiggins Porter, John Jacob Astor: the 's struggle with the Business Man, 1:66, 412 (Cambridge, Massachu­ setts, 1931).

178 MINNESOTA History bia far more onerous than they had antici­ more of these ships could easily alter course pated, Lewis insisted that easily handled enough to land trade goods at tbe Columbia merchandise — bales of fur, for example — depot, pick up the pelts assembled could be readily transported across the there, and then trade for skins along divide on horseback. Moreover, he wrote the northwest coast before continuing to Jefferson from St. Louis on September 23, Canton. 1806, that the valley of the upper Missouri Early in 1808 he passed on to President "is richer in Beaver and otter than any coun­ Jefferson and to Mayor De Witt Clinton of try on earth."* his thoughts about forming By channels now unknown, echoes of that a company strong enough to effect these de­ statement reached Astor and quickened the signs. He added that he also hoped to force ideas already nibbling at the edges of his a withdrawal of the British traders operating planning. Could he not imitate the North in territory south and west of West Company's thrust by sending a strong the upper , around the head­ party along the route Lewis and Clark had waters of the Mississippi and westward to­ found, develop posts throughout the moun­ ward the Missouri. Jefferson responded with tains, and establish at the mouth of the his unofficial blessings and the legislature Columbia a sea-supplied depot like the one of New York State granted, without debate, the Nor'Westers contemplated? a formal charter to the American Fur Com­ He possessed resources equal to the plan pany— the patriotic name of which was — ample funds, competent agents in Lon­ hardly an accident.^ But in spite of Astor's don who could purchase desirable trade high-sounding declarations, the company's goods, and contacts with the leading fur first gestures were cautious indeed. markets of the world, including Canton, China. Since about 1800 his own ships had ONE EARLY deterrent in Astor's way was been carrying ginseng, silver bullion, and the Embargo Act of December 27, 1807, choice furs to the Far East, returning with and the uncertainties it created about im­ tea, silk, nankeens, and chinaware.* One or porting trade goods from England. The obstacle did not trouble him for long, how­ ° Porter, Astor, 1:170. The Hudson's Bay Com­ ever. Indians within the United States had pany had a tremendous advantage in being able to be supplied, and since the necessary mer­ to bring supply ships into the interior by way of Hudson Bay. 'The importance of geography in the chandise was available only in the British struggle between the companies is noted in several Isles, import exemptions were being granted books. See, for example, Ilarold A. Innis, The in Canada: An Introduction to Canadian within a matter of months to American citi­ Economic History, 149-165, 263-279 (Toronto, zens, although Britons remained inter­ 1956); E. E. Rich, The History of the Hudson's dicted.*^ Astor could be confident, therefore, Bay Company 1670-1870, 2:66-287 (London, 1959); Gordon Charles Davidson, The North West of qualffying for similar privileges whenever Company (Berkeley, California, 1918). he chose. " Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed.. Original Journals Far more worrisome to him than political of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804^1806, 7:334-337 (New York, 1905). barriers were his fears of murderous compe­ •"For Astor's early ventures as an entrepreneur tition beyond the Rockies from the North in the fur and China trades, see Porter, Astor, West Company, whose ruthlessness he had 1:48-163. ''Porter, Astor, 1:164-168, 413-420. recently seen in operation against the XY ° In August, 1808, Ramsay Crooks obtained such group. And though Jefferson had com­ an exemption for his and Robert McClellan's trade mended Astor's plans in a general way, con­ on the Missouri. Thomas Maitland Marshall, ed.. The Life and Papers of Frederick Bates, 2:16 (St. crete help from the government was not Louis, 1926). Other examples may be found among likely to be forthcoming in the coun­ the Frederick Bates Papers in the Missouri Histori­ try, where national sovereignty had not yet cal Society, St. Louis; for instance, George Hoffman to Bates, October 21, 1808. been established. How, then, were the

Winter 1966 179 dangers attendant upon all-out economic credit. Instead of improving theff situations, warfare to be averted?'' most of them dug deeper into debt, and soon Two possibilities suggested themselves. they were not able to pay their Montreal Astor might either pay the North West Com­ suppliers. Late in 1806 those merchants who pany to yield him a clear field or, that failing, were also members of the North West Com­ persuade it to join him, rather than fight him, pany tried to restore order by bringing the in developing his western adventure. As disorganized individuals into a union known leverage for gaining the attention of the as the Michilimackinac Company.^" Montreal merchants he used the troubles in Within little more than a year Jefferson's which they had become involved on the nonimportation decrees had heaped fresh American side of the Great Lakes. trouble onto the winterers of the new com­ The union of the North West and XY com­ pany. A brigade of supply boats was fired on panies in 1804 had left scores of clerks un­ by United States customs officials at Niagara, employed. Many of them had drifted south and eight of the craft were impounded. of the border to join the fierce competition Meanwhile growing unrest among the In­ aheady boiling among the many tiaders dians of Tecumseh's confederation kept working out of and Michilimackinac. many natives from their hunting grounds. The commerce could not absorb them. The Napoleonic Wars were reducing the price of ' Astor, appealing on July 27, 1813, to President for government aid in maintaining deer, muskrat, and raccoon pelts, and at the during wartime, insisted that he had pre­ same time were ballooning the cost of ship­ sented his ideas for the Columbia adventure in per­ ping in necessary trade items from abroad. son at a meeting attended by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin, General Meanwhile the United States government Henry Dearborn, and Madison, who had been sec­ was deliberately harassing foreign traders retary of state at the time of the alleged conference. — or so they believed — with hcensing and At this meeting, Astor continued, government help "was promised in the most Desided & explicit man­ customs regulations that brazenly abrogated ner." Dorothy Bridgwater, ed., "John Jacob Astor the freedom of movement supposedly guar­ Relative to His Settlement on the ," anteed them by Jay's Treaty. ^ The bitterest in Yale University Library Gazette, 24:61-64 (Octo­ ber, 1949). This was an extraordinary statement for pill came on August 26, 1805, when General Astor to have made to Madison, who reputedly James Wilkinson, governor of upper Louisi­ attended the meeting, if no conference had in fact ana, issued an edict barring foreigners from occurred. Astor, however, was capable of making astounding declarations under pressure, and since entering the trans-Mississippi West, al­ no other accounts of this pre-Astoria meeting exist, though for years British fur traders had been one is inclined to regard the "promise" of help as pioneering commercial routes across the belated wishful thinking. areas now comprising Iowa, western Minne­ 'For the Canadian plaints, see William R. Man­ ning, ed., Diplomatic Correspondence of the United sota, and the Dakotas. And finally, though States: Canadian Relations, 1784-1860, 1:571-596 the matter had not yet become serious, the (Washington, 1940); American State Papers: For­ American government itself was trying to eign Relations, 3:152, 164. " Clarence E. Carter, ed.. The Territorial Papers undermine the long-established friendship of the United States, 13:203 (Washington, 1948); of the British fur men and the Indians of the Francis Paul Prucha, American Indian Policy in the lake country by building a handful of trad­ Formative Years: The Indian Trade and Intercourse Acts, 86 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1962). ing factories along the edges of the frontier.® ^°For information on the Michilimackinac Com­ In tiying to wriggle out of this economic pany, see Donald Grant Creighton, The Commercial vise south of the border, the Canadian trad­ Empire of the St. Lawrence, 1760-1850, 166 (To­ ronto, 1937); Louise Phelps KeUogg, The British ers contested ruthlessly with one another, Regime in Wisconsin and the Northwest, 259-262, using increased amounts of alcohol to in­ 265 (Madison, 1935); W. Stewart Wallace, ed.. Documents Relating to the North West Company, veigle still more skins from the Indians, 224-229 (Toronto, 1934); Wayne Stevens, "Fur including pelts pledged to some other win­ Trading Companies in the Northwest, 1760-1816," terer as security for goods issued earlier on in Mississippi Valley Historical Association, Pro­ ceedings, 9:283-292 (Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1918).

180 MINNESOTA History By the fall of 1808 conditions were so un­ on similar functions for the North West stable that some of the disgusted traders did Company also held approximately half of not even go to their usual stations for the that company's stock. In the case of both winter. 1^ organizations the remaining half was di­ vided among the wintering partners. There AGAINST this background Astor, while were, at first, only eight such partners in the visiting Montreal in September, 1808, made , half of them Cana­ his first move to assert dominion over the dians whom Astor had enticed away from fur trade of the northwestern United States. the North West Company. Among them He offered the Montreal merchants $550,000 those eight men held thirty-five shares. The for the troublesome Michilimackinac Com­ remaining fifteen shares were reserved for pany and said he would add another $50,000 partners whom Astor might appoint in the for a free hand in the still undeveloped future. A council of the Pacific Fur Com­ Columbia country. The Montrealers asked pany field partners was to be held at Astoria $700,000 and negotiations paused.^^ each year, much as the wintering partners During the next few years the Canadians of tbe North West Company met annually blew alternately hot and cold toward Astor's at on Lake Superior. As was flirtations, depending on the erratic course true in the North West Company, precau­ of the in relaxing or tions were taken to prevent the eastern tightening its various embargo acts.^* In the agent, Astor in this case, from arbitiarily spring of 1810 Astor finally decided to press overriding any unanimous desire of the win­ ahead to the Columbia without them. To terers. Since the cast of the company was this end he formed his famous Pacific Fur thus definitely Canadian, it was appropriate Company, using the North West Company that Astor did not attach to it the name of his as a model. recently chartered American Fur Company He issued a hundred shares of stock, the — although obviously he set up the Pacific same number the North West Company had Fur Company not for that reason but rather determined on after its amalgamation with to keep his Pacific partners from exerting the XY group. Half of the shares went to any claim on the American Fur Company Astor, who was to act as the company's im­ when and if he chose to activate that still porting agent for goods and its exporter of quiescent trust.^* furs. The four Montreal firms that carried The activation soon developed, but in a limited way. Two of the four Montreal firms "Manning, ed., Canadian Relations, 1784-1860, 1:601-605, 800; "Memorial of the Merchants of comprising the Michilimackinac Company Montreal," in Pioneer Collections, 25:250- sold out their interest to the other two. The 258 (Lansing, 1896). Among those who sat out the purchasers, Forsyth, Richardson and Com­ uncertain year in Montreal was Robert Dickson, a leading figure among the Michilimackinac win­ pany and McTavish, McGillivrays, and terers. Louis A. TohiU, "Robert Dickson, British Company, renamed their white elephant the Fur Trader on the Upper Mississippi," in North Montreal-Michilimackinac Company. Beset Dakota Historical Quarterly, 3:37 (October, 1928). ^ Bridgwater, ed., in Yale Library Gazette, 24:62. by fresh embargo troubles the new firm soon "" David Lavender, The Fist in the Wilderness, yielded to Astor and with tbe American Fur 110-127, 147-150 (New York, 1964). Company formed an organization called the " For the organization of the North West Com­ pany, see Wallace, ed.. Documents, 1; Davidson, South West Company, whose sphere of North West Company, 13. On the Pacific Fur Com­ operations extended from the Great Lakes pany, see Wilson P. Hunt's manuscript notebook in westward past the Mississippi — but not the Missouri Historical Society. That Astor con­ sidered the Pacific Fur Company part of a broader very far past. Article 14 of the contract estab­ plan is indicated by his calling the Far West group lishing the new firm specifically excluded by the name "American Furr Company" in cor­ territory beyond the upper Missouri. Thus respondence about commercial relations with the Russians in Sitka. Porter, Astor, 1:459. Astor would remain a competitor of the

Winter 1966 181 Canadians on the Columbia, but would be thereupon faced with the problem of their partner in the East.^" securing exemptions so that they could con­ Surviving records say very little about the tinue employing French-Canadian voy­ relationship between tbe new South West ageurs. Only could Company and its winterers. The field traders endure the rigors of the tiade — or so Ram­ seem not to have had a voting voice and ap­ say Crooks insisted, using arguments being parently they traded entirely on their own repeated almost exactly today by California risk, bound only by contracts — and debts lemon growers pleading for the admission — to buy from the South West Company of braceros from Mexico. ^^ and return their furs to the same organiza­ In 1816 the arguments prevailed and all tion. In any event, whatever the arrange­ American trading firms, even those as far ment, the new organization followed a away as St. Louis, were allowed to bring Canadian pattern that had been established over the border the French Canadians they long before the American Fur Company needed. There is no evidence that in this entered the field. particular matter Astor received any favors from the government that were not accorded THE prevented normal evo­ equally to his American competitors.^" lution. On October 16, 1813, the Pacific Fur The exclusion of Canadian traders from Company passed into the hands of the the United States (as distinct from boat­ Nor'Westers.^^ Thus we can scarcely even men ) probably did discourage Astor's Mon­ conjecture what new American features treal partners in the South West Company. might have developed in its operations if it But other troubles were bothering them far had remained under Astor's control during more. Their resources had been strained by the period when William H. Ashley's moun­ the low prices and high costs resulting from tain men began thrusting westward in the the Napoleonic Wars and from the growing 1820s. Almost surely, however, there would have been modifications. ^'^ Terms of the agreement are in Porter, Astor, 1:461-469. In addition to a hoped-for freedom from Eastward, conditions were reversed: after embargo restrictions, the Canadians gained, by their the war Astor acquired the South West association with Astor, entry to the Chinese markets Company from his Canadian partners. A from which purely Canadian concerns were ex­ cluded by the monopolistic charter of the East very questionable half truth suggests that India Company. the Canadians yielded because Astor per­ " T. C. Elliott, "Sale of Astoria, 1813," in Oregon suaded the United States Congress to pass, Historical Quarterly, 33:43-50 (March, 1932). "Porter, Astor, 2:694, 696. on April 29, 1816, an act which barred all " Instances of the suspicions are scattered foreigners from the American Indian trade, throughout the second volume of American State unless those foreigners received special ex­ Papers: Indian Affairs; see, for example, pages 1-9. See also Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., "The Fur emptions from the president — a power Trade in Wisconsin 1815-1817," in Wisconsin His­ later delegated to the Indian agents and torical Collections, 19:376-379 (Madison, 1910). certain territorial officers.^'' Actually, tbe ex­ " Crooks to Astor, Aprfl 5 [?], 1817, in Mackinac Letter Book No. 1. Photostatic copies of three clusion act needed no lobbying by Astor or Mackinac Letter Books are among the American anyone else to assure its passage. The entffe Fur Company Papers in the Wisconsin Historical West, which had long been suspicious of Society. The original of Letter Book No. 1 is in the Missouri Historical Society; the other two are in British fur traders, was more than ever con­ the House, . The vinced after the war that pacification of the author used the Wisconsin copies. Indians could not succeed until Canadian '^Crooks to Astor, May 25, 1818, in Mackinac fur men had been barred from the country.^^ Letter Book No. 1; Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., "The Fur-Trade in Wisconsin 1812-1825," in Wis­ The exclusion act attempted this. Astor and consin Historical Collections, 20:36 (Madison, his American competitors, notably David 1911). A fuller discussion is in Lavender, Fist in the Wilderness, 228-237, 455. For a somewhat dif­ Stone of New Hampshire and Detroit, were ferent stand, see Porter, Astor, 2:694-697, 702-704.

182 MINNESOTA History intensity of their competition with the Hud­ Fur Company. Ramsay Crooks became liai­ son's Bay Company. As one particularly son man between John Jacob Astor and tbe ferocious phase of that struggle, a group of traders in tbe field. The Canadian custom of North West Company metis on June 19, dividing the trading country into depart­ 1816, massacred Governor Robert Semple ments was followed to some extent. In the and nineteen settlers from Lord Selkirk's early years the chief department was Michi­ agricultural colony at Red River. The cold limackinac, where Robert Stuart was in eye of the home government was now upon charge; James Abbott supervised Detroit. the entire conduct of the fur trade, and When the American Fur Company at last under the circumstances the South West moved into St. Louis in 1822 the first man­ Company probably seemed to represent a ager there was James Abbott's brother niggling little worry that could well be Samuel, then Stone, Bostwick and Company, dispensed with. Accounts that overlook this and, in 1827, Pierre Chouteau, Jr.^^ background while expatiating on Astor's Not until we consider Crooks' arrange­ wily machinations in obtaining full control ments with his company's winterers do the of the company are guilty of distortion. differences between the Canadian and The purchase was consummated early in American firms become pronounced. This in 1817 for about $100,000, and at last, nine turn demands, for understanding, a survey years after its chartering, the American Fur of the markedly different economic attitudes Company was operating as a self-contained north and south of the international border. unit.^i Immediately conditions below the Unrestrained competition between the border began impressing upon it certain North West and Hudson's Bay companies forms and policies different from those of — free enterprise, one might say — had its Canadian models. brought deplorable evils to the trade. Mo­ nopoly, Parliament was informed, was far THE CHANGES were not all-pervading, preferable.2^ Even geography fostered however. Astor, or more properly John north of the border. TrafiBc to the Jacob Astor and Son, a firm established in Canadian Indian country advanced through 1818 to include young William Backhouse two constricted thoroughfares, both of which Astor, followed a familiar pattern as im­ were closed much of each year by winter — porting and selling agent for the American Hudson Bay and the St. Lawrence River. Traffic thus was easy to control, and this in "^Crooks to Astor, April 5 [?], 1817, Mackinac Letter Book No. 1; Crooks to Astor, February 7, turn encouraged combinations and eventual 1818 (photostatic copy), American Fur Company monopoly. Great trusts appeared in each Letters I, in the . See also Porter, A^tor, 2:699. section, outgrew their own areas, clashed, ''''Letters dated April and May, 1817, in Macki­ and finally, under a royal charter of March, nac Letter Book No. 1; Porter, Astor, 2:718, 735, 1821, united on a still broader scale. 744, 762. "'Rich, Hudson's Bay Company, 2:405. Conditions in the United States, on the

jf<~-~ 'W.'^L*y/«.//'

Winter 1966 183 other hand, encouraged fragmentation itself helped preclude monopolistic fur rather than union, no matter how earnestly trading by establishing here and there along Astor, influenced by his Canadian associa­ the frontier trading factories which were tions, might desire otherwise. Three major supported by public funds and did not have routes to the interior were available, each to show a profit to stay in existence. with variants, and many were open the en­ Lastly, American economic philosophy tire year. One was by way of the Hudson was by nature opposed to monopoly. For River and the Mohawk Valley, and its one example, after the Revolution the potentials were quickened by the Erie Canal, Continental Congress made a tentative start authorized in 1817, the same year that the toward chartering monopolistic land com­ American Fur Company attained control panies in Ohio but was soon forced by of the South West Company. Another was frontier protest to abandon the practice. the government-built, heavily traveled Na­ Tentative suggestions that the government tional Road across the Allegheny Mountains. bring order to the fur trade, somewhat as Most significantly, there was the Mississippi. the English had, by chartering a single huge Steamboats quickly multiplied the traffic company, got nowhere.^* Even Ramsay using the waterways. The snorting new Crooks was aware of the feeling and warned craft reached St. Louis in 1817, Lakes Erie Pierre Chouteau in 1834, shortly after the and Huron in 1819, and the site of today's Western Department had split away from Twin Cities in 1823. This high fluidity of the original American Fur Company, that commerce helped disgruntled fur traders "your business so much resembles a monop­ elude the "system" of any would-be monop­ oly that there will always be strong jeal­ olist and find other sources of goods. Only ousies against you."^^ where a single trade artery dominated a Uniform trade conditions north of the large region, as in the case of the Missouri border meant uniform practices in dealing River, did any department of the American with the winterers. After the coalition of Fur Company approach economic domi­ the firms, the new Hudson's Bay Company, nance-—^a dominance which was diluted under the deed poll of March 26,1821, took again in the . There sev­ over the field practices developed first by eral suppliers, including brigades of the the North West Company.^'' Clerks were Hudson's Bay Company, were able to con­ stimulated by the prospect of becoming verge on the rendezvous of the mountain shareholding partners who voted in com­ men from various directions. pany councils. No such arrangement existed Canals, steamboats, the National Road, in the South. No winterer owned shares. and a milder climate than in the North (Except for the Astors, only Crooks, Stuart, brought settlers as well as goods into the and Benjamin Clapp, as agents, held stock West—^and into relatively close contact in the American Fur Company.) No win­ with the Indians. Even where agriculture terer could vote about any company policy. was not an attraction, the beginnings of And each made his own arrangements about settlement existed at the military forts, buying goods and selling furs through the which drew sutlers, soldiers' wives, and camp followers to Sault Ste. Marie, Green "^ Roy Robbins, Our Landed Heritage: The Public Bay, Chicago, Prairie du Chien, Fort Snell­ Domain, 1776-1936, 11-13 (Princeton, New Jer­ ing, and to the near today's sey, 1942); American State Papers: Indian Afairs, Omaha. The Indians, then, could go to 2:64, 65-67; Katherine Coman, "Government Fac­ frontier stores for theff goods rather than tories: An Attempt to Control Competition in the Fur Trade," in American Economic Association, deal only, as once they had to, with duly Bulletin, 4th series, no. 2, p. 374-384 (April, 1911). licensed, company-governed fur traders. "= Crooks to Chouteau, February 23, 1834, Chou­ And, finally, the United States government teau Collection, in the Missouri Historical Society. °°Rich, Hudson's Bay Company, 2:406.

184 MINNESOTA History company as best he could, according to commission, and half the cost of boats, food, the conditions surrounding him. and wages for during the year, Local traders who were strongly estab­ the company advancing the other half. At lished bought their supplies from the com­ the end of the year all furs (and maple pany at a standard markup, as though the sugar and lead) were turned over to the parent firm were nothing more than a whole­ company, and profits or losses were shared sale distributor, and conducted their busi­ on the same fifty-fifty scale. This course gave ness entffely on their own risk, even dealing incentive to the winterer, helped protect the with company competitors if they so chose. company from heavy losses, and at the same If competition was particularly bitter, how­ time let Astor share fully in unexpectedly ever, and winterers feared they could not good returns for any one year.^^ show a profit for a year's work, the company Competition of course was the greatest paid them flat salaries rather than let some source of loss, and the company did its best rival take over the area. The company's own to achieve a monopoly. In 1822 Astor, preference was a profit-sharing arrangement Crooks, and Senator Thomas Hart Benton whereby the winterer paid half the cost of succeeded in having Congress eliminate the the goods plus transportation and handling government trading factories. Crooks drove Stone out of Michilimackinac by enticing ^Porter, Astor, 2:825; Lavender, Fist in the Wil­ away Stone's winterers. When Stone re­ derness, 459. Russell Farnham, one of the best and established himself in St. Louis as Stone, most loyal of the company's traders, received $1,000 a year when competition grew harsh in Iowa in Bostwick and Company, tbe Astor firm met 1822-23. William Morrison, who opposed the Hud­ the threat by employing Stone and Bostwick son's Bay Company in the Rainy Lake country, as agents, only to jettison them when better received $1,400 a year. Crooks to S. Abbott, De­ cember 19, 1822; Crooks to Morrison, November 24, opportunities appeared with Bernard Pratte 1821, in Mackinac Letter Book No. 2. and Company, the eventual Western De-

A scene in the .store ? of a nineteenth-century fur trading post

Winter 1966 185 partment. Unable to crush the upstart Fur Company ledgers still preserved in Columbia Fur Company, the Western De- Ottawa show clearly, by a listing of salaries, partinent and the American Fur Company that the so-called boatmen really retained together absorbed that tough-fibered group command, contrary to the law.^" and turned it into the famed Upper Mis­ Liquor, which would draw skins from souri Outfit. But they never did get rid of Indians when nothing else could, was hordes of opportunistic small timers — Wil­ smuggled into the Indian country in dis­ liam Wallace in Indiana, William Farns­ maying quantities, both by the company and worth and Daniel Whitney at Green Bay, by independents, under the pretense that it James Lockwood and Michael Dousman was intended as solace for the boatmen. (for a time) at Praffie du Chien, Vance Indian agents rash enough to interfere were Campbell in Iowa, the firm of Valois and instantly sued for trespass, as warning for Le Clerc on the Missouri and so on — the other ofiicials to be wary.^" Violations of most violent of whom were the company's edicts that tried to confine the tiade to des­ own disgruntled employees. Thus, though ignated locations were equally widespread. many Americans damned the company as a The company itself did not in general monopoly, the effectiveness of its control authorize and sometimes did not even know did not approach the true dominance about the misconduct of its traders. Yet its enjoyed by the Hudson's Bay Company own arrangements with its winterers en­ north of the border, where conditions were couraged sharp tiading, and when trouble very different.^* resulted the company had to come to the help of the traders or lose their confidence. ANOTHER distinctive characteristic of the The result was a continuing and bitter antip­ company was its lawlessness — not a fla­ athy between the company and the Indian grant disregard of fundamental moral codes, agents and army officers charged with en­ but the kind of arrogance that ignores regu­ forcing the laws. Where true monopoly lations which appear to the regulated as existed in the North, by contrast, the chief ill-judged or inconvenient. This was a com­ factors of the Hudson's Bay Company, who mon frontier trait. Westward-moving squat­ had no need to try to beat out anyone, be­ ters and speculators were notorious, for came arms of the government, responsible example, in the way they defied government for the administiation of justice.^^ edicts concerning land appropriation. West­ Fundamentally, the problem sprang from ern mountain men, even those unassociated the rapid spread of settlement south of the with the American Fur Company, paid no attention whatsoever to prohibitions against °* Coman, in American Economic Association, trapping on Indian lands. It was perhaps Bulletin, 368-388; Crooks to S. Abbott, October 25, 1821; Crooks to Stuart, Aprfl 8, 1822; Crooks reprehensible, but not extraordinary, that in to Astor, April 23, 1822, in Mackinac Letter Book 1818 both David Stone and Ramsay Crooks, No. 2. Porter, Astor, 2:741-745; Lavender, Fist in competitors at the time, used similar illegal the Wilderness, 380. For the small traders named, see the index in the latter. devices for countering an unexpected stif­ ^ David Lavender, Westward Vision: The Story fening in the exclusion act against foreign of the Oregon Trad, 121-128 (New York, 1963); traders. The employment of foreign boat­ Lavender, Fist in the Wilderness, 283; W[illiam] J. Snelling, "Geographical Sketch of Oregon Ter­ men was, by contrast, still permissible. ritory," in New England Magazine, 2:326 (April, Astor's and Stone's foreign winterers were 1832); American Fur Company Ledgers, 1817- therefore listed as boatmen and the agent at 1834 (microfilm copy), Huntington Library, San Marino, California. The originals are in the Public Mackinac was told that the outfits were Archives of Canada, Ottawa. really in charge of certain American youths '"Two noteworthy affairs, involving John Tipton recently hired as apprentices. The agent and Lawrence Taliaferro, are summarized in Lav­ ender, Fist in the Wilderness, 355, 371. accepted the declaration, but the American "'• Rich, Hudson's Bay Company, 2:404.

186 MINNESOTA History border. The United States government, al­ and advancing civilization the company though committed to fostering this expan­ altered it.s internal stiucture and practices as sion, also tried to protect the Indians by circumstances required. It did not, however, such paternalistic methods as establishing originate. Astor was an adapter, not an in­ trading factories, Indian agents, and army novator. Thus, if inventiveness is a truly policemen — devices unheard of north of Yankee trait, then the American Fur Com­ the border, where settlement spread slowly. pany was not fully American. Otherwise it In meeting these pressures of government was typically a product of its times.

J^ j^ ^ ^ ^ JJ, ^

Variations of the Beaver Hat A clerical hat The continental (Eighteenth century) cocked hat (1776)

The Wellington The Paris beau The D'orsay (1812) (1815) (1820)

The regent (1825)

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