'f • CHOTKAU ACANTHA BRIEF OCCUPATION OF FORT THREE FORKS IN 1810, ONE OF MOST UNFORTUNATE STORIES OF THE EARLY-DAY FUR TRADE This article by Mr. Hilgcr, sec­ near each other. Further on, about and Clark expedition, John Coulter, derburgh was farther up the Jeffer­ retary of the Montana Historical one hundred and fifty yards, Druyer George Drouillard and John Potts son river, above the three forks, he Society, one of the state's pioneers, and Jiis h»rse lay dead, the former should have figured prominently encountered these same destructive and who has been responsible for mangled hi a horrible manner; his with the early and first establish­ Blackfeet Indians and was killed as the collecting and preserving at head was cut off; his entrails torn ment of the Tlire Forks fort i3 re­ was also Alexis Pillon, on October 14, the State Historical Library, of out and his body hacked to pieces. markable. 1S32. Jim Bridget* made a close much valuable dam pertaining to We saw from the marks on the After the death of Drouillard, the “getaway,” and as a souvenir of thè early-day Montana, has to do with ground that ho must have fought in remnants of the party, now reduced episode, carried with him an arrow one of the most hnporatnt events a circle on horseback, and probably by the killing of eight of their best in his back. This he carried for three of tho earliest fur trade in the killed some of his enemies, Icing a men, to a total of 2-1, grew discour­ years until it was extracted by Dr. brave man and well armed with a treasure state. aged. Marcus Whitman. rifle knife and tomahawk.” (!) James remarks, “ Discouraged by It is little wonder that the Three Tliis was the end of the most noted tho prospect before us, most of the Forks was abandoned when it is (B y D AV ID HH.CSER) hunter 0f the Lev,-is and Clark party Americans prepared to go hack to known that so many of the leading HE only written narrative of tlie of whom Lewis says "A man of much the settlements, while Colonel An­ explorers, trappers and hunters met establishment of the Port at merit: he has been peculiarly useful drew Henry and the greater part of a tragic death there at the hands of T Three Forks came from the hand from his knowledge of the common the company, with a few Americans the warlike Blackfeet Indians. No of Thomas James, a free trapper, and language of gesticulation and his un­ were getting ready to cross the moun­ other point selected by the fur trad­ a member of the Manuel Lisa party common skill as a hunter and woods­ tains and go on to the Columbia be­ ers in wliat is now Montana, so far — the original party that made the man These several duties he per­ yond the viciinity of our enemies.’’ as history or journal shows, has ever trip up the Missouri and Yellowstone formed in good faith, and with an Tho exact date of the abandoning recorded scuh fierce opposition, and rivers to that point in 1809. ardor which deserves the highest of the Three Forks fort is not given, the tragic death of the besi of hunt­ Thomas James had engaged as a commendation. It was his fate also but Colonel Menard, James, Col­ ers and rifle shots of that time. free trapper with the Missouri Fur to ive encountered on various oc­ ter and nino men in all, went to the The brief occupation of Three company, of which Manuel Lisa was casions with either Captain Clark or fort on tho Yellowstone, thence to Forks fort in 1S10 constiutues one the manager, the latter having es­ myself, all the most dangerous and the Mandans and from there down of the most unfortunate stories of tablished a trading post and fort at trying scenes of the voyage, in which the Missouri, arriving at "t. Louis in' the fur trade, all based on historical the mouth of the Big Horn river, at he uniformly acquitted himself with August, 1810. |facts, the data for which is on file its confluence with the Yellowstone honor.” Andrew Henry, with 15 men all in the collection oT the Montana His­ in the fa ll and winter of 1S07-1S08. Thus we find that Captain Lewis told, went west and wintered on the torical Society. Thomas James, Miller and Mc­ PIERRE MENARD THOMAS JAMES pajs the highest compliments to North Fork of the Snake river, which ---------------o--------------- Daniels, all free trappers, left the Who was in command of F ort Man­ Who is authority for many of the Drouillard that were paid to any has been known since that lime as Sentenced to Prison "F o rt” (Lisa) some miles above the uel at the lim e of the trip to Thvco stories about the brief, stormy car­ member of that famous hitory mak­ Henry’s Fork. Frank Wild, deputy collector of junction of Knife river with the Mis­ Forks and the building of the Fort. eer of Fort Three Forks. ing party. His bones are disinte­ Chittenden says that the parting of customs at Havre, and H. G. Araess, souri and in November, 1809, built a grating within a mile of the town of the parties took place somo time in Great Northern freight agent there, cabin at a point between there and Three Forks. the fall of 1S10, but we are inclined were sentenced by Federal Judge the Little Missouri, intending to EW MONTANANS who every summer enjoy the magnificent As hereinbefore mentioned, the to believe that the abandonment look Charles N. Pray to serve 13 months spend the winter there. scenery of the Rocky Mountains and other smaller mountain On Christmas Day, 1S09, James F ranges of this stutc have any knowledge of that picturcsqne froze his feet quite badly, as the re- and romantic race of white adventurers who a century ago were ex­ ploring every gorge and defile o f these mountains from Mexico to the Arctic circle, and who had a far more intimate knowledge of the geography of tliis section of the great west than 09 out of every JOO pci-sons who live in Montana today. One hundred years ago fur was the standard of currency in the west, and the news that there was plenty of it in what is today Montana, earried east by Lewis and Clark, started a horde of ad­ venturers to the upper Missouri to trap beaver and barter for pel­ tries with the savage and hostile Indians that then claimed this great country. In the motley ranks o f these soldiers of fortune the boldest and most romantic characters were the free trappers— those who went, as they expressed it, “ on their own hook.” The employes of the Hud­ son’s Bay company and other big fur companies were under sivict supervision and discipline that checked personal initiative... They were of the class who work for hire and see no further than the wages paid them, which, in those days were small.. But the free trappers were accountable to nobody. Each of them fought his own fights and won the fruits of his endeavors. Going alone or in smnll bands who acknowledged no captain, they would split up whenever the humor moved them, every man a law unto himself and relying solely upon his own strong right arm. They were unusual men picked by nature for great enterprises and great doed.s. The free trapper of the far west was in his rough way a good deal of a knight errant. Caparisoned In the wild attire of their kind — picturesque, buckskin garments— and armed for instant combat, they roamed far and wide over the plains and mountains, gathering the scattered wealth of those regions, slaying ferocious beasts and savage men. It was the trapper and the trader who first explored the rentes of travel through Montana which are now and always w ill be the highways of commerce over tlio mountains. They were the real pathfinders of the west, and not those later official explor­ DAVID HILGER ers whom the people of today so recognize. Secretary of the Montana Histor- It is a great misfortune that so few who went with these trap­ idnl Society. pers on their trails have le ft any account of these adventurers in the great west. Of the few that have written of these great characters, suit of which he was confined to the Thomas James in ids narrative, which has been complied and pre­ cabin for some time. Shortly af­ served by the Missouri Historical Society, tells much of the adven­ ter James’ misfortune, Miller and tures of the Lisa party which went up the Missouri in 1807. It is McDaniels went back to Fort Lisa from this narrative that the author has taken the data for the ar­ ticle which appears on this page. THE THREE FORKS OF THE MISSOURI— It was nt tliis point, whctc the Missouri river is formed, that the for supplies, taking with them the Three Forks fort was built, early in 1810. In the picture herewith reproduced, can be s'ien, tho Gallatin flowing furs that the party had accumrnulat- in from the left, and the Jefferson winding off to the right. The Madison joins the Jefferson fartherup if.s course ed to this time. James records that "They were gone twice the length of time agreed “up river American free trappers” penings at the fort up to April 21, noted John Potts was killed not far place in August or September of that! in the federal prison and pay $600 for their stay.” James, of course, with him.