History along the Missouri River
The Missouri river was the highway system of the country for thousands of years.
Paddling the Missouri is like traveling through the worlds longest museum.
So much has happened...sit, listen, observe. You will see the ghost of the past.
They will be your guide.
Paddling the Missouri is like traveling through the worlds longest museum.
So much has happened...sit, listen, observe. You will see the ghost of the past.
They will be your guide.
The name, "Missouri"
Originally from the Algonquian dialect, Ouemessorita - pronouced: we-messo-rita. It is the name given by the Illinois tribe to the Chiwere (Siouan) people living along the river of the same name. It means: Those who have dug out canoes, he of the big canoe or river of the big canoes.The Missouri is the longest river system in North America. Its ultimate source begins at Brower's Spring/ Hell Roaring Creek in the Centennial mountain range of Montana. It flows down to become the Red Rock, Beaverhead, and Jefferson Rivers. At Three Forks, Montana it is joined by the Madison and Gallatin rivers to form the Missouri proper.
In late June of 1673, Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette became the first documented European discoverers of the Missouri River, which according to their journals was in full flood. They had descended from Lake Huron to the Mississippi down to the confluence with the Missouri. Jolliet wrote, 'Je n'ai jamais vu rien de plus terrifiant, translated , "I never saw anything more terrific", he then wrote, "un enchevêtrement d'arbres entiers de la bouche du Pekistanoui [Missouri] avec une telle impétuosité que l'on ne pouvait pas essayer de le traverser sans grand danger. La commotion était tel que l'eau a été rendue boueux par cela et ne pouvait pas se dégager' translated - "a tangle of entire trees from the mouth of the Pekitanoui [Missouri] with such impetuosity that one could not attempt to cross it without great danger. The commotion was such that the water was made muddy by it and could not clear itself." They recorded Pekitanoui as the local name for the Missouri. However, the party never explored the Missouri beyond its mouth, nor did they linger in the area. Louis Jolliet statue
Originally from the Algonquian dialect, Ouemessorita - pronouced: we-messo-rita. It is the name given by the Illinois tribe to the Chiwere (Siouan) people living along the river of the same name. It means: Those who have dug out canoes, he of the big canoe or river of the big canoes.The Missouri is the longest river system in North America. Its ultimate source begins at Brower's Spring/ Hell Roaring Creek in the Centennial mountain range of Montana. It flows down to become the Red Rock, Beaverhead, and Jefferson Rivers. At Three Forks, Montana it is joined by the Madison and Gallatin rivers to form the Missouri proper.
In late June of 1673, Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette became the first documented European discoverers of the Missouri River, which according to their journals was in full flood. They had descended from Lake Huron to the Mississippi down to the confluence with the Missouri. Jolliet wrote, 'Je n'ai jamais vu rien de plus terrifiant, translated , "I never saw anything more terrific", he then wrote, "un enchevêtrement d'arbres entiers de la bouche du Pekistanoui [Missouri] avec une telle impétuosité que l'on ne pouvait pas essayer de le traverser sans grand danger. La commotion était tel que l'eau a été rendue boueux par cela et ne pouvait pas se dégager' translated - "a tangle of entire trees from the mouth of the Pekitanoui [Missouri] with such impetuosity that one could not attempt to cross it without great danger. The commotion was such that the water was made muddy by it and could not clear itself." They recorded Pekitanoui as the local name for the Missouri. However, the party never explored the Missouri beyond its mouth, nor did they linger in the area. Louis Jolliet statue
Early Map of the Missouri- 1795.
Used by Lewis & Clark.
The Evans & MacKay's map~
John Thomas Evans (April 1770 – May 1799) was a Welsh explorer who produced an early map of the Missouri River.
Evans was born in Waunfawr, near Caernarfon. In the early 1790s there was an upsurge of interest in Wales in the story of Madog having discovered America, and there were persistent rumors in North America of the existence of a tribe of Welsh Indians, identified with the Mandan. Iolo Morganwg had originally intended to explore the Missouri to discover these Welsh Indians, and Evans was to have gone with him. However, Iolo withdrew from the expedition and Evans embarked for the United States alone, arriving in Baltimore in October 1792. In the spring of 1793 he made his way to St. Louis in Spanish Louisiana, where he was imprisoned for a while on suspicion of being a British spy.
In April 1795 he set off on an expedition with Spanish backing to explore the Missouri and to try to discover a route to the Pacific Ocean from its headwaters. He found the Mandan in 1796, and spent the winter with them before returning to St. Louis in 1797, however, he found no trace of Welsh speakers among them. He had travelled 1,800 miles up the Missouri from its confluence with the Mississippi, and he produced a map showing the course of the river. This map, passed on by Thomas Jefferson was later used by the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Evans remained in the service of the Spanish authorities, but died in New Orleans in May 1799.
Lewis and Clark were not the first explorers of the upper Missouri river in present day North Dakota.
Pierre La Verendrye and David Thompson both explored and mapped North Dakota before the United States had even thought about buying the Louisiana Purchase from France. La Verendrye and David Thompson set into motion mapping out the land and the start of the fur trade. These explorers were some of the first non-Indians to come in contact with the various Native American tribes who had lived in the region for centuries. Exploration and the fur trade were soon followed by settlement, driving the Native peoples from the land.
Used by Lewis & Clark.
The Evans & MacKay's map~
John Thomas Evans (April 1770 – May 1799) was a Welsh explorer who produced an early map of the Missouri River.
Evans was born in Waunfawr, near Caernarfon. In the early 1790s there was an upsurge of interest in Wales in the story of Madog having discovered America, and there were persistent rumors in North America of the existence of a tribe of Welsh Indians, identified with the Mandan. Iolo Morganwg had originally intended to explore the Missouri to discover these Welsh Indians, and Evans was to have gone with him. However, Iolo withdrew from the expedition and Evans embarked for the United States alone, arriving in Baltimore in October 1792. In the spring of 1793 he made his way to St. Louis in Spanish Louisiana, where he was imprisoned for a while on suspicion of being a British spy.
In April 1795 he set off on an expedition with Spanish backing to explore the Missouri and to try to discover a route to the Pacific Ocean from its headwaters. He found the Mandan in 1796, and spent the winter with them before returning to St. Louis in 1797, however, he found no trace of Welsh speakers among them. He had travelled 1,800 miles up the Missouri from its confluence with the Mississippi, and he produced a map showing the course of the river. This map, passed on by Thomas Jefferson was later used by the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Evans remained in the service of the Spanish authorities, but died in New Orleans in May 1799.
Lewis and Clark were not the first explorers of the upper Missouri river in present day North Dakota.
Pierre La Verendrye and David Thompson both explored and mapped North Dakota before the United States had even thought about buying the Louisiana Purchase from France. La Verendrye and David Thompson set into motion mapping out the land and the start of the fur trade. These explorers were some of the first non-Indians to come in contact with the various Native American tribes who had lived in the region for centuries. Exploration and the fur trade were soon followed by settlement, driving the Native peoples from the land.
Pierre Gaultier de La Vérendrye de Boumois
(December 1, 1714 – September 13, 1755) was the second son of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye. An explorer and fur trader who served many years under the command of his father, he was born on Île aux Vaches, (Isle of Cows) near Sorel, New France.
The young Pierre spent two years in the colonial regular troops las a cadet, doing garrison duty in Montreal. In 1731, when his father planned an expedition to expand the fur trade westward and at the same time search for a water route to the Western Sea, he accompanied his father and brothers Jean Baptiste, François, and Louis-Joseph as a member of the expedition. He spent the winter at Fort Kaministiquia while his older brother Jean Baptiste and his cousin and the second in command, Christopher Dufrost de La Jemeraye, carried on to Rainy Lake and established Fort St. Pierre. In 1732 he accompanied his father to Lake of the Woods, where they built Fort St. Charles.
In the spring of 1734, after his father had left for Montreal, Pierre briefly was left in command of Fort St. Charles until relieved by La Jemeraye. In February 1737 Pierre accompanied his father to Fort Maurepas, and in June the two men left the west for Montreal and Quebec.
From August 1738 until November 1739, Pierre was entrusted with the command of Fort St. Charles while his father explored into the Mandan country north of the Missouri River.
Starting out from Fort La Reine on the Assiniboine River and accompanied by two Frenchmen, he travelled south in 1741 as far as two Spanish forts, probably in present-day Nebraska, before turning back. He returned from this expedition with two horses and some articles of Spanish make. These are the first two horses of historical record in what is now Manitoba.
Later the same year when his father returned from the east in October Pierre was sent to build Fort Dauphin near present-day Winnipegosis, Manitoba. His mission completed, Pierre invited the Crees and Assiniboins to bring their furs from then on to the new fort, then he returned to Fort La Reine where he spent the entire year of 1742.
Pierre Gaultier de La Vérendrye was active as a fur-trader and explorer in the west even after his father was relieved of his command in 1744 up to 1749 when he finally returned east and re-entered the army. He was active at Fort Beauséjour where he served until it was captured by the British in 1755. He died shortly after at Quebec. His death was in Montréal, specifically. His death was assassination, and many agree that the British wanted to kill such a valuable addition to the French.
On a windy hilltop overlooking the Missouri River, the Verendrye National Monument marks the spot, where in 1743 the brothers Chevalier and Louis la Verendrye buried a lead plate. Telling the local inhabitants they were commemorating harmony with the native peoples, they were in fact claiming the area for France. The plate was discovered by high school students in 1913, and is now on display at the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center across the Missouri River in Pierre. The Verendrye Plate is considered one of the most significant historical finds in the northwestern United States.
La Vérendrye buried lead plates near present day Pierre, SD
in 1743, not far from the Missouri river.
They were discovered by local friends above the hills near Pierre in 1913.
This photo from 1989, Ethel Parish Roberts (one of the discoverers ) had a chance to hold the plate for the first time since 1913.
When you approach Pierre by paddle completing Lake Oahe, think about the pre-dam era, 300+years ago, when La Vérendrye scribed these plate and buried them in the hills above the river.
News story on the discovery:
Click Here:
Images of the plate, monument and discoverers below. Click to enlarge:
Song entitled "La Verendrye" ·
by Rodney Brown · Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra
by Rodney Brown · Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra
David Thompson, (born April 30, 1770, London, Eng.—died Feb. 10, 1857, Longeuil, Lower Canada [now Quebec]), English explorer, geographer, and fur trader in the western parts of what are now Canadaand the United States. He was the first white man to explore the Columbia River from source to mouth. His maps of western North America served as a basis for all subsequent ones.
Thompson was apprenticed to the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1784 and worked as a clerk in northern and western Canada until 1796, when he made an expedition for the company to Lake Athabasca. He left the company in 1797 to join and become a partner in the rival North West Company and continued to explore and trade on the western plains.
In 1797 Thompson descended a stretch of the Missouri River, and in 1798 he discovered Turtle Lake, one of the headwaters of the Mississippi River. In 1807 he crossed the Rocky Mountains by the Howse Pass and built the first trading post on the Columbia River. Having explored what is now northwest Montana, Thompson descended the length of the Columbia River in 1811. He then settled in Terrebonne, near Montreal, and drew up maps of the newly explored territory.
Thompson acted as an astronomer and surveyor for the commission that charted the border between Canada and the United States from 1818 to 1826. He conducted other surveys but was not recognized as a geographer until after his death.
Charlotte Small-wife of David Thompson (FYI- She walked and traveled 3-times the distances that Sacagawea of Lewis and Clark fame traveled. She is virtually unknown, but a key person in the exploration of the west with her husband.)
Charlotte Small (1 September 1785 - 4 May 4, 1857) was the Métis wife of surveyor, map maker and explorer David Thompson (m. 10 June 1799, at Île-à-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan). She was the daughter of North West Company investor-partner Patrick Small and an unnamed Cree woman. Her siblings were also involved in the fur trade; Patrick Small, Jr. was a North West Company clerk and Nancy Small was the first wife of North West Company partner, John MacDonald of Garth.
Charlotte Small had 13 children with David Thompson. She and the children often travelled with Thompson on his expeditions ranging from the Rockies to Quebec. Small travelled 3½ times farther on these expeditions with Thompson than did the American explorers Lewis and Clark.
When David Thompson wrote in his journal "Today wed Charlotte Small", few could have imagined just how long he would honor that commitment.
At a time when European explorers and traders were abandoning their wives and children for lives and families in Canada or Europe, David Thompson remained faithful to the promise he had made, staying by the side of "his lovely wife" and providing for her and their 13 children. The couple were married for 58 years until Thompson's death in 1857. Charlotte Small died a few months later on May 4, 1857. They are buried together at Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Images below- Original Map by Thompson- Canada Postage Stamp honoring David- Routes of David and wife Charlotte.
Fantastic documentary on David Thompson: Uncharted Territory.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition from May 1804 to September 1806, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the first American expedition to cross the western portion of the United States. It began near St. Louis, made its way westward, and passed through the Continental Divide of the Americas to reach the Pacific coast. The Corps of Discovery was a selected group of US Army volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark.
The complete roster of the Corps. of Discovery between 1803-06:
Captains: Meriwether Lewis, William Clark Sergeants: Charles Floyd, Patrick Gass, John Ordway, Nathaniel Pryor, Privates: William Bratton, John Collins, John Colter, Pierre Cruzatte, Joseph Field, Reuben Field, Robert Frazer, George Gibson, Silas Goodrich, Hugh Hall, Thomas Proctor Howard, Francois LaBiche, Jean Baptiste LePage, Hugh McNeal, John Potts ,George Shannon, John Shields, John B. Thompson, Peter M. Weiser, William Werner, Joseph Whitehouse, Alexander Hamilton Willard, Richard Windsor, Non-Military Members: Toussaint Charbonneau, Sacagawea , Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, Baptiste Deschamps, Pierre Dorion, George Drouillard, York, and Lewis' dog seaman.
Their journals comprise of over 1.5 million words, more detailed than any historical expedition in U.S. history. They are the longest written document in our nation.
Thanks to the 2-decade work of Professor Gary Moulton and the University of Nebraska, the entire unabridged version of the Lewis & Clark journals have been published and online free. A must bookmark for those paddling down the Missouri River.
Read all 1.5 million words of the
Lewis & Clark Expedition:
Online free:
The journals of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Patrick Gass, John Ordway, Joseph Whitehouse:
CLICK IMAGE TO THE RIGHT
The North American Fur Trade Empire, and the age of the fur traders & mountain men was about the fashion industry. The furs, especially the beaver felt was in high demand in Europe which was made into hats.
Yes, John Colter, Jedediah Smith, Hugh Glass, Jim Bridger, Pierre Choutou, William Sublette, Manual Lisa, and hundreds of others were all employed by the fashion industry!
MISSOURI RIVER FUR TRADE.
The fur trade was the principal form of commerce in the early days of European migration to the West, and it was able to develop to such a great extent because of the Missouri River. Although the Missouri was difficult to navigate, it was the most dependable medium of transportation for furs. Late eighteenth-century expeditions by such men as Sieur de La Vérendrye, Pierre Menard, and Jean Truteau demonstrated its usefulness in this regard.
The river and its tributaries constituted one of the three great river systems of importance to the fur trader and trapper. First, the Spanish Commercial Company and Saint Louis Missouri Fur Company, and later, the Missouri Fur Company, the Columbia Fur Company, the American Fur Company, and, to a limited extent, the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, all operated in the Missouri and Mississippi watersheds.
These fur companies established some of the earliest European settlements in this region. The most important early post was that of the Saint Louis Missouri Fur Company. Known as Fort Lisa, it was located in Nebraska, near Council Bluffs, Iowa. Other early posts included Truteau's Post, erected in 1794, and Cedar Post, established in 1800, thirty-five miles south of the present site of Pierre, South Dakota.
The Missouri River also made Saint Louis the greatest center of the fur trade in the nineteenth century. All the early expeditions were outfitted and started from this point, and, by 1843, its tributary reached 150 fur trading posts, a great majority of which lay along the Missouri River.
- Click each link below:
- The Economic History of the of the Fur Trade.
- North American Fur Trade- 1670-1870: Click Here:
- The Upper Missouri River Basin in the Nineteenth Century: Fur Trade
- Remembering the St. Louis Fur Trade:
- The Missouri Fur Trade Company:
- Keelboat is the Fur Trade on the Missouri
- The Fur Trade in Western Expansion-Huge Links
Above Links regarding the Missouri River
fur trade & travel in the 1800's
Photo: Right: Joseph Rutherford Walker ~ Mountaineer, scout, trader
Henry Marie Brackenridge ascended the Missouri River in 1811 in the company of a party of the Missouri Fur Company, led by Manuel Lisa. That same year, a party of the Pacific Fur Company bound for Astoria and led by Wilson Price Hunt was also ascending the river. Brackenridge's Journal is an important historical source for both these expeditions.
The Journal was published in a book called Views of Lousiana, together with a Journal of a Voyage up the Missouri River, in 1811, published in 1814 in Pittsburg, by Cramer, Spear and Eichbaum. This electronic transcription cover only Brackenridge's Journal; the complete book includes ten additional chapters pertaining to the history, geography, and economy of the settled part of the Lousiana territory.
RARE JOURNAL AND A MUST READ---CLICK IMAGE TO THE LEFT.
CLICK HERE FOR BRIEF WIKI BIO ON HENRY M. BRACKENRIDGE
Steamboat history on the Missouri river.
Amazing presentation by Eric Reuter on the Big Muddy Speaker Series.
Amazing presentation by Eric Reuter on the Big Muddy Speaker Series.
Left Button Link: 1818 newspaper account of
John Colter's travels up the Missouri river
after the Lewis & Clark Expedition.
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Listen to Austin Haney in “The Lost West,” a program that highlights French history in North America in the years prior to, during, and after the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Charting the rise of Quebec from Champlain to the Plains of Abraham, paddling alongside pioneers of trade and exploration, and diving into the lives of the Frenchmen who accompanied the Corps of Discovery, this program gives a glimpse into the rich story of North America’s vanished empire, and the people who made it possible. A great early view on the influences that lead up to exploring the Missouri River.
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Historic photos from along the Missouri river.
