| Show anniversaries during 1939 recall I 1 the fame of the fhe chouteau famil y arst of line born years ago helped found tho the city of st louis another born I 1 years ago was head of the company organized years ago which played an important part in making st louis the fur capital of the world 0 western newspaper bunjon Choute auls trading station near kansas city A part of the sculptural frieze on kansas cites new hall by ELMO SCOTT WATSON MONG the anniversaries to be celebrated during 1939 are several connected with the famous family of Choute aus in fact there are so many of them and so important was this family in the history of the west that it might not be amiss to call this a chouteau anniversary bear the first of the line born years ago helped found a city that was once the gateway to the west another born years ago was the head of the company organized years ago which I 1 played an important part in i making that city the fur capital of the world there are other anniversaries too for years ending in 9 seem to have been constantly recurring dates in the history of this f family amily arranged chronologically chronological lyo here are some of those dates 1749 in september of this year there was born to M rene auguste chouteau and his wife mme ame marie therese chouteau in the french city of new orlea orleans ns a son to whom was given his fathers name rene auguste chouteau rene auguste chouteau sr is said to have been cruel to his wife whom he had married when she was only fifteen years old so they separated living in new orleans at that time was a thirty eight t year old merchant named pierre laclede ligrest who fell in love with marie therese chouteau historians disagree as to succeeding events some say that she simply went to live with ligrest or laclede as everyone knew him and as he wa later to be known to history while others insist that there was some sort of civil marriage despite the fact that M rene rele auguste chouteau was still living at any rate she bore pierre laclede four children all of whom took the name of chouteau one of them born in 1758 1753 was given his fathers name pierre in 1763 the french governor of louisiana granted to laclede and five associates the exclusive right of trading for eight years with all the indians in the vast missouri riv river r valley and authorized him to b build u lid trading posts in that region laclede organized a fleet of keelboats keel boats and flatboats flat boats which he loaded with supplies and in august of that year started dup up the mississippi with a force of about 30 men and boys two of whom were his stepson auguste chouteau who appears to have been La cledes chief lieutenant and his son pierre chouteau in december they reached the french village of st genevieve where they expected to spend the winter but being unable to find there a house large enough to shelter his supplies laclede was glad to accept the off offer er of the commandant at port fort de chartres to store his goods there A little later he took auguste chouteau with him and set out in a canoe upriver they went as far north as the mouth of the missouri river then drifted down the father of waters 17 miles until they reached 6 a high wooded region rising from a limestone bluff this is the place auguste said laclede and thus st louis was founded 1789 on january 19 of this yea was born in st louis pierre chouteau Choute ati son of pierre laclede chouteau at theace the age of fifteen he became a clerk for his father and unclean un uncle clein in their fur trading arding operations which resulted in the organization 0 of the thi missouri fur company an y in 1808 associated with him in this company were his four brothers augustus P chouteau francis gesso chouteau frederick chouteau and cyprian chouteau five years later the missouri sour fur company was absorbed by john jacob actors american fur company 1819 in this year a branch ot of the american fur company was established in st louis under the general direction of samuel abbott the Choute aus and others who had been connected with the old missouri fur company then became interested in the american and were given favored positions in the new firm pierre chouteau jr and his brother francis traveled throughout the present states of missouri kansas and nebraska establishing trading posts and acquiring the business of local independent traders they established trading posts along the osage river and on the mississippi from keokuk to st paul among the posts which they established was one on the kaw then known as the kansas river about 20 miles from its mouth which was selected to be the seat of a general agency for the company pierre Choute aus original hut built in 1821 about three the american fur company 1839 in this year was organized a new company under the firm name of P chouteau jr co and it became the greatest fur trading company in american history under its banner the Choute aus extended their operations as far south as the cross timbers of texas as far north as the falls of st anthony in minnesota and as far west as the country in montana they also engaged in trade avei over the historic santa fe trail 1849 on october 10 of this year there died in st louis pierre laclede chouteau whose inal influence bence covering a fo forty arty year period practically controlled the destiny of the osage nation in trade policy and dealings with the government but it if pierre chouteau sr was a powerful force in ail an indian nation he left a son to carry on his work who was an even even greater force in the american nation for pierre chouteau jr became the best business aril man of the entire dynasty for 50 years deais he was an economic power keeping abreast of the rapidly changing times to hold his place it was he who foresaw the importance of steam to navigation and transportation on the missouri pierre served as a member of the miss missouri ouri state constitutional constitution nal convention in 1820 his business operations were extensive and foreseeing he foresaw the doom of the steamboat and the increase fur traders cor cordel delUng luig up the Miss missouri oarl miles below the present site of kansas city was washed daway away by a flood in 1826 and he rebuilt on higher ground in what is now known as Gui Gai addition to kansas city this marked the beginning of kansas city as a fur trading center a role which incidentally ci it maintains to this day in 1827 frederick chouteau established a trading post in what is now douglas county kan and three years later moved it to the present site of valencia on mission creek although part osage frederick chouteau lived much of his life among the kaw indians his brother cyprian married nancy francis daughter of john francis heredith hereditary ry chief of the shawnees and nd liv lived edwith with that tribe it was through such intimate relations as these that the chouteau brothers established themselves solidly with ith the indians and profited thereby in their trading operations 1829 on february 24 of orthis this y year ar died angusta An Ati guste chouteau the P pioneer loneer in the city which he as a lad of fourteen had helped found he had also founded a dynasty of fur for by this time the Choute aus were becoming them thel dominant domin ant force in the fur trade of the west they became ever when Pierr eJr and his ass associates opiates purchased john hacib actors A interests in ing importance of the railroads he was one of the original in corp orators of the missouri pacific railroad in 1849 and also of the ohio mississippi railroad in 1851 in addition to his varied business interests he wasla wasa patron of the arts sciences and literature these interests at frequent intervals took him away from st louis to eastern cities to england and to the continent he lived for many years in new york city but at the end he came back to his native city of st louis there he died on september 8 1865 with his death the greatness of the Choute aus began to decline descendants of the chouteau family are still numerous in the united states but none of them ts is as outstanding as old auguste or pierre laclede or pierre jr but their fame is secure the Choute aus built towns erected forts foris and developed new systems of transportation abasi amassing large fortunes for themselves while serving their government in pushing back bick the frontier and maintaining peaceful bac e relations with the indians they were sharp diplomats using the arts of diplomacy on red man and white alike they imprinted their camb name indelibly upon the history of th the eWest west they were empire Buil builders deis the founding ing of the missouri fur company which marked the real beginning of the chouteau family y in the epic of the fur trade was the direct result ofa of a trip made up the missouri river by an expedition led by a spanish 11 trader named manuel lisa when lewis and clark dark returned to st loula louis in 1800 from their fa famous m exploring ng expedition into the west lisa talked with them and became inspired by their tales of the riches in furs which could be 6 harvested ira in that far northwestern country where the missouri flows close to the rocky mountains so in the spring of 1807 he se set t out tor for the indian cot country atry with a small party of trappers trap and traders who spent the winter on the yellows yellowstone tone hunting trapping and trading with the crows the following summer found manuel lisa back in st louis flushed with the success of his hia prosperous venture and dreaming of greater things to come i says the chapter on traders and Trap trappers on the great plains in the lure of the frontier yale university press ichii the pageant of america excitement ran high am among ong the principal men of that frontier town listening to lisa one after another decided to join the enterprise which was duly incorporated under the name of the st louis missouri fur company on the records appear most of the leading ciel citizens zens of st louis manuel lisa william dark clark who had helped to blaze the trail across the continent pierre chouteau sr auguste P chouteau reuben lewis and sylvester Lab labadie adle to this list other names were added pierre A medal symbolizing loyalty to its interests was issued by the chouteau fur company of st louis to friendly indians of the northwest in 1843 the medal was of silver ays 3 inches in diameter and bore on the obverse side a bust of pierre Chou chouteau tean and the legend pierre chouteau jr co upper missouri outfit on the reverse side was a crossed tomahawk and calumet and clasped hands and aid the wording peace and friendship menard and william morrison of kaskaskia in illinois andrew henry of louisiana and dennis fitzhugh fitz hugh hush of louisville ky the spaniard frenchman and englishman reflecting in their vary nam names esthe the history of the louisiana country united to exploit the rich fur country of the upper missouri early the next year the company sent its first expedition up the river it consisted of men who took a great quantity of merchandise in i their boats to be used in establishing along the river several posts where traders were left in cli charge arge late in october the ma main inbody body of the expedition went into winter quarters in the crow country where they carried on a profitable bli trade with the indians and also alsa secured many valuable by trapping for themselves in n the spring of 1810 a large party headed by andrew henry pushed on to the three forks of the missouri where they planned to establish a post in the heart of the blackfoot country but disaster overtook this post past for in april A p ril a wart war party of bla c kneet swooped down upon it when mos most t of the trappers were away kill killed edthe the five men who had been leftin charge and carried away the horses guns ammunition and the packs of furs fura which they had labored so hard to accumulate i but despite many n misfortunes the young company saved the capital it had invested and even even made a small profit it suffered arom from other vicissitudes of fortune during the war of 1812 but it managed to survive them although reorganization after reorganization of the company followed As the years passed one by oner one of the original founders dropped out allex capt manuel lisa who had active direction of fik its opera operations tiona from the end of the war until his death in 1820 his successor was joshua Pl pilcher Icher a worthy subordinate of the great spanish trader in the summer of 1822 more than worth of furs were sent down the river eight years later he gave ap up the business and the career of the missouri fur company came to an end As pre previously sly r stated it was succeed edby the firmon P chouteau jr and co alch was destined to enjoy a greater r t pros prosperity thin than the pioneer company had avei ever known 1 Is |
