| Show fifty famous frontiersmen Frontier sm en by ELMO SCOTT WATSON the king of the missouri as tile the missouri river la Is an I 1 american stream thirman theman the man who wits was bailer tar for and wide AS tile king of the missouri should have been either nn an indian chieftain or an american but lie lie ho wits was a scotchman or of distinguished birth an allicer in the british army anny during the war of 1812 and a relative of the famous british explorer sir alexander ma mackenzie ck enzle kenneth mackenzie ivas has name and both his ancestry and his personal characteristics had something to do with its his assumption of kingship to in the american fur trad ile he served his apprenticeship in the old northwest VM fur company which after a bitter struggle was merged with the older hudsons Hud flud sons bay company when that happened mackenzie lost his job only to become an associate and the ablest one with joseph renville in the columbia fur company whose success sue cess with the indians in tire the northwest forced john jacob astor head of the Amer american fenn fur far company to buy out mackenzie and renville then mackenzie enlisted under the A P F C banner and quickly rose to leadership in I 1 1820 he built fort union at the mouth of the yellowstone on the missouri it was to be his bis job to develop the fur trade in a region which the traders from st SL louis arter after efforts lasting 20 years had failed to exploit but mackenzie did it it ae eie opened trade relations with the hostile and in 1831 made a treaty between them their hereditary enemies the and his company which stands as one of the most remarkable exploits in the record of the relations of red nen and white from his headquarters at fort union he ruled with an I 1 iron ron hand over an empire larger than many a euro principality noted for his hospitality pita lity he was particular ns as to who should sit down at his table with him clad in full dress uniform he dined in formal state waited on by a full staff of servants a feudal baroo baron reigning in the wilderness but one of the things which made him so successful as agent for the A F 0 brought about his downfall lie he till had always freely dispensed liquor to the indians to help his trading operations erat ions when the united states government shut down on that in 1832 it mar marked k ed tile the beginning of the end of the hi kings usefulness A year or so later mackenzie sold out his interest in the american fur company retired to st louls louis where he entered the wholesale liquor business und and there he died april 20 1801 1861 a forgotten figure figore of the days when heaver beaver was king and lie he was a monarch to n the kingdom of beaver |
