Fort Union and the Upper Missouri Fur Trade

Fort Union and the Upper Missouri Fur Trade

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
In this book, Barton Barbour presents the first comprehensive history of Fort Union, the nineteenth century's most important and longest-lived Upper Missouri River fur trading post. Barbour explores the economic, social, legal, cultural, and political significance of the fort that was the brainchild of Kenneth McKenzie and Pierre Chouteau, Jr., and a part of John Jacob Astor's fur trade empire. From 1830 to 1867, Fort Union symbolized the power of New York and St. Louis, and later, St. Paul merchants' capital in the West. The most lucrative post on the northern plains, Fort Union affected national relations with a number of native tribes, such as the Assiniboine, Cree, Crow, Sioux, and Blackfeet. It also influenced American interactions with Great Britain, whose powerful Hudson's Bay Company competed for Upper Missouri furs.

Barbour shows how Indians, mixed-bloods, Hispanic-, African-, Anglo-, and other Euro-Americans living at Fort Union created a system of community law that helped maintain their unique frontier society. Many visiting artists and scientists produced a magnificent graphic and verbal record of events and people at the post, but the old-time world of fur traders and Indians collapsed during the Civil War when political winds shifted in favor of Lincoln's Republican Party. In 1865 Chouteau lost his trade license and sold Fort Union to new operators, who had little interest in maintaining the post's former culture.

About the Author
Barton Barbour, a historian with the National Park Service, resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is the author of Reluctant Frontiersman: James Ross Larkin on the Santa Fe Trail, 1856-1857 and editor of Tales of the Mountain Men.

Fort Union and the Upper Missouri Fur Trade,Barton H. Barbour,University of Oklahoma Press,0806132957,19th century,Fort Union (N.D.),Fort Union Region,Fort Union Region (N.D.),Frontier and pioneer life,Fur trade,History,History - U.S.,History: American,Military - United States,Military History - Modern,Missouri River Valley,North Dakota,U.S. Local History - Western United States,United States - 19th Century,United States - 19th Century/Old West,United States - State & Local - General,American history: c 1800 to c 1900,Distributive industries,Local history,Missouri,USA,Warfare & Defence,World history: c 1750 to c 1900,World history: from c 1900 -

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