Notes on Montana Fur Trade
Part One
Looking backward, we see that the fur trade in Montana was carried on in three stages – but not the result of any plan; it just happened that way.
The first is the early American effort, starting when Lewis and Clark observed and made note of beaver and other fur-bearing animals. They mentioned three good places for trading posts: the mouth of the Yellowstone, the mouth of the Marias, and at Three Forks.
The captains made the same mistake that was to hurt all early attempts at getting furs here. They assumed the conditions would be the same as in the east and around the Great Lakes, where the Indians eagerly trapped and prepared pelts, and where they used the streams in transporting furs. The mountain Indians cared little about trapping small furs, and they traveled by land rather than water. This meant that the Americans would have to do their own trapping, at least until the Indians became interested, and also meant it was useless to locate posts only where they could be reached by boats.
On the way home, Lewis and Clark met several groups coming up the Missouri to the mountains for furs. One of their men, John Coulter, got his release in order to return with two trappers. It is believed he led them to the Laurel- Red Lodge vicinity, but no report was ever was ever written of their experience. The next spring Coulter started home and again met traders who induced him to guide them back to the fur country.
He led this party, headed by Manual Lisa, to the mouth of the big horn, where they built the first trading post (and first building) in Montana, in 1807. When no Indians came with furs, Coulter was sent out to find them and advertise Lisa’s post. He probably went up the Big Horn, then east and south of Yellowstone Park, and through part of the park as he returned to Lisa’s. This was an important exploring trip, but a failure otherwise.
Seeing that his own men would have to do the trapping, Lisa started to send out small parties. Coulter and John Potts went to the Three Forks area, where they found beaver, encountered the Blackfeet, who killed Potts and made Coulter run for his life. Lisa tried again in two years (1810) with a bigger force, but the Blackfeet ran them out with heavy losses (including George Drewyer) before they could complete a fortified post. The survivors led by Andrew Henry, withdrew toward the south, to try the upper Snake River. Disappointed in the trapping, they returned to Lisa’s, only to find the post abandoned, and a note saying that the project had been given up, and for them to return down the Missouri. This marked the end of the first American effort.
Rumors of trouble with England, which developed into the War of 1812, made Americans hesitant about venturing too close to land held by the British. This proved wise as the English forces did seize an American post Astoria, Oregon Country, and could have done the same with establishments in the mountains. Therefore, further American undertaking had to wait until after the war, which lasted into 1815.
