Existing comment:
Exploration and Settlement of the Upper Louisiana Territory:
The Louisiana Purchase placed a large segment of the North American continent under the control of the United States. The young nation faced the challenge of settling and maintaining political control over the area, while many wished to exploit its natural resources.
By 1825, large numbers of frontiersmen had journeyed into the Upper Missouri territory to trap and trade for furs. The relationship between the traders, trappers and native tribes became tense and sometimes violent, because non-Indian trappers were taking away the livelihood of native trappers, traders, and middlemen. The American military was unable to keep pace with the rapid expansion of the fur trade, which grafted itself onto traditional Indian trade networks. The large fur companies realized that they would have to provide their own protection.
The American Fur Company, headquartered in St. Louis, attempted to control the Upper Missouri trade. In 1828, John Jacob Astor, the company's owner, ordered a fort to be built near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. The site became a major center for commerce between the traders and the surrounding tribes. Called Fort Union, it consisted of a stockade of 20-foot-high cottonwood logs with 30-foot stone blockhouses and gunports. Supplies and trade goods brought upriver from St. Louis were exchanged for furs. For over 40 years, Fort Union was the most important trading point in the Upper Missouri region. |