States. The western rivers were alive with noisy little steamboats, one of which had recently ascended the Missouri to the mouth of Platte River.[1] Roads were being opened everywhere, and the Erie Canal was under construction from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. The frontier of settlement was in the western part of Missouri, whence a trail had already been opened to Santa Fe, while others led far into the great plains toward the west and northwest.
The American fur trade of the far west.[2] Beyond the frontiers the trapper hunted the beaver streams, and the trader carried his tempting wares to the Indian villages, much as they had done twenty, fifty, or a hundred years before. Yet in some respects great changes had occurred in the western fur trade. From the time of Lewis and Clark's return and the opening of the Missouri River country, American traders had shown a strong disposition to organize for the better regulation of the business. The Missouri Fur Company, founded in 1808 for the purpose of controlling the trade of the Missouri River, was the pioneer of such associations in the United States, and it soon made St. Louis a great fur-trading centre.[3] But, while reasonably successful
- ↑ The Western Engineer, employed as part of Long's exploring equipment in 1819.
- ↑ Under the above title Captain H. M. Chittenden has recently given us a remarkably complete, accurate, and interesting history of the fur trade throughout the great region west of the Mississippi. His book, which cost years of patient research, was published in 1902 (3 vols.).
- ↑ Astor tried to combine with this company, but was unable to do so.
