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Fort Pierre Chouteau, also just Fort Pierre, was a major trading post and military outpost in the mid-19th century on the west bank of the
Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...
in what is now central
South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...
. Established in 1832 by Pierre Chouteau, Jr. of
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...
, whose family were major fur traders, this facility operated through the 1850s. It was for many years the largest trading post in the northern
Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...
and a major trans-shipment point for buffalo furs. The archaeological remains of the fort, located in Stanley County just north of the town of Fort Pierre, were declared a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
in 1991.


Setting

Fort Pierre Chouteau was located just north of the confluence of the Missouri and
Bad Bad or BAD may refer to: Common meanings *Evil, the opposite of moral good * Erroneous, inaccurate or incorrect * Unhealthy, or counter to well-being *Antagonist, the threat or obstacle of moral good Acronyms * BAD-2, a Soviet armored trolley ...
rivers, on a low terrace above the west bank of the Missouri River. This site was of strategic importance for several reasons. It served as a midpoint among the outposts of the
American Fur Company The American Fur Company (AFC) was a prominent American company that sold furs, skins, and buffalo robes. It was founded in 1808 by John Jacob Astor, a German Americans, German immigrant to the United States. During its heyday in the early 19th c ...
(AFC), which monopolized trade on the upper Missouri by 1830, and as an endpoint for a major overland shipment route to
Fort Laramie Fort Laramie (; founded as Fort William and known for a while as Fort John) was a significant 19th-century trading post, diplomatic site, and military installation located at the confluence of the Laramie and the North Platte Rivers. They joi ...
in present-day eastern
Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...
. This fort was built as a replacement for Fort Tecumseh, located on what is now LaFramboise Island closer to the river confluence. The island fort had been built in 1817 by the Columbia Fur Company, the AFC's predecessor in the regional fur trade. That fort was poorly sited and subject to flooding from the river. Some of its timber elements were reused in the construction of Fort Pierre Chouteau.


History

The first people of European descent to encounter Native Americans in the Fort Pierre area were a pair of French explorers, the La Vérendrye brothers, during their 1743–44 expedition. They buried an inscribed lead plate on a hill near the confluence of the Missouri and Bad Rivers, claiming the territory for the King as part of
New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...
. The next major non-native visitors were members of the American
Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...
, who camped in the area in 1804. They were commissioned by the United States government to explore and survey major areas of the
Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...
of 1803. In 1817 trader Joseph La Framboise, Jr., son of parents from Quebec and Ontario who were fur traders in the region, established a French-Canadian trading post here. His mother was
Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...
and took over the post in
Michilimackinac Michilimackinac ( ) is derived from an Ottawa Ojibwe name for present-day Mackinac Island and the region around the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.. Early settlers of North America applied the term to the entire region ...
,
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
after her husband's death. The development of the trading post marked the start of permanent white settlement of the Missouri/Bad River area. In 1822, former fur traders for the privately held, British
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
established the Columbia Fur Company in competition. They built Fort Tecumseh as well as other outposts on the Upper Missouri. In 1827
John Jacob Astor John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-born American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor. Astor made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by exporting History of opiu ...
through his
American Fur Company The American Fur Company (AFC) was a prominent American company that sold furs, skins, and buffalo robes. It was founded in 1808 by John Jacob Astor, a German Americans, German immigrant to the United States. During its heyday in the early 19th c ...
, a near monopoly, purchased the assets of the Columbia Fur Company. The AFC turned management of the Upper Missouri Operation (UMO) over to Bernard Pratte and Pierre Chouteau, Jr. of
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...
. When Chouteau ascended the Missouri River in 1832 on the maiden voyage of the steamship ''
Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...
'', he ordered construction of what was formally dubbed Fort Pierre in his honor. Astor retired from the fur business in 1834, and Chouteau purchased the Fort Pierre operation. He eventually bought out Pratte and became the principal operator of this post and its fur trade. Fort Pierre and the surrounding community rapidly developed as a major center for Chouteau's trading business. In addition to its central location for company logistics, it was also generally surrounded by a settlement of Lakota
Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...
and other
Plains Indian Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nations peoples who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of North ...
tribes, who traded buffalo furs for American and European goods. At its height in the 1850s, the company was part of a complex trading network extending from the
Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...
to the Eastern United States and Europe: it shipped 100,000 fur robes through Fort Pierre. In the 1850s the American bison or buffalo was subjected to extreme over-huntings, caused in part by the fur trade and high world demand, but also spurred by the advance of American railroads into the western frontier. There was an increase in the number of men who hunted the animals for sport and killed as many as they could shoot. Pierre Chouteau sold the fort that bore his name to the United States government in 1854. The government found the facilities inadequate and abandoned them in 1857 in favor of
Fort Randall The Fort Randall Military Post was established in 1856 to help keep peace on the frontier. It was located on the south side of the Missouri River in South Dakota, just below the present site of the Fort Randall Dam. History The site for the ...
to the south. Salvageable buildings and materials were transported to Fort Randall, and any surviving timbers were used to fuel steamboats on the river. The trade in buffalo furs effectively ended by the early 1860s, when the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
established a presence in the region.


After closure

Fort Pierre Chouteau became part of reservation lands assigned to the Sioux in the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868. When the
Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of ...
was partitioned in 1889 and the Sioux reservation was reduced in size, the fort's land became available for
homesteading Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by subsistence agriculture, home preservation of food, and may also involve the small scale production of textiles, clothing, and craft work for household use or sale. H ...
. It was used as pasture land until 1930, when it was acquired by the state of South Dakota. The state property was further enlarged by a land gift in 1970.
Archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
activity in the 1980s identified a number of elements of the fort's structure, confirming its location. The site is now an open meadow just north of the city limits of Fort Pierre, on the north side of Fort Chouteau Road. It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1976 and became a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
in 1991. A stone marker is located near the center of the site, accessible by a gravel path. There are no visible remains of the fort's buildings and infrastructure. The state is developing plans for improved access and interpretation at the site.


See also

*
List of National Historic Landmarks in South Dakota The List of National Historic Landmarks in South Dakota contains the landmarks designated by the U.S. Federal Government for the U.S. state of South Dakota. There are 16 National Historic Landmarks (NHLs) in South Dakota, one of which is sha ...
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Stanley County, South Dakota


References


External links

{{National Register of Historic Places in South Dakota National Historic Landmarks in South Dakota Geography of Stanley County, South Dakota Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in South Dakota South Dakota in the American Civil War
Pierre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...
National Register of Historic Places in Stanley County, South Dakota American Fur Company Forts along the Missouri River Military installations established in 1832 1832 establishments in the United States