Cabanne's Trading Post was established in 1822 by 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 ...

as Fort Robidoux near present-day Dodge Park in

North Omaha North Omaha is a community area in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States. It is bordered by Cuming and Dodge Streets on the south, Interstate 680 on the north, North 72nd Street on the west and the Missouri River and Carter Lake, Iowa on the ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, United States. It was named for the influential

fur trapper A fur is a Softness, soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all mammals. It consists of a combination of oily #Guard hair, guard hair on top and thick #Down hair, underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching t ...

Joseph Robidoux. Soon after it was opened, the post was called the French Company or Cabanné's Post, for the ancestry and name of its operator, Jean-Pierre Cabanné, who was born and raised among the French community 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 ...

. Located 10 miles north of

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

; six miles south of Fort Atkinson, and 2 miles south of Fort Lisa, Cabanné's Post was an important link in relations between the United States and

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

tribes in the Louisiana Purchase. The Cabanné Archaeological Site was listed on 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 1972.

History

Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied Prince Alexander Philipp Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (23 September 1782 – 3 February 1867) was a German explorer, ethnologist and natural history, naturalist. He led a pioneering expedition to southeast Brazil between 1815 and 1817, from which t ...

, who toured 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 ...

extensively, visited the Post in 1823 and wrote highly of it, praising Cabanné and the accommodations. Part of the success of Cabanné's Post was that it provisioned the garrison at nearby Fort Atkinson (1819–27) so had a steady business. Cabanné recruited traders and trappers for the American Fur Company, which expanded under

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 ...

to monopolize the American fur trade. Among Cabanne's recruits was Joseph Marie La Barge, namesake of

La Barge, Wyoming La Bargé is a town in Lincoln County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 413 at the 2020 census. It is approximately 22.5 miles from Big Piney. History The town is named for Joseph Marie La Barge, Senior a French-Canadian voyageur t ...

. Cabanné operated the post until 1833. Consisting by then of a row of storehouses, shops, and houses, the post in 1833 was taken over by

Joshua Pilcher Joshua Pilcher (March 15, 1790 in Culpeper County, Virginia – June 5, 1843 in St. Louis, Missouri) was an American fur trader and Indian agent. After the death of Manuel Lisa in 1820, Pilcher became the owner and president of the Missouri Fur Co ...

. He managed it until the American Fur Company folded its operations about 1840 into those at

Fontenelle's Post Fontenelle's Post, first known as Pilcher's Post, and the site of the later city of Bellevue, was built in 1822 in the Nebraska Territory by Joshua Pilcher, then president of the Missouri Fur Company. Located on the west side of the Missouri Ri ...

at present-day

Bellevue, Nebraska Bellevue ( French for "beautiful view"; previously named Belleview) is a suburban city in Sarpy County, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area, and had a population of 64,176 as of the 2020 census, ...

, as the fur trade had declined in economic importance.

Peter A. Sarpy Peter Abadie Sarpy (1804 – January 4, 1865) was a French-American entrepreneur and fur trader. He was the owner and operator of several fur trading posts essential to the development of the Nebraska Territory and a thriving ferry business. Also ...

later took over management of Fontenelle's Post. The site of Cabanné's Trading Post is north of present-day Dodge Park by

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. Cabanné's Post Archaeological Site is listed on the

and is a featured site on the

Lewis and Clark Scenic Byway Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohea ...

. A house built on the site and in the style of Cabanné's House in St. Louis is a listed historic site."Cabanne House"
St. Louis Parks Department. Retrieved 8/12/11.

References

Related publications

*''Rock Bottom: A History of Florence, Nebraska'' by Adam Fletcher Sasse, Olympia, WA: CommonAction, 2024. *''Dictionary of American History'' by

James Truslow Adams James Truslow Adams (October 18, 1878 – May 18, 1949) was an American writer and historian. He was a freelance author who helped to popularize the latest scholarship about American history and his three-volume history of New England is well r ...

, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940. *Jensen, M. (1999) ''The Fontenelle and Cabanné Trading Posts: The History and Archeology of Two Missouri River Sites, 1822-1838'', Nebraska State Historical Society.

External links

Lewis and Clark Scenic Byway
Community Directory and Travel Guide
"A history of Cabanne's Trading Post in North Omaha"
by Adam Fletcher Sasse for NorthOmahaHistory.com {{Fur Trade in Nebraska 1822 establishments in Indian Territory Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Nebraska Buildings and structures in Omaha, Nebraska Forts in Nebraska History of North Omaha, Nebraska History of United States expansionism Landmarks in North Omaha, Nebraska Missouri River National Register of Historic Places in Omaha, Nebraska Pre-statehood history of Nebraska Trading posts in Nebraska American Fur Company Forts along the Missouri River Archaeological sites in Nebraska

History

See also

References

Related publications

External links