| Summary: | A Worthy Challenge to an Eastern Writer by James B. Connolly EDITOR'S NOTE: December 12, 1958, James B. Connolly of the North Dakota Automobile Club wrote a letter to John B. Oakes of the New York Times, commenting on an article by Oakes in the Times in which the writer had pointed out " the loss of scenic areas through overdevelopment." Jim Connolly has long been a most ardent student of the history of his state of North Dakota, and his letter to Times writer Oakes was full of so much historical data pertaining to our own far Northwest area that it bears reprinting here. So. Connolly's story of "underdevelopment": Reaching the mouth- of the Yellowstone was a highlight in the exploration trip of Pewis and Clark, and on the return, when Clark went south to explore the Yellowstone valley and Lewis explored northward, that point was designated as the place of rendezvous. The following year, 1807, Manual Pisa, St. Louis fur trader, "set poles for the mouth of the Yellowstone." Lisa, until his death in 1820, continued active in that vicinity, working through such organizations as the Missouri Fur Company. When the first Yellowstone Expedition was proposed in 1818, one of the staunch supporters was President James Monroe. This expedition failed to achieve its original goal, however. It was in 1822 that William Ashley, later to become a U. S. Senator, and Andrew Henry, formed the group that came to be known as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. The partners established a trading post at the mouth of the Yellowstone. Men associated with the enterprise included such fabulous characters as Mike Fink, who met his death at the Ashley and Plenry fort; those greatest mountain men, Jim Bridger and Tom Fitzpatnck; Hugh Glass, famed because of the grizzly bear episode; Etienne Provot (Provo, Utah), explorer and trapper; William Sublette, one of the great names in the fur trade; Jedediah S. Smith, ranked with Lewis and Clark for accomplishments in the field of exploration and others The Yellowstone Expedition of 1925 did get to the rnouth of the Yellowstone—and beyond—again with the whole-hearted approval of President Monroe. Its personnel included General Henry Atkinson, Benjamin O'Fallon, Indian agent and nephew of William Clark, and General William S. Plarney. The biographies of men like Toussaint Charbou- neau, whose wife was Sakakawea of Lewis and Clark fame; John Colter, the discoverer of Yellowstone Pari;; Edward Rose, the mixed blood interpreter, Crow Indian chief, hero and scalawag fof whose exploits Washington Irving wrote so entertainingly), and others, are interwoven with these various up-river expeditions. John Jacob Astor's ill-fated Astoria venture gave him an incentive to succeed on the Missouri and to oppose the powerful Canadian interests operating in F. S. territory. An opportunity came with his purchase of the Columbia Fur Company, formed by one-time Northwest Fur Company employees who had become American citizens. Principal among these was Kenneth McKenzic, who was placed in charge of the American Fur Company's upper Missouri outfit and who in 1928- 29 established the greatest post on the Missouri, Fort Onion, located at the mouth of the Yellowstone. McKenzie was the first American to establish a truce with the formidable Blackfoot tribe. It was he. also, who had a part in initiating steamboat travel on the upper Missouri. It was McKenzie, King of the Missouri, upon whom the hate and fear inspired by the might of the .American Fur Company was concentrated. When Bill Sublette and Robert Campbell late in 1832 established Fort William at the mouth of the Yellowstone, in opposition to the American Fur Company, it was McKenzie's tactics which led to an early abandonment of the new firm. There were other short-lived opposition posts established in the area. such as Fort Mortimer in 1843. Fort Union always was a mecca for all sorts and conditions of men. In 1832 there was George Catlin, on the first steamer to reach the mouth of the Yellowstone, who soon was to gain international fame for his Indian writings and pictures. In 1833 Prince Maximilian of Wied, world famed scientist and scholar, whose retinue included the Swiss Artist, Karl Bodmer, came to Fort Union. John James Audubon spent a summer at Fort Union in 1843. Beginning in 1840 FVjrt Union was a port of call for the eminent missionary Father Pierre Jean DeSmet. Sir St. George Gore of Ireland spent a couple of years in the western wilderness indulging in the sport of limiting. It was to Fort Union that he came, with a retinue of some 40 servants, and it was there he disposed of much of his equipment. In 1851 Fort Union was a gathering place for the railroad survey expedition headed by General Isaac I. Stevens, enroute to assume the duties as first governor of Washington Territory. And always there were Indians. Perhaps no other spot on the continent had as many Indians, from as many tribes, for as many years, as had the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone. There were Chippewa, Blackfeet, Crow, Sioux, Cree, Blood, Piegan, Assiniboine, Hidatsa, Mandan, Arikara, coming in in immense bands; but there were individuals from other nations such as Cheyenne, Iroquis, Flathead, Snake. The Missouri, especially as steamboat traffic had been extended to Fort Benton in Montana, continued as one'of the principal highways to the Far West. Another important route for immigrants was the northern road by way of Fort Union. Because of Indian treaties, by which lower forts were abandoned, the Fort Union route, either by water or laud, because increasingly important. It was in 1840 that Washington Irving, as had others, advocated establishment of a military post at tbf mouth of the Yellowstone. This did not materialize until after the Minnesota Massacre of 1862, with the first military stationed at Fort Union in 1864. It was 42 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited in Multi-page TIFF Editor.
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