Big Business on the Missouri River
The fur trade was a booming business in the wilderness west of St. Louis. Trapping primarily took place on the upper Missouri River in the Dakotas and Montana. Furs were then sent down the river to St. Louis and sold.
In 1809, William Clark and Manuel Lisa, a Spanish fur trader and explorer, helped create the Missouri Fur Co., one of the first fur trading companies in Missouri. Its headquarters were in St. Louis.
The Missouri Fur Co. was eventually absorbed by John Jacob Astor's American Fur Co., based in New York. Pierre Chouteau Jr. and Bernard Pratt operated the company's western division in St. Louis. They later bought out their portion of the business and established Pierre Chouteau Jr. and Co.
Yellowstone Paves the Way
The American Fur Co. pioneered the use of steamboats on the Missouri River. This revolutionized the fur trade, which had previously relied on small keelboats to transport furs.
The most famous fur trade steamboat was the Yellowstone. A boatyard in Kentucky designed and built the boat to handle the treacherous waters of the Missouri River. Her maiden voyage from St. Louis, Mo., began on April 16, 1831. On June 9 she arrived at Fort Tecumseh, S.D., 600 miles farther up the Missouri River than any previous