The fur trade worked thanks to American Indians. They harvested buffalo and other furbearers and bartered them to white traders. For a time, this system benefited both the traders and American Indians.
Traders relied on the American Indians to bring in large quantities of furs to places like Fort Pierre Chouteau and its many outposts. In central South Dakota, the Arikara and Sioux supplied most of the buffalo robes and furs to the traders. The local tribes knew the land, were familiar with seasonal movements of game, and were expert hunters and hide preservers. It was more profitable to provide rifles, traps, and knives to American Indians than to hunt and trap them on their own.
American Indians would trade furs for European items such as knives, guns, and beads. With resources depleted, the fur trade was all but over in the 1860s. Its legacies, both positive and negative, remain.
Sponsored by the South Dakota State Historical Society, a Preserve America grant, and the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad Corporation.
Images courtesy of the South Dakota State Historical Society.
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