Fort Pierre Chouteau
Fort Pierre Chouteau Site | |
![]() Fields at the site | |
Nearest city | Fort Pierre, South Dakota |
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Coordinates | 44°23′21″N 100°23′28″W / 44.38917°N 100.39111°W |
NRHP reference No. | 76001756[1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | April 3, 1976[2] |
Designated NHL | July 17, 1991[1] |
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
It was for many years the largest trading post in the northern Great Plains 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 in 1991.[1][3]
Setting
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Fort_Pierre_on_the_Missouri._Painted_by_Karl_Bodmer%2C_who_visited_the_fort_in_1833.jpg/260px-Fort_Pierre_on_the_Missouri._Painted_by_Karl_Bodmer%2C_who_visited_the_fort_in_1833.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/The_trading_post_Fort_Pierre%2C_South_Dakota%2C1857._From_painting_by_General_Alfred_Sully.jpg/260px-The_trading_post_Fort_Pierre%2C_South_Dakota%2C1857._From_painting_by_General_Alfred_Sully.jpg)
Fort Pierre Chouteau was located just north of the confluence of the Missouri and
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.[3]
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.
The next major non-native visitors were members of the American Lewis and Clark Expedition, who camped in the area in 1806. They were commissioned by the United States government to explore and survey major areas of the Louisiana Purchase 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 and took over the post in Michilimackinac, Michigan after her husband's death. The development of the trading post marked the start of permanent white settlement of the Missouri/Bad River area.[4]
In 1822, former fur traders for the privately held, British
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
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 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 established a presence in the region. [3]
After closure
Fort Pierre Chouteau became part of
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 in 1976 and became a National Historic Landmark 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.[4]
See also
- List of National Historic Landmarks in South Dakota
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Stanley County, South Dakota
References
- ^ a b c "Fort Pierre Chouteau Site". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2009-06-14. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination". National Park Service. December 1990.
- ^ a b "Management Plan for Fort Pierre Chouteau Historic Site". State of South Dakota. Retrieved 2017-05-15.
External links
Media related to Fort Pierre Chouteau at Wikimedia Commons