Fort Union Trading Post Historic Structures Report (Part II) Historical Data Section

The preceding narrative dealt primarily with the structures that composed Fort William between 1829 and 1867. Of importance too are the things these structures contained. Collectively, the objects that were at Fort Union tell a great deal about the lives of the fort's employees, the Indians who traded there, and the appearance of the fort itself.

No attempt is made to document each item in the lists below. To do so would result in a documentation longer than the report itself. However, notice should be made of several sources that are extraordinarily rich. These include inventories of Fort Union made in the years 1831, 1832, 1845, 1846, 1847, and 1851. They also include requisitions for merchandise for such years as 1832 and 1846; Kenneth McKenzie's accounts, 1831-36; and an invoice of merchandise aboard the S. B. Assiniboin in 1834. All these documents are located at the Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis.

The dates shown on the following lists are but representative, i.e., while the list shows that red beads were inventoried in 1832, one may assume that red beads were to be found at Fort Union in other years as well. Also, there is some duplication; this has been kept to a minimum, but there were occasions when it was more convenient to repeat an item than to check through several hundred entries to see if it already appeared. [1]

Clothing

"Please to bear in mind that the men who migrate to this country are or ought to be large, strapping fellows, clothing should be selected of proportionate dimensions." -- 1832

"Here I am, a regular carter of Fort William, dressed in cow-skin pants, cowskin coat, buckskin shirt, wolf skin cap, red flannel undershirt, and a blue check shirt over that, stepping along behind my old horse and cart." -- Larpenteur

"Chiefs Coats can be made here in sufficient quantity if you can bring a little more lace the large round Button add much to the appearance of the coat and costs but little more than the other." -- 1834

Household Furniture, Kitchen Equipment, Etc.

"As our tin smith will now be able to furnish the river with tin kettles please inform us the quantity of each size acquired for your post & its dependencies." -- 1835

Blankets, Cloth, Handkerchiefs, Etc.

"Keep a tight hand on your English goods such as Blkts cloth guns and all other Costly articles." -- 1845

"Woolen goods of coarse fabric such as blue and red strouds, Blankets etc. constitute the principal and most costly articles -- they are almost exclusively of English manufacture, and tho' coarse, are good." -- William Gordon

"In this important article we have to contend with the cheap Blankets of the Hudson's Bay Co. quality should therefore be carefully looked to." -- 1832

"Scarlet cloth of this year is the most inferior ever brought to U. Missouri." -- 1832

"handkfs generally rec d have been so diminutive as be useless & unsaleable." -- 1832

"the mountain men buy shawls to ornament their Indian saddles with the border."

Beads

"No other kind of Beads then those now ordered can be traded with the Indians of this district, strict attention is therefore requested." -- 1832

"Fancy beads are for the whites or half-breeds." -- 1832

"I have this moment received an Express from Fort Union by which it appears that the Bead supply to that place as white are all Blue. This is a serious mistake as to its effect upon the trade." -- 1849

Ornaments, Games, Library, Personal Items

"Return what books you have read by first safe convenience." -- 1834

"Be so good as to have sent up the spy glass. . . and the Clarinett for Fort Union with a few reeds." -- 1849

"Can 15 or 20 Silver Astor medals be struck, and sent to me, the size and thickness of Government medals would be most approved." -- 1833

"the medals. . . are in the hands of the die-sinker, who I hope will give us a good likeness de notre estimable Grand-papa. I wrote to Washington about them, and the War office made no objection to our having these ornaments made -- Remember they are ornaments!! not medals." -- Crooks

"For Mr. McKenzies coat of mail I have sent to England, for nothing of that sort is to be found here. His fusil a six coups is ordered from Rochester." -- 1832

Transportation, Livestock, Horse Furniture

"Harris and I went across the river on a ferry flat, taking with us a cart and a most excellent mule." -- Audubon

"Mr. Denig has indulged a new fancy: Three splendid wolfhounds, in new harness with bells, hitched to a cariole! This one-seated sled I am now to give a coat of paint; the last supply of oil at the fort is to be lavished on it." -- Kurz

Hardware, Construction Materials

The round- and square-headed axes "are for Indian women and if they have any but good axes their whole time is consumed in getting wood and consequently very few robes are pressed." -- 1832

"3 large locks for Fort gates on principle of those used in Iron chests or prison doors having at least three bolts & placed far asunder." -- 1832

Weapons, Ammunition, Accoutrements

"The German full stock guns you may recollect we bought 60 of at 350 cts ea. the fellow cheated us sending one half to sample the other half rubbish, old half stocked shabby mean things as ever were looked at." -- McKenzie

"Mr. Sanford has promised to get loan of cannon from ordnance Department. Confer with him thereon." -- 1832

"I have no N. W. Guns under 10 & sell the German at 6." -- 1834

Office Supplies

"Some quills ret d herewith (part of this years supply) cannot be coaxed to write. Could they speak, they would tell a piteous tale of their companions' condition." -- 1832

Alcohol

"Wine I would send with pleasure, but it would freeze, lose its virtues, & be valueless." -- McKenzie

"I will trade wine for robes in any quantity." -- Hamilton, 1834

Blacksmith tools in use, 1831

Carpenter tools, 1831

Cooper tools, 1831

Dairy, 1845

Mason's Tools, 1845

Tinmans Tools, 1845

Blacksmith's Tools, 1845

Coopers Tools, 1845

Carpenter's Tools, 1845

Tailor's Tools, 1846

Tools. (In addition to the above craftsmen's tools.)

Food

Paints etc.

Robes, Furs, Etc.

Medicines

"Salts, castor oil, & essence of peppermint are our usual specifics and it requires but little skill in administering them: in cases arising from amatory passions the remedies are equally simple." -- 1833

List of Medicines, March 1833

Miscellaneous

Specimens and Zoo.

In 1849 Denig wrote to Culbertson that he was progressing with the animal specimens and had already prepared "the White Wolf, the Beavers, the War Eagle, the Caputi Argali or Antelopes head. . . which will be in order to put into every museum you think proper." [2] This undertaking by Denig was but one instance of Fort Union's long record of interest in and assistance to science. From the beginning, it was a policy of the American Fur Company to give every possible aid to scientists, artists, and adventurers. These visitors to the upper Missouri could repay the kindnesses by thinking and writing favorably in their reports to the world. Maximilian, Audubon, and many others received the royal treatment. Denig's furs (see above) became a part of the collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

Audubon, in 1843, collected petrified wood in the nearby hills, but was not impressed with its quality. The company employees gave him a pair of deer horns and a bow of elk horn. They also brought in both live animals and skins for the Audubon party to paint. As a handsome souvenir, Kipp presented Audubon with "a complete dress of a Blackfoot warrior, ornamented with many tufts of Indian hair from scalps, and also with a saddle." [3]

Another avid collector, with Denig's help, was Rudolph Kurz. His journal describes his acquisitions: a red stone pipe bowl, a large and lustrous black buffalo horn, a necklace made of 30 bear's claws, and a medicine doll. He described the last as "a stuffed doll made of the dressed skin of an animal. It is about 2 feet high and adorned with the usual ornaments children wear, i.e. bracelets, and necklace of 'dove's eggs,' made of blue and white porcelain." A prized possession was a buffalo robe that Denig gave him:

The hair is as fine as silk, the under side like velvet. Across the middle of it runs a broad band, decorated with beads, porcupine quills, and tiny bells that hang from rosettes. He got it from the crows. Though it is so smooth, I found it impossible to adorn it further with fine drawing, still less with drawings on a large scale.

Kurz mentioned in passing one or two objects of interest about the fort, such as the set of elk horns fastened to a bastion wall. These may have been the same ones "of remarkable size" that Joe Picotte brought in one day. Kurz noted too that "a number of Indian trinkets are displayed in the reception room and there are, besides, a stuffed Rocky Mountain sheep (female bighorn), black-tailed deer, large white owl, prairie hens, and pheasants." One of the Indian "trinkets" that Denig owned was "A military headdress containing 36 eagle feathers."

Fort Union also sported a zoo from time to time. Besides supplying live animals for Pierre Chouteau's zoo in St. Louis, the traders at Union kept a few creatures in captivity. During the time Kurz was there a grizzly and an eagle were "confined behind the powder house." On one occasion the bear broke loose, but was recaptured with lassos. One of the workmen gave Kurz "a real live red fox" for him to paint. The Indians were quite taken by Denig's parrot. They did not understand what he said but were highly amused to see a bird speak in any language. [4]

1. Chouteau Coll., Mo. H.S., Folder 1831, June-Aug., "Inventory of Stock . . . at Fort Union 10 June 1831;" Folder 1832, June-Aug., "Inventory of Stock at Fort Union June 18, 1832;" American Fur Company Ledger Book JJ, "Inventories," for inventories in 1845 and 1847; American Fur Company Ledger Book LL, "Inventories for 1846-51;" American Fur Company Ledger Book Y, Invoice of Supplies aboard S.B. Assiniboin 1834; American Fur Company Ledger Book V, Fort Union's Account 1831-36; Folder 1832, Jan.-Feb., An order for merchandise for Fort Union, Spring, 1832. All other sources used appear in the bibliography.

2. Chouteau Coll., Mo. H.S., Folder 1849, Denig to Culbertson, Dec. 1, 1849.

3. Audubon, 2, 35 and 127.

4. Kurz, pp. 121, 127, 128, 128n, 145, 153, 209, 245, 257-59, 269, and 315; Sunder, p. 75.