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Yellowstone Trading Posts Yellowstone River Fur Trade Forts and Posts Fur Trade Forts and Posts on the Yellowstone River (Montana)

Historical Background.

Middle Yellowstone (Big Horn to Powder) Focus on Crows - separate market entity v. Blackfeet Difference Crows and Blackfeet. Crows initially trading with Mandan, Hidatsa, nomadic v. gardner Crow seeking alliance with White, v. Sioux and Cheyenne, and Blackfoot Phases of fur trade by Trader entities. Capitol, Technology, Steamboat. Competition about trading. Difference Crows and Blackfeet. Lack of volume, no alcohol, Agents living with Crows, theives, beggars, Crows see trader as resource White see trader Movement of the forts, near winter quarters. Sioux attack, b/c of Crow, only one tribe at atime, pressure, difficulty of defense,

Capitol uses Fort Van Buren (1835 to 1842) was established by the American Fur Comapny in 1835 on the south (right) bank of the Yellowstone River, in the area around the mouth of Rosebud Creek.[1] Fort Van Buren was one of series of forts used as trading posts on the Yellowstone River by the American Fur Company. Fort Van Buren was built in 1835 to replace Fort Cass (1832-1835), located a short distance below the where the Big Horn River enters into the Yellowstone River.[2][3] In 1842 Fort Van Buren was itself replaced by Fort Alexander, also on the Yellowstone River, but located on Adams Prairie, about 20 miles above the site of Fort Van Buren.[4] The construction of the fort in 1935 was overseen by Stephen Tulloch, a agent for the American Fur Company.[5] It was named for Martin Van Buren, who was Andrew Jackson's vice president in 1835, later becoming the 8th president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. Fort Van Buren, like Fort Cass and Fort Alexander was built by the American Fur Company to encourage trade with the Crow Indians, who were the most powerful tribe in the area south of the Yellowstone River during the period the forts were in existence. During this period of time, the American Fur Company was locked in competition with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company for the Crow Trade in furs. Fort Van Buren was built to replace Fort Cass, sometimes referred to as Tulloch's Fort, which had been also located on the Yellowstone, but upstream -- about 2 or 3 miles below the mouth of the Big Horn River. The purpose of Fort Van Buren was to continue the fur trade Tullock had instigated with the Crow tribe of Indians during the time Fort Cass was in existence. Tullock had successfully established this trade, by inducing the Crows to shift their allegiance from the Rocky Mountain Fur Company to the American Fur Company. Tulloch had skillfully caused this transfer of allegiance by sponsoring the machinations of the infamous mountain man James Beckworth, who at Tulloch's instigation had insinuated himself into the Crow tribe, intermarried with them and become an adopted member. After Charles Larpenteur burnt the fort in 1842[6] the precise site of the fort was lost, possibly because the land on which it stood was consumed by a channel change of the Yellowstone River. The location is now usually cited to be "near (present day) Rosebud, Montana".[7]

References

Category:Trading posts in the United States Category:Rivers of Montana Category:Yellowstone River Category:Forts Category:forts in United States Category:Forts in Montana Category:Forts in the American Old West