Robert Campbell pushed east from the Rocky Mountains, while his partner, William Sublette came west upon the steamboat Otto from St. Louis. The two fur traders reunited today in 1833 near the mouth of the Yellowstone River and began erecting a fort to house the Campbell and Sublette Fur Company. Construction of the fort was fully underway in September, and was open for business on Christmas Day. Fort William, named after William Sublette, was constructed only two and a half miles from the formidable American Fur Company at Fort Union.

Although trading was slow at Fort William, the small company posed a threat to the American Fur Company. Kenneth McKenzie, head of the American Fur Company, did not take kindly to Fort William and was determined to run it out of business. Fort William had a small victory, however, when Chief Gauche of the Assiniboine chose to trade at Fort William shortly after it opened.

Gauche had 200 buffalo robes and many peltries to trade, but that night, the tribe was more interested in trading for liquor. The tribes were locked up in the fort, and Charles Larpenteur, a carter for Fort William, commented on the events in his journal. “Imagine the noise–upward of 500 Indians, with their squaws, all drunk as they could be, locked up in the small space.” Trading did not stop until late that night, and was resumed late the next afternoon with the trading of goods. Again, trading went late into the night, and early the next morning, the Indians departed. Chief Gauche stayed longer, however, and was invited to visit with Campbell, who had hopes of establishing a trade relationship with the tribe.

According to Larpenteur, however, Gauche was “a queer kind of grizzly-bear fellow, very odd in his way,” and as Campbell spoke to Gauche, he merely sat in silence. “After quite a lengthy speech, during which the old fellow made no reply, not even by a grunt,” said Larpenteur, “he merely said, ‘Are you a-going to give me some salt before I leave?’ This being all the satisfaction Mr. Campbell received for his long speech, he could not refrain from laughing. The old devil got his salt, with some other small presents, and then departed without leaving any sign of his intention to return. Thus ended the trade.”

Trade remained slow for Fort William through the winter of 1833-1834 and McKenzie began buying furs for four times what they were worth in his determination to finish Fort William. His efforts were successful and in 1834, Campbell finally sold out to the American Fur Company, though this was much to McKenzie’s dismay. McKenzie had hoped to run the fort and Campbell completely into the ground, thereby making an example of Fort William to discourage any other small companies from trying to compete.

Larpenteur was with Fort William through its entire short existence and kept a journal of his time of employment with Campbell and Sublette. He signed on with Campbell in the spring of 1833 for 18 months during which we would be paid $296. His contract also stipulated that “under no circumstances should he grumble at the hardships of travel and living in the Indian country.” Larpenteur adhered to that rule through the end of his contract with Campbell and later became a clerk at Fort Union. He remained in the trading business for nearly forty years before retiring on May 14, 1871.

By Tessa Sandstrom

Sources:
Milo Milton Quaife (ed.). Forty Years a Fur Trader on the Upper Missouri: The Personal Narrative of Charles Larpenteur, 1833-1872 (Chicago, 1933).
Pfaller, Louis. “Charles Larpenteur.” North Dakota History, 32(1): 4-17.
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