Page:A Brief History of South Dakota.djvu/59

 CHAPTER IX

information brought back by Lewis and Clark regarding the vast extent of the fur-bearing country through which they had traveled, caused great activity among the fur merchants of St. Louis, and they immediately organized for the purpose of trade with the Indian tribes upon the head waters of the Missouri River and in the Rocky Mountains. The most prominent of these traders were Pierre Chouteau and Manuel Lisa, the men of whom we learned in the story of the return of Big White. They were prompt in entering the country and claiming prior rights in its occupancy.

The great king of all the American fur trade was John Jacob Astor of New York city. When the reports of Lewis and Clark's successful trip came to Astor, he immediately determined to establish a great fur depot on the Pacific coast at the mouth of the Columbia River, and to dispatch two expeditions to that point, one to go by sea around South America, the other to go overland. The overland expedition was placed in charge of a famous fur merchant of that time, Walter Price Hunt of Jersey City.

Hunt began to recruit his men for the enterprise at 53