Page:A Brief History of South Dakota.djvu/60

54 Montreal, securing there many of the best-trained fur men from the Hudson Bay and Northwestern employment. He went on to Mackinaw, where he secured other trained wilderness rangers, and thence went to St. Louis, where he purposed to lay in his supplies and employ additional men. He reached St. Louis in the autumn of 1810. There he met with the most violent opposition from the St. Louis merchants, who were very jealous of Astor. They refused to sell Hunt any goods and used every means to prevent men from going upon his errand.

In this opposition no one was more active than the Spaniard, Manuel Lisa. It was important to Hunt to secure a guide and interpreter who was thoroughly familiar with the upper Missouri, and he found such a man in Pierre Dorion, Jr., son of the old guide to Lewis and Clark. Dorion was a half Sioux, born at Yankton and familiar with all of the Indians residing on the Missouri River. However, he was in the employment of Lisa, and that made it particularly hard for Hunt to secure his services. It was the policy of all of the fur merchants to keep their employés in debt to them, and Dorion was deeply indebted to Lisa for whisky he had purchased and consumed. Lisa was not slow to see that Hunt was tampering with his man, and he coaxed, scolded, and finally threatened Dorion's arrest for the whisky debt. This had the desired effect, and Dorion refused to accompany Hunt.

To keep his men away from the influence of the St. Louis merchants, Hunt moved his expedition some 400 miles up the Missouri late in the autumn, and there