Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains: Canadian Traders Among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738-1818

This is a two-part book. Part One is an overview of the English and Canadian fur trade. It explains how the Hudson Bay Company, North West Company, and others conducted the trade and competed with one another. It provides considerable detail about the French, English, and Indian peoples involved in the trade. There is some discussion of the American impact on the fur trade after the Louisiana Purchase. Part Two contains excerpts from journals kept by the fur traders: John Macdonell, David Thompson, Francois-Antoine Larocque, and Charles McKenzie. Not only is this a good source book for people interested in the fur trade; it will also interest some Lewis and Clark fans. Larocque was at the Mandan and Hidatas villages on the Missouri at the same time as the Corps of Discovery; the interchange between the English and the Americans is noted in the journals of both. Larocque came down the Yellowstone River horseback from the future site of Billings, Montana, to the mouth of the river in 1805. Clark came down the river by boat in 1806. This is an academic text and provides many helpful footnotes. It takes some effort to read but it is worth the effort.

This is a well written and engaging look into the importance of the Mandan and Hidatsa Indian villages as a pivotal point in trade systems during the late 1700's through early 1800's. Being located along the Missouri River in present day North Dakota, the Mandan/Hidatsa Indians traded horses, robes and furs to Canadian Fur Companies in return for guns and ammunition. They would then trade these goods for other commodities from various Northern Plains Indian Tribes, who previously may have traded with other tribes or the Spaniards further south. In part one, the authors give a lengthy but excellent and relevant chronological introduction as to the fur trade history of this geographical area. Part two includes five journals (or excerpts) of some of these Northwest Fur Company traders' first hand accounts depicting life as it was: John Macdonell's descriptions of the Indians, geography and trade in the 1790's; David Thompson's narrative describing his harrowing 1797 journey from Fort Assiniboine to the Mandan villages in the dead of winter; Larocque's two narratives, the "Missouri (1804)" and "Yellowstone (1805)" Journals, the latter of which, in the company with Crow Indians, he may possibly have been the first white man to descend the Yellowstone River, pre-dating William Clark by more than a year. The final narrative is of Charles McKenzie's four journeys to the Mandan villages (1804-1806), the first two in company with Larocque's expeditions. This is a fascinating read for fur trade enthusiasts and/or those whose interests are in early western exploration.