The Washburn leader., 1906-02-16

Lean county, N. D., in 1916, and soon
became an important trading point in
the upper Missouri country; and, has
an eventful history. In 1860 an op-
position post was built near Berthold
by Charles Larpenteur, Henry Boiler
and3 Jefferson Smith, ex-employees Of
1the American Fur company, who
named the new post Fort Atkinson.
This, post was used by them one year
and then abandoned, owing to the
panic caused at the beginning of the
war Of the rebellion.
We find in Larpenteur's Forty
Years in the Fur Trade" the follow
] ing mention.ef the organization Of the
new ''hfm, in which he says: I,
"onr my way down the Missouri
found ,at Fort Berthold, Jefferson
Smith, an old trader, who, like my
self, was out of employment, and had
about $4,000. There also met a
young man by the name Of Henry
Boiler, who said that he could raise
$4,000 from his father in Philadelphia.
felt sure that l could obtain my
share from Robert Campbell of Saint
Louis, and with that understanding
we agreed to meet in Saint Louis and
organize the new company"
Their plan was to ship goods up the
Mississippi river to Saint Paul and
transport it from there to Pembina
and the Missouri with teams.
Continuing Larpenteur says: GAS
those men had to wait for the return
Of Mr.. Choteau who had gone up to
Fort Benton. I arrived in Saint Louis
few days before them and informed
Mr.. Campbell of our project, of which
he approved, and advanced me my
portion of the outfit 9
One OF Mr.. Campbelps clerks by
the name of Robert Lemon joined the
new company as partner, and upon
the arrival of Boiler and JEFF Smith,
they went into operation with the,
understanding that they: were to build
and, operate two new trading posts on
the upper Missouri-one by Lar
penteur and Lemon at the lower, end
of SpreadEagle bottom, near the
mouth of Poplar; river in Dawson
county, Montana, and the other one
by Smith and Boiler at the Mandan
and Gros Ventres villages, near Fort
Berthold.
They left Saint Paul on the 5th of
September, with eight wagons and
eleven men, their train attracting the
attention of many frontiersmen as
they moved out over the old Stevens
Trail in the direction of the big bend
of the Missouri river.
They crossed the Red river at
Georgetown, village of Clay county,
Minnesota, at the mouth of Buffalo
river, fifteen miles north of Moorhead |
and Fargo, reaching the Norman
Kitscn trading post at old Fort |
Pembina, about the middle Of October.
From there they travelled up the river
to Saint Joseph, at the base of the
Pembina Mountains, where Larpen-
teur met many of his old acquaint'
ances of the upper Missouri, who had
settled at this place.
Here they secured a guide and con-
tinued their course to the Missouri,
of which Larpenteur says:
"The weather was fine and we
we'll till our cattle began to
get tenderfooted, when we had to go
SLOW When we reached the Souris
Tor Moose) river they got so lame.
that we had to shoe them with the
iron bands taken from our boxes,
Nothing now remains of old Forts
tanned us much on our march,"
when we arrived at a little river
called the Elk Head-the Fete la
Biche, or South Antler of the French
and Boiler left us with their
four wagons for Fort Berthold."
"Larpenteur and Lemon continued
on their course, crossed the Missouri
Coteaus west to the present town Of
Minot, to the mouth Of Poplar river,
where they. built their trading post
situated near the present Indian
agency school building on the Great
Northern Railroad. -
In 1862 the American Fur company
obtained possession of Fort Atkinson,
(where Boiler served) transferring to
it the name Of Berthold; the site of
old Fort Berthold being cut ava, by
the Missouri. They abandoned the
old stockade which was famed by the
Sioux Indians December oath, 1862
a memorable Christmas eve In the
annals of Fort Berthold, so vividly
told by Joseph Taylor in his Frontier
Life:'
Fort Berthold was first occupied as
a military post in 1864, when Gen.