Great Warriors II

Fur traders in the 18th and 19th century, as well as the scouts, guides, trappers and Native hunters who worked for them, had a ready demand for their furs.  Europe had been the primary consumer of North American fur, primarily beaver pelts and later deerskin hides.  Trading companies like the Hudson's Bay Company, the North West Company and smaller firms such as Panton & Leslie held the lion's share of the fur trade.  However, these were British firms and as Britain continued to stifle American trade with Europe in the windup to the War of 1812, Americans found their own firms and looked to other markets.  China became a viable customer for American furs, beaver and later buffalo robes.  An enterprising German immigrant named John Jacob Astor seized on this opportunity and created the American Fur Company in 1808. The American Fur Company worked in a similar way as Hudson's and other similar firms.  Cheaply manufactured trade goods would be made avai...

Forts served many purposes in the American west.  Just because a place was called a fort didn't necessarily make it a military installation.  Fur traders, either working for a company or independents such as William Sublette or Jim Bridger, also fortified their trading posts.  Because these trading forts were situated in good locations for local tribes to gather, they were often taken over later as military posts and became the site of treaty parleys.  Such is the story of Fort Laramie in Wyoming. Fort Laramie, now a National Historic Site, is located on the junction of the North Platte and Laramie Rivers in the Upper Platte Valley.  William Sublette, a Kentucky-born trader and scout, chose the location for a trading post in 1834 and named it for himself, Fort William.  In 1841, John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company bought the property from Sublette and named the place Fort John, but not after Astor.  Finally, in 1849, as more and more emigrants ca...