90 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 176 



do new light on various aspects of the physical history of the original 

 establishment, and for the first time providing specific data on physical 

 remains of a post in the central Dakota region. These data should 

 become of even greater usefulness with future work on other historic 

 sites, such as that of Fort Pierre Chouteau itself, and the present work 

 provides part of the orientation for such future studies. 



The archeological investigations here reported concern some 8 weeks 

 of excavations carried on during June and July 1956, under the writer's 

 direction. Assisting him throughout this period were Elmer R. 

 Gardner and the late Peter Kuipers, both of Platte, S. Dak., and Larry 

 J. Giddings and Robert R. Ricketts, of Fort Pierre. The conscien- 

 tious, willing help provided by these men and their interest in their 

 work are hereby gratefully acknowledged. Harold A. Huscher, ar- 

 cheologist of the Project, also provided welcome assistance with the 

 instrument survey of the site. 



HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 



Perhaps few geographic locations in the West exhibit a greater 

 concentration of sites of separate and distinct (though related) his- 

 toric fur- and Indian-trade establishments, or one covering a longer 

 time-span, than that of the junction of the Bad and the Missouri 

 Rivers, in present Stanley County, S. Dak. (map 3). Soon after the 

 end of hostilities, after the War of 1812, and the official restriction 

 of the trade in the West to American citizens, one Joseph Lafram- 

 boise, perhaps a former employee of the famous North West Com- 

 pany of Montreal, is said to have traded here in 1817 (Thwaites, 

 1906, vol. 22, p. 315 n., cited by Mattison, 1954, p. 17). 



There appears to be nothing beyond traditional evidence of La- 

 framboise having built here at this time, but the traditions are cir- 

 cumstantial and have the earmarks of authenticity (DeLand, 1902, pp. 

 373-374). According to them, Laframboise was a mixblood (French 

 and Ottawa) who in 1816 had come by way of Prairie du Chien, 

 Wis., licensed to trade on the upper Minnesota River. In the fol- 

 lowing year he is said to have built a store at the mouth of the Bad 

 River (then commonly known as the Teton), obtaining building ma- 

 terial from dry driftwood timber. The date in question is derived 

 from two different Dakota "winter counts" (Mallery, 1886, p. 109, 

 cited by DeLand, 1902, pp. 373-374). This probably modest estab- 

 lisliment is said to have been used by its builder at least until 1819, 

 and the memory of his residence near the Bad River is preserved today 

 in the name of Laframboise Island, near its mouth, though the pre- 

 cise location of the post remains in doubt. 



The next establishment for trade at this point appears to have been 

 that of a group of former Montreal merchants, the Columbia Fur 

 Company, probably in 1822. This firm (like Laframboise, no doubt, 



