96 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 176 



construction of the dam, beginning in 1950, prior to systematic search 

 for historic sites in the area in question. 



One other trading post mentioned is Fort Primeau, which is said to 

 have been built and occupied by Primeau early in the 1860's, and prob- 

 ably before 1862 (DeLand, 1902, p. 378 ; cf. also his map, opp. p. 281) . 

 This establishment is said to have been situated in sec. 26, T. 6 N., R. 

 30 E., "a short distance above the Fort LaFramboise of LaBarge, Hark- 

 ness & Company," and just below and opposite Peoria Bottom, on high 

 ground and near the edge of the bluff. It has been shown above 

 that Primeau had, in June, 1862, been in charge at Fort Pierre 

 II, apparently during Galpin's temporary absence, and it seems im- 

 probable that he would simultaneously have had a second trading post, 

 scarcely 5 miles distant. DeLand's suggestion concerning the date of 

 "Fort Primeau" therefore seems doubtful. Mattison (1954, p. 32) 

 states that this post belonged to La Barge, Harkness and Company, 

 but no evidence is cited to support his statement that Primeau was a 

 "partner" of that company, a firm opposing the Chouteau interests, 

 whose agents in 1862 are known to have been Primeau and Galpin. It 

 is, finally, quite possible that in identifying a "Fort Primeau" as in 

 existence in 1862 (a post separate from Fort Pierre II) DeLand (who 

 is followed by Mattison, 1954, p. 32) may have been in error, inasmuch 

 as the terrain in sec. 26 is quite unsuitable for the location of a post. 

 No intensive search has, however, been made of the terrain in this 

 section, so far as is known, though it is probable that large-scale cut- 

 ting, by the river itself against the bluffs of the south side of the valley 

 at this point, may long since have removed any physical traces of 

 "Fort Primeau." 



The present study is particularly concerned with the physical history 

 of the establishment known as Fort Pierre II, evidence for which is 

 preserved in a few documentary sources, to which new data can now 

 be added from excavations of the site of the post. No complete review 

 of the general history of the fur- and Indian-trade on the upper 

 Missouri can here be attempted, desirable as such a review would be 

 for proper understanding of the significance of this particular post. 

 That topic is much too large and complicated to undertake here, and 

 adequate sources for such a review are, in any event, not yet available 

 in print. The history of Pierre Chouteau, Jr., and Company — other- 

 wise the Upper Missouri Outfit of the American Fur Company — itself 

 remains to be written, and only portions of the general commercial 

 history of the upper JNIissouri have thus far been published. The 

 historic role of Fort Pierre Chouteau and other trading centers in its 

 immediate vicinity, including Fort Pierre II, merits more attention 

 than it has yet received, and the topic has apparently been seriously 

 attempted only once (Wilson, 1902) . It is possible, however, to gather 

 certain facts about historic events in this area, which provide some 



