254 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 176 



River, carrying with him a fine selection. Here he built a fort, a little on this 

 side of the mouth of the river, and remained there during the vpinter, trading 

 with the Assiniboins. 



Thwaites states in a footnote that the date of April 1825 should 

 actually be April 1826. To judge from the known date of the At- 

 kinson-O'Fallon Expedition, Maximilian was one year behind in his 

 dates (ibid., p. 228). In passing the mouth of the White Earth River 

 in 1833, Maximilian (ibid, p. 214) made another brief mention of 

 Kipp's Post: "At this spot there was, formerly, a fort, which was 

 abandoned in 1829, when Fort Union was built." 



Another interesting though confusing reference to Kipp's Post 

 was made in Larpenteur's Journal (Larpenteur, 1898, vol. 1, p. 108) : 



. . . About the year 1827 an outfit was made up and started for the mouth 

 of the Yellowstone, Mr. McKenzie in charge. They did not reach that far the 

 first year, but established a wintering post at the mouth of White river, halfway 

 between Forts Union and Berthold — say 150 miles below the Yellowstone. 

 After the post was finished Mr. McKenzie started for the States, and Mr. 

 Honore' Picotte remained in charge. The returns were found encouraging 

 and in the following year he went on to the mouth of the Yellowstone, where the 

 chief of the band of the Rocks [Assiniboin] had desired him to build. 



Presumably Larpenteur was given this information by Kenneth 

 McKenzie, but no mention of James Kipp is made at all. These 

 data indicate that the establishment at the Wliite Earth River was 

 intended only as a wintering post and perhaps as a stopover en route 

 to the mouth of the Yellowstone River where a more permanent post 

 was to be established for trade with the Assiniboin and other tribes 

 in that region who had been previously dependent upon British 

 traders for supplies. 



The only other contemporary documentation available concerning 

 Kipp's Post is a brief note concerning the "Second Journey Of 

 Prince Paul" (the Duke of Wiirttemberg) up the Missouri River in 

 1830, as cited by Bauser (1938, vol. 19, p. 472) : 



"February. To the Council Bluffs. Fort Atkinson. Visits the Mandan Indians. 

 Fort Kipp." 



Perhaps this evidence indicates that Kipp's Post was still operat- 

 ing. It could well be that it continued in use until Fort Union was 

 well established and was then burned to prevent a competing com- 

 pany from using it. 



The Southern Assiniboin chief, Red Stone, told Edward S. Hall 

 about Kipp's Post in 1882 or 1883. He stated that at the time the 

 post was occupied, boats landed very near the post (Breeling, 1954). 



Other references to Kipp's Post are scanty, and apparently most of 

 these either are based on Maximilian or duplicate data given by him. 

 Until its excavation, Kipp's Post was one of the least-known posts 

 of the Columbia Fur Company and the American Fur Company. 



