432 THE GEOHGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



Hills, from a fur-trader of that namo who had had his trading-houso at the foot of 

 them on the hanks of the Missouri River, where he was at last destroyed by the Sioux 

 Indians. 



Mr. Catliii notes in his journal and letter, and also painted, a salt 

 marsh or meadow near the Bijou Hills. (See No. 342.) 

 He continues his itinerary : 



After several days' toil in the manner above mentioned, all the way over soft and 

 green fields, and. amused with many pleasing incidents and accidents of the chase, 

 we arrived, pretty well jaded, at Fort Pierre, mouth of Teton River, from whence I 

 am now writing, where for the first time I was introduced to Mr. McKenzie (of whom 

 I have before spoken),* to Mr. Laidlaw, mine host, and Mr. Halsey, a chief clerk in 

 the establishment; and after, to the head chief and dignitaries of the great Sionr 

 Nation, who were here encamped about the fort in six or seven hundred skin lodges, 

 and waiting for the arrival of the steamer, which they had heard was on its way up 

 the river, and which they had great curiosity to see. — Pages 217-220, vol. 1, Catlin's 

 Eight Years. 



For description of this fort, and his work amongst the Sioux and 

 other Indians he found there, see Nos. 384, 69-74. 



Here the steamer joined them in a few days, and he resumed his 

 journey by steam up the river to Fort Union. On his return down the 

 river in the fall of the year he remained here (at Fort Pierre) for sev- 

 eral days. 



PORT UNION in 1832. 



[From the mouth of the Yellowstone, Upper Missouri.] 



I arrived at this place June 26, 1832, in the steamer Yellowstone, after a voyage of nearly 

 three months, from Saint Louis, a distance t)f 2,000 miles, the greater part of which 

 has never before been navigated by steam ; and the almost insurmountable difficulties 

 which continually oppose the voyageur on this turbid stream have been by degrees 

 overcome by the indefatigable zeal of Mr. Chouteau, a gentleman of great persever- 

 ance and part proprietor of the boat. To the politeness of this gentleman I am in- 

 debted for my passage from Saint Louis to this place, and I had also the pleasure of 

 his company, with that of Major Sanford, the Government agent for the Missouri In- 

 dians.— G. C, Ibid. 



The steamer left Mr. Catlin at Fort Union with Mr. McKenzie (see 

 No. 381), where he remained several weeks, passing up and down the 

 river in a canoe, and visiting the several Indian tribes in the vicinity. 



This post (Fort Union, No. 38t) is the general rendezvous of a great number of Iu- 



' dian tribes in these regions, who are continually concen'trating here for the purpose 



of trade, sometimes coming, the whole tribe together, in a mass. There are now here 



* Kenneth McKenzie, following Lewis and Clark, was the pioneer of the upper Missouri Kiver. A 

 Scotchman, horn in the Highlands, he camo to America in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company. 

 He was located for mauy years on Hudson's Bay. He quit the service of that company in 1820 and 

 hegan to explore the country from Hudson's Bay, across to Bed Kiver, thence to Lake Winnipeg and 

 to the Lake Superior country. Whilst thus engaged he resolved to locate on the upper Mississippi. 

 Obtaining a stock of goods in New York in 1822, he took them across the country to the upper Mis- 

 sissippi and estahlishod a trading-post near where Saint Paul, Minn., now is. He there remained until 

 1829. In 1829 he crossed to the upper Missouri and established Fort Union. He was in control, as 

 agent of the American Fur Company, being a member of it, of all the service connected with the 

 northwestern fur trade until 1839, when be resigned (being succeeded by Alex. Culbertson) and re- 

 moved to Saint Louis, Mo., engaging in the wholesale liquor business. He was a man of great cour- 

 age, energy, judgment, and executive ability. He died in Saint Louis, Mo., in 185G or 1857. (Con- 

 densed from Vol. 1, Historical Society of Montana, 1870.)— T. D. 



