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63 CHAPTER 4 Into the Mountains On the Missouri River, the trade practiced by Joseph, his brothers, and the company he worked for remained very much as it had been for the two previous decades. Indians harvested the furs and pelts, brought them into the trading posts for the most part, exchanged them for merchandise, and then returned to their villages until they acquired enough skins to make it worth their while to trek to the post again. If they did not have enough skins, then they might come to the posts and ask for merchandise on credit. On rare occasion they dealt with government agents, sutlers, or free trappers. For the Robidouxs, the decision to move into the mountains of the Southwest added new dimensions to the trade and new challenges. By going into Mexico the trade with non-Indian urban dwellers, in Santa Fe, Taos, and other Mexican settlements, meant an entirely different line of merchandise than that traded to the Indians. The medium of exchange took the form of species, hard silver, or livestock, as well as locally produced crafts. The territory of Mexico beyond the towns belonged to the Indians. The Utes dominated the intermountain region from northern New Mexico to the valley of the Snake River in present-day Idaho. Under the Spanish administration there had been trade agreements that kept the Utes from raiding, but after Mexican independence that relationship came into question. One thing was clear; the Utes knew who the Americans were and wanted to trade with them. One Ute chief named Lechat reportedly said, “You are Americans, we are told, and you have come from your country afar off to trade with the Spaniards. We want your trade. Come to our country with your goods. Cone and trade with the Utahs.We have horses, mules, and sheep, more than we want.We heard that you wanted beaver skins. The beavers in our country are eating up our corn. All our rivers are full of them. Come over among us and you shall have as many beaver skins as you want.”1 That aspect of the trade might at first seem similar to the Missouri River region but for the fact that the distance between the towns and the tribes that 64 The Brothers Robidoux produced the greatest fur output prohibited any kind of regular exchange. To get the pelts from the intermountain Indians, it became evident that the traders had to go out to them, as the operations of the British Hudson’s Bay Company clearly demonstrated. However, that quickly opened opportunities for the brothers to place in the field their own trapping brigades, composed of their own engagés, and directly supply the growing number of independent trappers flooding into the area. Trade opportunities no longer remained confined to the trading post, waiting for the Indians to come in. They assumed the role of retail shopkeeper, wholesaler, middleman, field manager, transporter, supplier, trailblazer, and townsmen. Each of the brothers retained their French-American identity, yet slipped comfortably into the language and culture of Mexico because there lay the new opportunity for wealth. On November 8, 1823, James Kennerly replaced John O’Fallon as the sutler at Fort Atkinson. He kept a diary, which provides some insight into what some of the Brothers Robidoux were up to. He had come to St. Louis in 1813 from Kentucky, and gone into business briefly with O’Fallon in “pickled meat” processing . He was also the brother-in-law of William Clark, the great explorer and superintendent of Indian trade, who gave him the job of forwarding agent for the government’s factory system. When the factory system closed in 1822, and after considering other business opportunities in St. Louis, Kennerly took the 2. The New Robidoux Domain: Into the Mountains Into the Mountains 65 position of sutler at Fort Atkinson. On his first day the men of B. Pratte & Co. introduced themselves and clarified the important relationship between the army post and the neighboring traders, especially in the exchange of mail and goods coming and going on the Missouri River.2 On February 15, 1824, Kennerly noted, “Received from St. Louis by young Robidou a small assortment of goods which were very much wanted, and several letters from friends.” Kennerly did not identify which Robidoux, but since he used the describer “young,” it might have been Antoine or another brother and possibly Joseph E., the eighteen-year-old son of Joseph III. Joseph would...

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