This exhibit examines how trappers, traders and companies from England, France, Spain, and America, and even the national governments of those countries, became involved in the business of supplying furs to Europe and America, specifically through trade with the native people who lived in the Upper Missouri River Valley in present-day South Dakota. Over approximately 200 years (c. 1660-1860), the fur trade spread and grew from its focus on beaver in Canada south into the Great Plains, where for its last 30 years it centered on buffalo hides. In those two centuries, French and British explorers from Canada, French and Spanish from the Louisiana colony, and American businessmen from the east slowly established posts and forts in the Dakotas. From these stations the new arrivals quickly attempted to establish relations with the native Indian inhabitants, who had engaged in inter-tribal trade for generations.

 

All participants on both sides filled important and diverse roles in the complex system of trade, but the main transaction remained a relatively simple one: the exchange of beaver, raccoon, fox, mink, muskrat, deer, bear, and buffalo skins for “trade goods” including beads, ribbons, metal tools, mirrors, knives, shells, kettles, and alcohol.

 

Although basic in essence, the fur trade provided many dangerous challenges: transportation of goods and furs, weather, disease, competition, and the maintenance of good tribal relations. In the end, the fur trade was an international business on a grand scale, but beyond the profits made, the most important result of the trade during these years was communication. Two very different cultures found common ground without giving up their own identities or engaging in warfare.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Fur Trade exhibit, visitors can see the fashions which fueled the trade (furs case) and the manner in which the furs were obtained.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Explore the Trader’s store to see the items that were desired by trappers and Native Americans alike. Classrooms and groups can schedule in-gallery activities which teach of the economics of the fur trade and meet 4th and 5th grade standards. Click here for more information on this program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See if you could make it as a voyageur—paddle a canoe and try to lift bundles at the rates required by your employers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before the Lousiana Purchase, fur trade posts in South Dakota were governed by the Spanish, French and even partly by the British.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Artifacts recovered during archaeological excavations at Fort Pierre Chouteau on the Missouri River show a thriving fur trade business in South Dakota.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Items were traded with Native populations for both their use and decorative value. Some stunning examples are on exhibit for a limited time.