American Fur Company Fort Union, 1828-1867
Abstract
During 1986, 1987, and 1988, three seasons of archeological
investigations were conducted at the Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site,
North Dakota and Montana, supplementing four seasons of investigations
conducted between 1968 and 1972.
Between 1828 and 1865, the fort served as the major outpost of the
American Fur Company on the Upper Missouri River at the confluence of the Yellowstone
River. In 1865 it was acquired by
Hubble, Hawley and Company (reorganized as the North West Fur Company) for two
trading seasons between 1865 and 1867.
Between 1864 and 1867 the U.S. Army shared the fort with the
trading companies, using it for military operations against the Sioux. The fort was finally purchased and dismantled
by the Army in 1867.
Archeological excavations
in 1986-1988 resulted in the recovery of 154,108 glass, ceramic, and
plastic beads of 339 varieties, including 137 varieties of drawn,
drawn-lampworked, and drawn blown-lampworked
glass beads; 169 varieties of furnace-wound and lamp-wound glass beads;
26 varieties of mold-pressed glass beads, 1 variety of folded glass
beads; 1 variety of freewound ceramics beads; 1
varieties of Prosser-molded ceramics beads, and 1 variety of plastic beads
{Ross 2000}. This assemblage supplements
a previous bead assemblage of 36,912 beads recovered during
1968-1972 (De Vore 1992). A comparison of the two assemblages brings
the total number of beads analyzed by the two studies to
191,020 beads comprising
345 varieties. In addition to the
154,108 beads of 339 varieties recovered during 1986-1988, this study
discusses eight beads of six varieties (Varieties 340-345) previously discussed
by De Vore from the 1968-1972 excavations,
but not observed within the assemblage from 1986-1988 (Appendix D). Of these six additional varieties, there are
three varieties of draw beads (for a total of 140 drawn bead varieties for
Fort Union), two varieties of wound beads (thus, 171 wound bead varieties
for Fort Union), and one variety of mold-pressed beads (thus, 27 varieties
of mold-pressed beads for Fort Union).
Of the 345 bead varieties, only 5 beads of five varieties
(Varieties 114, 146, 185, 195, and 208) appear to represent intrusive
twentieth-century beads presumably lost during one of the many historical
reenactments at Fort Union between 1925 and 1988. These five varieties were recovered from
proveniences ranging from the surface to 40-50 cm below surface.
As trade goods, beads were
one of the most common of the articles by count traded by the fur companies to
Native Americans residing along the Upper Missouri River, yet they only account
for approximately 10% of the value of goods imported. Beginning in the late eighteenth century and
continuing into the mid-nineteenth century, glass beads replaced traditional
porcupine quillwork of the Plains Indians.
Trade, presumably including glass beads, is known to have been conducted
within the immediate vicinity of Fort Union with the Assiniboine,
Blackfoot, Chippewa, Plains Cree, Crow, Gros Ventre, Mandan, Plains Ojibwa, and Lakota or Teton Sioux;
and probably with some Arikara, Cheyenne, Hidatsa,
and Sarcee (Appendix A). Comparisons of previous historical and
archaeological evidence for the occurrence of beads within the Northern Plains
have been made with the Fort Union assemblage, indicating that bead types,
varieties, colors, and sizes evolved through the 1820s-1860s, probably due to
ethnic preferences and the availability of trade beads supplied by the American
Fur Company.
Summary
Fort Union is located on
the northern bluffs overlooking the Missouri River, just above the confluence
with the Yellowstone River, North Dakota, adjacent to the Montana border. Native inhabitants of the immediate territory served by Fort Union
consisted of portions of North Dakota, eastern Montana, northern Colorado, and
southern Saskatchewan; an area also identified both within the Northern and
Northwestern Plains. Within this
territory resided numerous groups of Native Americans, whom Ewers (1967:169)
has identified as "resident" and "intrusive" tribes:
Resident Tribes, including:
Blackfoot,
Gros Ventres,
Cree,
Assiniboine, and
Crow; and
Intrusive Tribes, including:
Flathead,
Pend d'Oreille,
Kutenai,
Shoshoni,
Nez Perce,
Cheyenne,
Arapaho,
Mandan,
Hidatsa,
Arikara, and
Teton Dakota
The 191,020 beads recovered from archaeological excavation at Fort
Union during 1968-1972 and 1986-1988 is the largest single collection of trade
beads yet analyzed in North America, perhaps the world. The collection has provided excellent
insights into the range of both secular and sacred beads traded to Northern
Plains Indians during the 40-year period from 1828 to 1867. This period witnessed a major transition for
Native Americans living in the region.
From the analysis of the 191,020 beads from Fort Union, together with
comparative information regarding the previously reported 233,265 beads from
nine major and four minor regional sites, a few cultural transitions pertinent
to native use of trade beads have become readily apparent. During the 1830s, blue and white beads
dominate archaeological assemblages, with limited occurrences of red,
amber-colored, black, and green beads.
By the 1840s, blue and white beads continued to dominate. Red and black beads were becoming more common,
with limited amounts of green beads.
Interestingly, no amber-colored beads were recovered from this
period. By the 1850s, blue and white
beads retained their popularity but continued to diminish in frequency, while
red, black, and amber-colored beads increased in popularity. Green beads were either not recovered, or
they were so deteriorated they were unobserved.
In the 1860s, the use of a wide range of colors became popular,
including yellow, pink, green, light and dark blue, and light and dark purple.
On the basis of
examinations of native beadwork from the early to mid-nineteenth century,
regional ethnologists and curators have demonstrated the transition from Indian
use of white and blue beads and the decline in the use of “pony” beads to the
almost total use of small embroidery or “seed” beads. Based upon the present study, these
transitions can now be shown to have been more complex, both for the use of
colors and bead sizes.
Monochrome,
multi-sided drawn beads with chopped ends and two rows of ground facets
Lamp-wound and
shaped beads from
Mold pressed beads
Reference
Ross,
Lester A.
2000 Glass and Ceramic Trade Beads from
Archaeological Excavations Conducted in 1986, 1987, and 1988 at American Fur Company
(1828-1865), Northwest Fur Company (1865-1867), and U.S. Army (1864-1867) Fort
Union (32-WI-17), North Dakota.
Ms. National Park Service,
Midwest Archeological Center, Lincoln, NE.
Available on compact disk (CD) as Trade Beads from Archeological
Excavations at Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site, in
cooperation with the Fort Union Association, Williston, ND.
14 February 2005