Historic St. Louis: 250 Years Exploring New Frontiers

Right: Portrait of York by Michael Haynes
(www.mhaynesart.com); used with
permission of the artist. William Clark’s
slave, York, made vital contributions to the
Corps of Discovery and then spent several
years in St. Louis. The author used this
image to represent African Americans in
colonial St. Louis, both slave and free,
who worked in the fur trade as traders,
voyageurs, or hunters.
Opposite: Furs, Indian weapons, and
European metal imports associated with
French St. Louis’s commercial alliances with
native nations; author photograph of objects
in his collection. On the front cloth are an
Indian trade musket and an early version of
the “Missouri War Ax,” both from
the 1790s.
133,000 pounds of raw skins. Everyone knew
that the Osages were the true “bankers” of
the region, because their “buck”-skins served
as St. Louis’s currency for decades. Until the
Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the St. Louis
fur trade averaged $220,000 per year in
wholesale prices (half of the London retail
price and equal to many millions today),
with profit margins reaching 80 percent.
The governor in New Orleans compared
such vast wealth from furs to the gold and
silver mines of Spanish America and declared
that St. Louis was “one of the most populous,
extensive, well-managed, and respectable of
all settlements that have been established.”
Spanish officials praised French St. Louis
as the most “modern settlement” in all of
Louisiana, and they were delighted to discover
that collecting dead mammals was “very
advantageous” in providing full employment;
nurturing “the affection of the natives;” and
preserving “Public Security.” A 1779 military
census revealed that fur trading provided
the sole livelihood for 67 percent of all
St. Louis men—22 merchants, 17 traders,
84 boatmen, and 24 hunters—not including
a silversmith and a tailor who made items
for Indians. Those who profited indirectly
from the Indian trade included two bakers,
two cobblers, a butcher, and a “musician.”
H I S T O R I C S T . L O U I S
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