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Auguste P. Chouteau
Auguste P. Chouteau was born at
St. Louis, Missouri, May 9, 1786. He was captain of militia during the
War of 1812. In 1815 he entered the Rocky Mountain fur trade, ascending
the valley of the Arkansas River. He became interested in the overland
trade with Mexico in 1822. he was a man of great influence with the
Indians and was on several occasions employed by the government to negotiate
treaties and agreements with them. He died at Fort Gibson early in
1839.
The fur trade probably
developed in Oklahoma during the latter half of the eighteenth
century. Though it left little or nothing in the way of written
records during the time of French and Spanish rule, it made its mark
on the map with the names of streams and mountains, such as Poteau,
Salaiseau (Salisaw), Cavaniol (Cavinal), Illinois, San Bois, Saline,
grand and Verdigris.
After the organization of
the American Fur company, with headquarters at St. Louis, Oklahoma was
included in the scope of its operations. Col. A. P. Chouteau of
that company had supervision of its business in this section. In
1835-6 he built a stockade fort or trading post north of the Canadian
River just above the mouth of Little River, in Hughes county, for the
purpose of trading with the Comanche and other southwestern
tribes. It was named Fort Holmes, a temporary military
encampment of dragoons under the command of Lt. Col. R. B. Mason
having occupied the same site but a short time before when it was
called Camp Holmes. Fort Holmes was also sometimes called Fort
Edward. In 1838-9 when a new trading house was established in
the southern part of what is now Cleveland county, between Noble and
Lexington, Fort Holmes was abandoned, the new post being used in the
Indian trade for many years.
Choteau also established a
trading post on the west bank of Cache Creek, near the present site of
Lawton, shortly after the negotiation of the first treaty with the
Kiowa and Comanche in 1837.
Source: A
History of Oklahoma by Joseph B. Throburn and Isaac M.
Holcomb, Doub and Company San Francisco 1908.
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