The Missouri Fur Company (also known as the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company or the Manuel Lisa Trading Company) was one of the earliest fur trading companies in St. Louis, Missouri. Dissolved and reorganized several times, it operated under various names from 1809 until its final dissolution in 1830. It was created by a group of fur traders and merchants from St. Louis and Kaskaskia, Illinois, including Manuel Lisa and members of the Chouteau family. Its expeditions explored the upper Missouri River and traded with a variety of Native American tribes, and it acted as the prototype for fur trading companies along the Missouri River until the 1820s.
Creation of the company
Members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition brought back tales of the riches of the upper Missouri River when they returned to St. Louis in 1806. They reported the region's abundance of beaver at a time when demand for fur was high, fueled by the fashion of beaver hats. A recent arrival to St. Louis, trader Manuel Lisa heard the reports and made his first fur-trading expedition to the upper Missouri. He partnered with Pierre Menard and hired several veterans of the Corps of Discovery, including the legendary trapper and guide John Colter and George Drouillard. They set out in 1807 and established Fort Raymond at the confluence of the Bighorn and Yellowstone rivers in present-day Montana. Returning to St. Louis from this expedition in August 1808, Lisa reported to merchants there about the potential of the region for fur trading.
On February 24, 1809, Lisa and other prominent fur traders from the St. Louis area formed an association company; its members included Benjamin Wilkinson (nephew of Louisiana Territorial Governor James Wilkinson), Jean Pierre Chouteau (son of St. Louis co-founder René Auguste Chouteau), Auguste Pierre Chouteau (son of Jean Pierre Chouteau), Reuben Lewis (brother of Meriwether Lewis), William Clark (co-captain of the Lewis and Clark Expedition), Pierre Menard, Andrew Henry, Sylvester Labadie, William Morrison, and Andrew Fitzhugh. The articles of association, signed on March 9, 1809, defined the roles of the company's partners: Lisa and Wilkinson were named as field traders, Clark was listed as agent in St. Louis, and no members were permitted to trade outside their role as company members. The company acquired the equipment and posts of its members' private fur operations (including Fort Raymond); capital resources totaled at least $40,000. Among the equipment and supplies to be traded with Native Americans for furs were guns, ammunition, and whiskey. The fledgling Missouri Fur Company defined its field of operations as the entire Missouri River valley upriver from the Platte River.
Company expeditions and reorganizations
Henry-Menard Expedition of 1809–1811
The newly formed Missouri Fur Company raised enough capital to outfit a party of 350 men for trapping beaver along the headwaters of the Missouri and for trading with Indians. General Thomas James wrote a journal of how he enlisted in this expedition during his youth. In addition, the governor of Missouri Territory, Merriwether Lewis, contracted with the company to convey Mandan Chief Shehaka back to his people. The chief, wanting to meet the "Great Father" at Washington City, had accompanied Lewis and Clark when they returned from their expedition. After meeting president Thomas Jefferson, Shehaka had been stopped from returning to his people by an Arikara attack. Governor Lewis took the opportunity provided by the 1809 expedition, paying the Missouri Fur Company $10,000 to convey Shehaka to Fort Mandan.