History of Clay Pipes from Fort Union National Historic Site
History of Clay Pipes from Fort Union National Historic Site

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History of Clay Pipes from Fort Union National Historic Site

© 2002-2009 J. Byron Sudbury
Fort Union National Historic Site, North Dakota

Photo Credit: Foto: R. Heyen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

History of Clay Pipes from Fort Union National Historic Site

© 2002-2009 J. Byron Sudbury
Fort Union National Historic Site, North Dakota

Photo Credit: Foto: R. Heyen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Fort Union National Historic Site is located near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers in western North Dakota. This important historic site, occupied from 1828-1867, was the major trading post and staging area on the Upper Missouri River during the American Fur Trade.

This trading post site has been studied via historical research and archaeological excavation for decades. Since the excavations, this impressive structure in a beautiful setting has been faithfully reconstructed. The site, which includes living history exhibits as well as museum display and conservation area, is open to visitors year-round.

During the excavations, a large quantity and wide variety of artifacts were recovered. A publication covering the glass trade bead assemblage (some 38,496 specimens) was written by De Vore (1992), and a CD is also available which contains the color plates of the beads (Ross 2000). Smoke Pfeiffer (1982) and De Vore and Hunt (1993) reported some pipes from the early excavations in their manuscript reports. Much of the rest of the collection-especially from the later excavations-has remained uncatalogued and unstudied. The Fort Union pipe collection is thought to be the largest pipe collection from a National Historic Site.

J. Byron Sudbury documented and analyzed the clay tobacco pipes and pipe fragments from Fort Union. This research project is funded through a grant by the NPS with a matching donation from J.S. Enterprises.

The results of this study were reported in a contract report in November 2008. An expanded version of this study is in press with release expected in early 2009 as Historic Clay Tobacco Pipe Studies Research Monograph 2: Politics of the Fur Trade: Clay Tobacco Pipes at Fort Union Trading Post (32WI17). For availability, check with Byron. A sample of the photographic plates in this final report may be seen here. The final report will be available in color (hard cover) and black and white (paperback) editions. It can ordered from the printer (Lulu press) or at a discounted rate from theauthor. The volume includes 108 photographic figures, and 6 appendices including a number of additional illustrations. The Fort Union Trading post pipe report table of contents can be seen here. [The contents of other volumes in the HCTPS series can be seen here.] A summary of pipes of the fur trade is also included. A separate CD of the digital figures used in the book will also be available.

References

De Vore, Steven LeRoy, 1992. BEADS of the BISON ROBE TRADE: The Fort Union Trading Post Collection. Friends of Fort Union Trading Post, Williston, North Dakota.

De Vore, Steven LeRoy, and William J. Hunt, Jr., 1993. Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site (32WI17) Material Culture Reports Part IX: Personal, Domestic, and Architectural Artifacts.” NPS Midwest Archeological Center, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Pfeiffer, Michael A., 1982. “Clay Tobacco Pipes and the Fur Trade of the Pacific Northwest and Northern Plains.” Masters Thesis, University of Idaho, November.

Ross, Lester A., 2000. Trade Beads from Archeological Excavations at Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site.

Sudbury, J. Byron, 2009. Politics of the Fur Trade: Clay Tobacco Pipes at Fort Union Trading Post (32WI17). Historic Clay Tobacco Pipe Studies Research Monograph 2. 225 pages. Clay Pipes Press, Ponca City, Oklahoma 74602-2282 USA.

History of Fort Union Trading Post - The Grandest Fort on the Upper Missouri River - Crazy Crow Trading Post ~ January 31, 2022

Photo Credit: English: NPS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

History of Fort Union Trading Post - The Grandest Fort on the Upper Missouri River - Crazy Crow Trading Post ~ January 31, 2022

Credit Above Photo: Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site, Public domain, via NPS.

History of Fort Union Trading Post - The Grandest Fort on the Upper Missouri River - Crazy Crow Trading Post ~ January 31, 2022

Photo Credit: Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site, Public domain, NPS Photo Fred MacVaugh

About Fort Union Trading Post

Click any image at left to enlarge.

In 1828 the Assiniboin Indians requested that John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company establish a trading post in their homeland to protect them from hostile tribes. Kenneth McKenzie thus founded Fort Union in what is now North Dakota. Strategically located near the homelands of 10 Northern Plains tribes, Fort Union was the most important trading post of the Upper Missouri fur trade until smallpox decimated the population of numerous Plains tribes. After resentment toward the white encroachment into Indian Territory led to Sioux hostilities, the need for trading posts declined as the call for military posts increased. The Army dismantled the post in 1867 to build Fort Buford, but historic accounts provide information about the Upper Missouri fur trade and the American Indians who exchanged goods at the Fort Union Trading Post, which is now Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site.

The peaceful Northern Plains tribes traded their renowned buffalo robes, which were becoming a highly sought after commodity at the time of Fort Union’s establishment. By the 1830s, the demand for beaver pelts began to decline, as silk hats were preferred over beaver hats, and the demand for tanned buffalo robes increased. Fort Union thrived because of the post’s proximity to the Plains Indians. In exchange for the Plains tribes’ buffalo robes, the Americans traded axes, firearms, and other technological goods. Fort Union also installed a distillery in 1832 to produce corn whiskey to offer the Indians in exchange for their buffalo robes.

Established near the junction of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, Fort Union Trading Post was a 220 by 240 foot quadrangle enclosed by vertical logs with bastions at the northeast and southwest corners. Fort Union had two points of entry, but the gate on the south side facing the river was the main entrance for the trading public and wagons. Once inside the complex, traders and notable visitors found several prominent buildings surrounding a central courtyard where the flagstaff stood. On the west side of the gate, a long building served as the staff sleeping quarters, and on the east, a similar building housed the retail store and stockroom.

At Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site, visitors can explore the reconstructed portions of Fort Union including the walls, stone bastion, Indian trade house, and Bourgeois House. The visitor center and bookstore are at the Bourgeois House. Living history programs are available during the summer at the Trade House. Visitors can also walk the Bodmer Overlook Trail to the location where Karl Bodmer once stood and painted “The Assiniboin at Fort Union” in 1833. Each year the site hosts a living history trade fair, but schedules and dates vary. For more information on the annual Fort Union Rendezvous, visit the Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site.

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