File:Economic beginnings of the Far West- how we won the land beyond the Mississippi (1912) (14778415672).jpg

Identifier: economicbeginnin00coma (find matches)
Title: Economic beginnings of the Far West: how we won the land beyond the Mississippi
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Coman, Katharine 1857-1915
Subjects: Mormons and Mormonism -- General works United States, West -- History Utah Economic conditions
Publisher: New York: Macmillan
Contributing Library: Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Digitizing Sponsor: Corporation of the Presiding Bishop, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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vi-gated by stern-wheelers, such as the Long party hadused with entire success, and that the saving in timeand in operating force would be great. Under hisauspices, the Yellowstone made her virgin voyage inthe spring of 1831, achieving the round trip from St.Louis to Fort Tecumseh, at the mouth of the Kansas,in three months, two months up-stream and onedown. In the following year, the little craft ascendedthe river as far as Fort Union. The saving in timeand labor was sufficient to justify the adoption ofsteam, but the impression produced upon the In-dians was perhaps the most significant gain. Theysaid that the British might turn out their dogsand burn their sledges, as they would no longer beuseful while the Fire Boat walked on the waters. 45They began bringing their furs to the Americans bypreference, and thenceforth the loss of trade fromHudsons Bay Company competition was no longerdreaded. By these means the American Fur Company hadsucceeded in monopolizing the trade on the upper
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THE FUR TRADE 351 Missouri, the Yellowstone, and their tributaries, —the apparently inexhaustible beaver meadows re-vealed by the Lewis and Clark expedition. Rivalswere induced to combine forces, were bought off, orwere driven from the field by craft or violence, asthe situation might suggest. The methods usedto crush out competitors were quite comparable tothe practices of certain industrial combinations ofto-day. The natives were incited to waylay, rob,and even murder trading parties who dared invadethe territory covered by the operations of theCompany, prices of furs were advanced and pricesof goods lowered when the presence of a rivalthreatened to seduce the Indians, agents beinggiven carte blanche to depart from the establishedschedules in such business emergencies. Whiskey,though forbidden by law, was freely sold to theIndians in the contested districts, and when the diffi-culty in getting the contraband stuff up the riverpast the government inspector at Fort Leavenworthproved

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