Cabanné went to St. Louis some time after that letter, met with the partners there and arranged the shipment of goods up to the Bluffs. He remained emphatic that Robidoux be dealt with in some manner. Cabanné believed that Robidoux might be simply waiting him out, hoping he would finally retire permanently to St. Louis, as he had expressed that sentiment to Chouteau in a number of his letters. But, when Cabanné headed back up river to the Bluffs, for another season, Joseph Robidoux must have reconsidered the situation there. On the way back up the Missouri Cabanné wrote a note to Chouteau with a suggestion.
I wrote you from Franklin on the 17th and communicated my ideas concerning the inferior goods of Robidoux; at the same time that we have to leave him a chance to do as little as possible, would it not suit our interests to buy up his merchandise, in view of the rise in rates [tariff] you should send me an answer to reach me by way of Cantonment Leavenworth. Nevertheless I do wish that we could give him such a good lesson that he would never want to reappear on the scene and that we would be rid of him for good; that would be difficult, I think, but as a last resort, wouldn't it be better to grant him $1,000 a year to give him an incentive to direct his business anywhere else, than to unite again, with all its consequences? I am no longer young it is true, but the link that attaches me to life is still fastened firmly enough to make me unwilling to give my chances to others who are younger.16
On August 6, 1828, Baptiste Roy and Joseph Robidoux were issued a license by William Clark in St. Louis to trade at Bellevue, near Roy's Grave, the Dirt Village of the Papillion, and the Pawnee's Dirt Village, all south of the Platte confluence with the Missouri. The license held affect for two years, with a $5,000 bond and capital of $8,031.65. The licensed simply reiterated that Joseph stood in clear competition with Pratte and associates, old Cabanné, and he would not be pushed off the Missouri until he had made the decision, on his own, to go.17
In September 1828, Ramsey Crooks wrote Pierre Chouteau, offering both inquiry as to the situation and praise for Cabanné's efforts on the behalf of the company. “I think him entitled to much praise for his determination to take the field again in opposition to Robidoux & Roy whose returns will I think teach them the folly of refusing your offer of the present season which I have no doubt was liberal.” Clearly Crooks believed that the best solution, which had been applied by the American Fur Company all along in every situation of an independent trader affecting the company's bottom line, meant buying out the competition.18
In early October 1828, Joseph Robidoux made the decision to deal with Cabanné. B. Pratte & Company, a subsidiary of the Western Department of the American Fur Company, relented and bought Robidoux off, responding to Cabanné's years of urging and insistence, and got him out of the Council Bluffs area altogether. Cabanné wrote Chouteau about closing the deal that had been blessed in both St. Louis and New York.
My friend! In the midst of the crowd I am leaving off the credits to write you in haste, of the transaction that took place with Mr. Jh. Robidoux. The season is already advanced and we cannot leave off very long without suffering for it. I would have to regret not being able even to enter into details which would perhaps not be out of place and I fear omitting essentials that you should know. To the facts!
I bought the goods of Mr. Robidoux and allowed him $3,500—3,000 payable next November and the balance during next June. His establishment remains intact and he will receive $1,000 salary annually during the two years remaining of our association with Mr. A. [Astor] provided that he abstains from direct or indirect competition with the company either here or elsewhere. However the transaction may turn out, R. [Robidoux] is concluding it at last with regret, and he cannot console himself for having made it. His barge was coming up loaded with goods which were to be delivered to me, and for a moment he evinced the idea of stopping LaBarge's course. This is less surprising when one knows his changeableness and the disorder of his ideas. He says he is the friend of our firm and declares that he was regretfully forced to oppose us. Nevertheless I accept his assurance of this and am pleased to believe that in the future we will be on better terms. He is bringing much zeal to our settlement and even an appearance of frankness which could almost fool me. His goods are fine and Robidoux will bring you up to date in case of some disputes and in any case it is at his expense. 19
The company had done well buying out Robidoux. On April 24, 1829, an inventory of Robidoux's trade goods at the Poste des Ottoes amounted to $7, 041.83 ½.20 The buyout had not only thrilled Cabanné, but also over the long run proved a significant event for the eventual location and development of the city of St. Joseph, Missouri. Yet, strangely, Cabanné must have missed his old nemesis once he was gone, if not Robidoux's person, then definitely his skills as an agent. Writing to Chouteau to complain about mounting problems getting the Indians into the posts with their furs, he lamented, “More vexations are accumulating, and the more I must persevere at this post, not all my life, but until the appointed time of our firm; competition or not, no one can fittingly replace me. Robidoux, perhaps, and again I must observe that one does not work for others as one does for himself. Of this he has already given us proofs. Yet what could I do better? Please convey to Messieurs Pratte & Berthold assurances of my esteem and friendship.”21
While Joseph III sat out for a while, some of his brothers remained active in the Indian trade. In late July 1829, Isadore Robidoux reported in a brief note from Franklin, Missouri, to Pierre Chouteau, identified as an agent of the Missouri Fur Company, that a barge load of trade goods, consigned from W. J. Samuels & Company, had safely arrived to that point on the river. Apparently, Isadore worked with another Chouteau engagé named Deroin, who also signed off as one of “your obedient servants.”22 Cabanné told Chouteau that D. Papin “is very anxious to go to the Mountains. He says he has $3,000 if you could facilitate his resources this would be one fewer adversary for the posts higher up because he is very ambitious and would perhaps be ill-suited for such a voyage.”23
In February 1830, a young man named Warren Angus Ferris wrote, “I have joined a trapping, trading, hunting expedition to the Rocky Mountains. Why, I scarcely know, for the motives that induced me to this step were of a mixed complexion, something like the pepper and salt population of this city of St. Louis. Curiosity, a love of wild adventure, and perhaps also a hope of profit, for times are hard, and my best coat has a sort of sheepish hang-dog hesitation to encounter fashionable folk, combined to make me look upon the project with an eye of favour.” He continued, “Messrs. Drips and Robidoux, who were to be our conductors to the Council Bluffs, overtook us on the fifth [March 1830] bringing with them an addition to our strength of fifty more mules!”24
Ferris does not identify by first name which Robidoux joined with Lucien Fontenelle and Andrew Drips in 1830 to develop a Green River operation for the American Fur Company, in direct competition with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. So, again, we are faced with another puzzle. One might suppose that Joseph, who sat in St. Louis with some cash and not much to do other than run the family bakery, got involved. Though under the direction of the American Fur Company, Fontenelle and Drips maintained a level of autonomy, meaning outside investors like Joseph could have bought in. There is some evidence he helped finance the mules Ferris mentioned. Even so, it is doubtful Joseph would have actually made the trip to the mountains.25 The suggestion that Joseph E., the eldest son of Joseph III, twenty-seven years old by that time, had the experience to do it carries some validity. Then there is Michel. After leaving New Mexico he returned to Missouri and worked with Baptiste Roy for a while. In January 1830, a daughter arrived, born in St. Louis, an event that he certainly attended. Having survived the harrowing, near-death experience on the Gila, might he have been ready to return to the mountains?
Warren Ferris traveled in a party of forty-five men, with several wagons later abandoned at Liberty, Missouri, and over one hundred pack animals, up the Missouri to Cabanné's post at Bellevue just below the Council Bl
uffs area. Ferris reported a month-long layover before embarking across the Great Plains, heading west toward the Green River, with Robidoux, Drips, and Fontenelle. Ferris described Fontenelle as an “experienced, able, and efficient commander.”26 He mentioned working with Drips in the Green River valley during the summer and fall of 1830, and he specifically named Robidoux as a leader on August 23, 1830. “On Ham's Fork (of the Green River) we cached our goods, and separated into three parties; headed respectively by Messers. Fontenelle, Drips, and Robidoux, who had each his portion of hunting ground specified, in order to avoid interference with the rest. Mr. Fontenelle was to hunt to the southward on the western tributaries of the Green River; Mr. Drips to the northeast on the sources of the same stream, and Mr. Robidoux northward on the head waters of Lewis (Snake) River.”27
By a process of elimination, the conclusion must be reached that Michel was the Mr. Robidoux Ferris referred to. We can eliminate Joseph E. through a reference to “my son Robidoux,” in a letter by his father, dated October 8, 1831, indicating his presence at the Blacksnake Hills on the Missouri River. The same letter states he had recently come back from trading with the Sioux.28 The only other son Joseph III had even close enough in age to trade with the Sioux would have been Jules, then only sixteen or seventeen years old. That being the case, it is doubtful Jules had gone up the Missouri to Sioux country, so Joseph E. had to be the son helping out at the Blacksnake Hills. Could he have wintered over, trapped, and returned during the summer of 1831? Possibly, but logically he would not have been on the Green or Snake Rivers that spring until June, left and gone straight into the Sioux trade, and been back on the Missouri within four months.
If Joseph had invested in the Drips and Fontenelle expedition, it is likely he sent thirty-year-old Michel to again represent the family financial interests, with Joseph's recommendation that he be given another chance to command a trapping brigade. As far as the other available brothers, a document signed in September 1830 eliminates most of them. A deed transferring land in St. Louis to Joseph Laveille and George Morton bears the names of all six Brothers Robidoux and their sister Pelagie, very likely a piece of property inherited by all from their father's estate. But only Joseph, Isadore, Francois, and Pelagie actually signed it, indicating their presence in St. Louis and Michel's absence. Antoine and Louis were in New Mexico.29
In mid-October, a brigade leader for the Hudson's Bay Company named John Work encountered Robidoux's group, though not Michel, trapping on the tributaries of the Snake. He seemed concerned that so many Americans wandered the area, as if they were falling over each other. Work wrote in his journal on “Tuesday, 12 Oct. The Americans raised camp before us and proceeded up the river, but on seeing us strike across the plain they left the river and followed along the foot of the mountains and encamped behind where Payette and party were defeated by the Blackfeet 2 yrs ago. I did not seen a Mr. Rabides (assume Robidoux) who is at the head of the party but it appears they are 200 men, 100 hunters. Crooks & Co. are the outfitters. A Mr. Fontenelle who manages this business is now at Snake River with 50 men, they have great quantity of goods en cache.” Work seems to have grossly exaggerated the size of Robidoux's party and mistaken the company providing the outfit.30
At the end of October Ferris returned to the original company caches, “where we found Robidoux with a small party of men. Fontenelle and Drips, together with the Free Men (free trappers) and a detachment of a new company styled the Rocky Mountain Fur Company were all in Cache Valley where they intended to establish their winter quarters.” Cache Valley, which Ashley marked in 1825, lay some distance down the Green River in eastern Utah from where Robidoux camped. “Robidoux remained here twelve days, awaiting promised assistance from Fontenelle, to aid him in transporting the goods to Cache Valley. At the end of that time, impatient of their slow coming, and admonished by the more rapid approach of starvation which was already grinning at us most horribly, he resolved to re-cache a part of the goods, and start with the balance.”31
Michel's detachment wintered at Ogden's Hole, twenty miles south of the Cache Valley. According to Ferris they “amused themselves in various ways, drinking, horse racing, gambling, etc..” When the weather broke, the various parties departed with “an intelligent and highly esteemed young man” named J. H. Stevens in Michel's company. Stevens later told Ferris the important parts of Michel's expedition. Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacajawea (Sacagaweah), the immortalized guide of Lewis and Clark, also joined Michel's party. While on the Snake River, Michel engaged three free Iroquois Indian trappers, who had a falling out with Henry Fraeb and Jean Baptiste Gervais—called Jarvis, leaders of a company of trappers outfitted by the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, which had recently bought out Smith, Sublette and Jackson. One of the Indian trappers, John Gray, a half-breed Scotch-Iroquois, and described by Ferris as a “Herculean trapper,” began a working relationship with Michel that lasted until at least 1835. Michel's trappers scoured the Snake and its tributaries for pelts for nearly one hundred miles, as far as the Porteneuf. Caching their furs, the party then moved further down the Snake to the falls, later called the American Falls by emigrants to Oregon. According to things told Ferris by Stevens, Michel's party suffered mightily from disease, thirst and starvation, Indian attacks, and encounters with Hudson's Bay Company men, along a stretch of what Stevens called, La Riviere Maladi, the Sick River. According to Stevens, the beaver carried infection, which sickened the trappers who ate them.32
In June 1831, Fontenelle and Drips, along with thirty men, including Michel, returned to St. Louis. A receipt from August 1831 indicates Michel bought lots of beads and bundles of cut glass, on account with the Chouteaus from P. & T. Powell of St. Louis, in the amount of $57.57 worth.33 The date on the receipt and the items described can be used to make the argument that Michel had come back to resupply before returning to the Snake River region for the fall trapping season in 1831. Michel continued to work the northern intermountain region until at least 1835, engaging the Indian trapper John Gray and others periodically. A letter sent by Fontenelle to Drips from Fort William, the future site of Fort Laramie, in August 1835, mentioned that Robidoux and Gray had settled their business affairs. “John Gray & myself have not settled any of our affairs—it is left to you and him. His outfit is to be paid half by him and the other half belongs to the company. The outfit is to be charged as cash adding one hundred piastres—if there has been any horses lost by him or his party (that is the horses which we furnished) he is to loose the one half also. As regards his arrangement with Robidoux, I do not know anything about, I leave it to you to fin (finish).” After 1835, Michel worked primarily on the Plains, in the area around Fort William (Laramie), and traveled frequently back to St. Louis to tend to his family.34
CHAPTER 6
The Blacksnake Hills Post
Joseph Robidoux retired, if only temporarily, to St. Louis and operated what remained of the family businesses located there, primarily a bakery. He apparently was neither very happy nor very good at doing it. His involvement with the Fontenelle and Drips expedition to the Green River in 1830 is certain, if only that he invested some of his money and the energy of his little brother Michel. Early in his first year of exile from the Missouri trade Robidoux wrote Pierre Chouteau, who traveled to Louisville. “As I still nourish the plan of establishing a bakery, I would be flattered if, on your way to Louisville, [you would] buy me 50 to 60 barrels of flour. As for price, I do not know what it is worth; I rely on you however to do your best and I will always be satisfied.”1
Later that summer, still not sure how he would make a living as a baker, Robidoux tried to convince Chouteau, as an agent of the American Fur Company, to buy some of his excess bake goods. “I am sending you eighteen barrels of biscuits made of very fine flour for the very good reason that I could not get any made of common flour. Therefore they are very white, as you will see by the sample. You asked for only three barrels of the white but I am sending you six at the risk of
you sending them back. But I think that Mr. Cabanne will need them in the course of his wintering. I still have five barrels of white—see whether you want them. But I assure that when I make common biscuits I will try to buy different flour—that is, flour that is the cheapest, for I am losing on this. I have no cake at present, but what Messrs. Sarpy and Rainchau ordered will be for some other time.”2
Francois, long the closest of Joseph's brothers in a business relation, continued his own financial dealings in St. Louis, despite his ongoing residency in Taos, floating in and out of debt, putting together outfits for New Mexico, buying and selling property, not always successfully. In March 1830, one Levi Piggot complained to Baril Sarpy, a family member of a longtime business acquaintance of the Robidouxs, about collecting a debt. Francois had been assigned a note by one Alexander Dumont, rising from a judgment over a piece of property, and Piggot wanted Sarpy to intervene, but only under specific circumstances. “If therefore you will be so good as to not pay the note above alluded to until the object is effected you will much favor the cause of justice.” Apparently Piggot wanted the property held by Francois and not just the cash. Such were the sometimes complicated dealings within the French community of St. Louis.3
With money tight, Joseph committed elsewhere, and no real financing available to Francois in the short term, he signed a one-year contract with Pierre Chouteau Jr. on February 10, 1832, to work for the American Fur Company as a voyageur on the upper Missouri. He would be paid 220 piastres according to the contract, to carry “merchandises, pelleteries, vivres, utensils,” and other necessaries to the posts, villages, and campagnes, of the sauvages. As Chouteau and the American Fur Company backed the Fontenelle and Drips foray into the Rocky Mountains in direct competition with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, it is entirely possible Francois worked as a supplier to that operation, which included his brother Michel.4
The Brothers Robidoux and the Opening of the American West Page 15