The Brothers Robidoux and the Opening of the American West

by Robert J. Willoughby

  Besides Antoine and Louis Robidoux, on November 30, 1829, Carlos Hipolite Beaubien, together with Gervais Nolan and John Rowland, also received papers making them citizens of the Republic of Mexico. The translated manifesto giving the name, place of birth, occupation, and age of the new citizens listed Antoine as thirty-three and Louis as thirty, both merchants. Interestingly, the writer of the manifesto listed the Robidouxs' place of birth as “St. Louis, capitol of the state of Missouri of North America.” No apparent damage was done by the mistaken capital city, but it does indicate the impressive image St. Louis and its merchants had made on the minds of the inhabitants of faraway Mexico. Carlos Beaubien, on the same list as a thirty-five-year-old former citizen of Great Britain, saw his own influence in northern Mexico rapidly increase. His store did well, and he soon became one of the wealthiest citizens of the thriving community of Taos. Like the Robidouxs, in political matters he began to assume an important role as one of the leaders of the non-Mexican residents of the area, gathering around him such men as Ceran St. Vrain, Charles and William Bent, John Rowland, Sylvester Pratte, and Stephen Louis Lee.2

  By becoming naturalized citizens of Mexico, many of the legal issues faced by “foreigners,” building since 1824, went away. High protective tariffs imposed on foreign merchants dropped off, as well as the issue of being licensed to trap in Mexican streams and risk confiscation of a whole season's work. The concept of American patriotism might have been a concern for others, but for the Brothers Robidoux it presented no problem. Their strong French Creole heritage, coupled with being born under Spanish rule, followed by the rather abrupt switch to American citizenship in 1803, and ultimately finding fortune in Mexico, might have left anyone with their background a bit confused as to which flag to salute. There appeared no confusion of nationality when it came to making a profit, and the boundary between Mexico and the United States or between Santa Fe and St. Louis offered no real obstacle other than distance.

  By the end of the 1820s, the brothers in New Mexico began to adjust their business model. Antoine still led trapping brigades into the beaver country of western Colorado and eastern Utah, where the mountain men took the beaver with their own traps or traded with the Indians for theirs. Twice each year they brought the pelts from the fall and spring hunts back to Taos to be shipped east to Missouri. Louis, Francois, and Isadore maintained shops in both Taos and Santa Fe, with both Louis and Antoine rising to prominence in city social, political, and economic circles. And like other merchants they became the target of criminals and had their homes and shops robbed more than once.

  In late 1829 Antoine gave a deposition before Juan Rafael Ortiz regarding one such robbery. “Today I present to this court, how it's related to the accusation that has been set forward by the witness, Jose Tenorio. Tenorio claimed that as he was coming out of his store he saw the neighbor Manuel Lopez, Diomicio Moya, Jose Serca and Antonio Garcia coming out of my house stables with the stolen goods. Moya took asylum in the home of Polinio and this is where he stored the stolen goods. Polinio takes this opportunity to beg this court that they go to the home of Jose Serca, who has more information about the robbery. We ask this court that you please investigate the robbery and find all the facts. We trust that will tell nothing but the truth. Signed: A. Robidou.”3

  Subsequently, on December 4, 1829, Ortiz responded “to all who is concerned with the robbery that took place at the stables. After an investigation and interrogating all the witnesses we have concluded that the facts were all true. After going to the house of Jose Garcia we found the goods, which have been returned in good condition to its owner. The perpetrators are awaiting trail.”4

  By 1830 Antoine had made such a name for himself in the New Mexico community that he won election to the ayuntamiento or town council and served as its first alcalde or president. However his election did not come off without some question, as the records of the town council indicated.

  Right after this we moved to our next issue which was that of the city Mayor Juan Garcia was kin [father of Louis's wife] to Don Antonio Robidou. Both of these citizens are residents of this community. In the end it was decided that since Mr. Robidou was nominated for city council in 1829 with 27 votes, should indeed be allowed. This decision was seconded by the president of the election offices, Jose Antonio Xircanza, who also added that Mr. Robidou had indeed papers of naturalization, but not citizenship papers. Mr. Xircanza also stated that they could all clearly see in the book of records that it was the exact papers for both, therefore it was just as good.

  Mr. Jose Ortiz took his seat at the session in which the president renounced his rights and apologized for any misunderstandings and confusions that were related to the elections. Antonio Robidou patiently waited for the electors, to make their decisions, and was pleased with what they finally issued. After the misunderstanding and confusions were cleared, and a decision made, contracts were signed and officially sealed. Antonio Robidou was elected with 34 votes and was made officially the head of the council. Elected officials were informed of their duties according to the laws of the State of Mexico.5

  Over the next few months Antoine's signature appears on many day-to-day documents of Santa Fe city government. Yet it is not certain he spent every day at the town hall ignoring his business ventures. We know that Antoine was in Santa Fe in October 1830, for he filed a petition to collect a debt. “Mr. Antonio Robidio has made it known that Mr. Diego Mineros is unable to come thru on this current obligation to Mr. Robidio. This obligation had been set to conclude on the 1st of the current month, but it has been impossible for Mr. Mineros to comply even after several extensions. Mr. Mayor, we ask that you please give Mr. Robidio the power to take procession as it had been agreed by Mr. Mineros.”6

  Louis had developed a heavy drinking problem at some point in his life and by 1830 it had become serious enough to land him in jail on occasion. In November 1830 he wrote an apology to the alcalde of Santa Fe to get himself out of jail after getting drunk and publicly insulting the official. He admitted in the letter of apology that he was under the “influence of aguardiente.” His bouts of heavy drinking did by no means incapacitate him, for he remained a successful businessman, maintaining his mercantile establishment and acquiring property and influence within the community. His family eventually occupied a house on the main street of Santa Fe and he even operated an ironworks.7

  Louis had the financial wherewithal to post bond, or a guarantee for other Americans doing business in Santa Fe. On August 5, 1830, “Luis Rubidoux citizen of the United States of Mexico” affixed his name to a statement which read, “Hereby, I trust before the constitutional Mayor of this capitol, that Ignacio Ortiz, foreigner of the United States of North America, Samuel W. M. Menrahan, and Rusail Julien—hereby force me to respond to any charges that the laws can impose on me as the lenders of the foreigners mentioned above.”8

  Brother Louis also got involved in local politics. Using the stature associated with being an American, though recently naturalized as Mexican, his ability to speak, read, and write Spanish, and possessing a healthy dose of ambition, he gained certification to run for election in 1831. In the records of Santa Fe one can find a congratulatory note from brother Antoine: “The president of this elective assembly informs Luis Robidio what an honor it is that he has been approved for the next city council elections. This decision has been made on the 12th day of December, 1830. Signed: A. Robidou, President.”9

  In another record it was confirmed that Louis would indeed be on the ballot. “This is a letter of formality to the city council in regards to the approval of the following year council elections that would take place in 1831. This letter took place in the city of Santa Fe, on December 5th of 1830. The letter announcing that Doroteo Pino, Jery Blanco, Juan Felipe Ortiz and Luis Rubidou have all been approved as the nominees of the future elections and are listed in the order of approval. All candidates have been nominated in their presence and listed in the manifesto. Signed: Juan Estevan Piso and
Juan Felipe Ortiz.” Over a long municipal tenure Louis served as a secretary, council member, and eventually first alcalde. As for his brother's role in Santa Fe government, Antoine's tenure as alcalde and council member lasted but one term. On a tally sheet for the 1831 council election it appears that Antoine only got one vote, indicating he had not made many friends while serving.10

  During 1831, Antoine and David Waldo appeared in person, along with Antoine's wife, Carmel, to file a petition with the government in Santa Fe to bid for a tract of land called the hacienda nationals. Waldo appeared on a list of individuals, all of whom had been granted citizenship, kept by the Santa Fe city government, dated January 1 to January 30, 1831. He was described only as a merchant, age twenty-eight.11 The petition, accepted by an official named Chavez, stated in part, “Mr. Robidou wants to continue doing honest business and possibly purchase the national ranch. Mr. Robidou has brought twenty five Mexican naturalized citizens and five foreigners who are eager to help pay for the rights to live there. I come to you to notify you and make my intentions clear that I will not allow any fraud to continue or be committed. In Santa Fe, 17 September 1831.” Subsequently it appears Antoine and Waldo received license to rent, with rights to purchase, again with the reiteration that “if there is any sign of fraud in concerns to the ranch all rights and money paid to, will be forfeited.”12 From the context of the document, one could only assume that the thirty persons identified as naturalized Mexicans and foreigners came from the United States to work for Antoine and Waldo in the fur trade, being described as having “dexterity in trapping.” The best evidence is that they headed to the vicinity of the Green and Unitah Rivers.13

  Antoine began to realize that permanent trading posts supplied with trade goods much closer to the trapping grounds and the Indians would be more profitable. From the post, free trappers or their own engagés could exchange the pelts for supplies and rarely need to come out of the field to go to the towns. The intermountain posts competed directly with the concept of the annual summer rendezvous established by Ashley. Only Antoine's bases provided trappers with a permanent rendezvous. Operating among the Indians, the Utes in particular, meant more direct contact and less likelihood that someone else would get the premium skins first. But it also meant he had to work hard to maintain a stable relationship with that tribe and its chiefs, who had the power to sweep his operation away in an instant. As long as the posts offered what the Indians wanted and what the mountain men needed, a way to get the merchandise to them could be found. The post would not replace the rendezvous system but be a welcome supplement to trappers who spent long months in the mountains between those annual events. Antoine stocked all the usual Indian trade merchandise—cloth, knives, beads, trinkets, and blankets—as well as items for the mountain men—traps, guns, powder and shot, coffee, sugar, flour, and, of course, liquor. It must be noted that the Mexican government prohibited the sale of guns and liquor to the Indians, but with no officials standing over them, and the need to stay on good terms with the Utes, they certainly went away with those products. Depending on the going exchange rate for the primary medium, beaver pelts, and considering the cost of transportation, markup and profit margins could be quite high.14

  Possibly in partnership with brother Louis, and with the financial backing of brother Joseph, Antoine established a post in west-central Colorado on the south bank of a fork of the Grand River, which in that day the Spanish referred to as the Rio San Xavier. Some trappers called it the Blue River, while the Indians named it the Tomichi. Today it is called the Gunnison and the site of the post lay just below the confluence of the tributary stream called by the Ute, Uncompahgre.15 When the post, which eventually carried the name Fort Uncompahgre, came into being is not known. It is possible that Antoine may have noted and trapped the site on his initial trek to the Green River from Taos in 1824–25. Only after taking out Mexican citizenship would the Robidouxs feel absolutely safe in making the investment in a permanent post on Mexican soil, so at best speculation, the outpost appeared sometime around 1829. Even with the uncertainty of the date, the post may have been the first permanent trading operation west of the continental divide. There are only a few references to the geographic site, and the most accurate came after the post had been abandoned. An army lieutenant, E. G. Beckwith, who served with a railroad survey party in 1853, wrote in his report on September 17, “We crossed the point of land lying between the Uncompahgre and Grand Rivers, reaching the latter at Robidoux's old trading fort, now entirely fallen to ruins.”16

  Despite the rugged terrain, Antoine found a way to haul bulk merchandise to his Gunnison post with wagons, being the first man to haul freight over the continental divide into that area of Colorado. By 1831 he and Louis made as much or more from outfitting free trappers and serving as their middle men as they did from sending out their own companies. And by staying on friendly terms with the Ute, they kept that supply of furs coming in as well. Traveling north from Taos, and following the trail to the Green River blazed in 1824, Antoine brought the wagons through Cochetopa Pass, then down Pass Creek and along the Tomichi before striking the Gunnison. Antoine traveled east during the fall of 1831, probably leaving the Gunnison post in the hands of Louis. He arrived back on the Missouri by the beginning of October, for older brother Joseph reported he visited him at the Blacksnake Hills.

  By November he reached St. Louis to conduct some business with the Sublettes. The account sheet of Jackson and Sublette for November 14, 1831, listed drafts on William H. Ashley. Those two partners, David Jackson and William Sublette, along with Jedediah Smith, had bought out William Ashley's company in 1826, and were themselves in the process of selling out in late 1830 to Thomas Fitzpatrick, Jim Bridger, Milton Sublette, Henry Fraeb, and Jean Baptiste Gervais, the men who formed the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. In an effort to close out the books, the account sheet stated, “Owe to Antoine Robedeau, $3,806.50.” Noted below, “Antoine Robideaus draft of $2,435 was in like manner appropriated.” No explanation of the amounts paid was given, but no doubt it represented a substantial delivery of furs from the region of western Colorado. On November 28, 1831, Antoine Robidoux bought five wagons, at $100 each from Jackson and Sublette. The purchase is a clear indication as to the volume of merchandise the Robidouxs shipped across the plains, whether into Santa Fe or Taos, or to the rendezvous points and trail heads along the front range of the Rocky Mountains.17

  While Antoine's post on the Gunnison and Uncompahgre predates all other posts, and offered profits, he pushed farther north and west, deeper into the beaver country of the Green River and its tributaries, the White River and the Uintah, in northeastern Utah where bands of the Ute nation and the Snake and Paiute tribes lived and harvested nearly every animal that had four legs and fur on its back. Like the post on the Uncompahgre, the exact date of the opening of the Brothers Robidoux operation there is not known and is the subject of much speculation.

  On the wall of the canyon of Westwater Creek, a small tributary of the upper Colorado River, emerging from the Book Cliffs, close to the present-day Utah-Colorado border, Antoine left his marker, a permanent record of his involvement in the region he had seen and trapped as early as 1824–1825. Traveling one of the numerous trapper trails into the Green River region, he carved into the sandstone bluff wall on the west side of the creek the following: Antoine Robidoux passé ici le 13 Novembre 1837 pour etablire maison traitte a la Rv. Vert ou wiyte. The translation reads, “Antoine Robidoux passed here 13 November 1837 to establish a trading post at the Green or Wiyte River.” It is possible that the word “wiyte” may have been misconstrued because of a crack in the rock that made what had actually been carved as “n” look like “y.” The “y” spelling came to mean White, but Antoine used vert, which is French for green, and the French word for white is blanc. Winte meant the Wintey or the nearby Unitah (Unita) River, which flowed into the Duchesne, a tributary of the Green River.18

  The assumption, based on that brief marker, would lead
one to believe that Antoine had not yet established a permanent base on the Unitah, but intended to do so in 1837. Or, as the inscription does not specifically mention the Unitah, possibly the 1837 reference has nothing to do with that post, but Antoine's intent to build a third post actually at the confluence of the Wintey or Duchesne or White and Green Rivers. The problem is that so many streams in the intermountain region had different name origins: Indian, Spanish, French trapper, or English. Using the old axiom, “numbers don't lie”—in this case a date, a great controversy emerges. A simple explanation is that the “7” in the date is really or had been intended as a “1.” And there is another name etched on a rock face along the Unitah River, the name of Denis Julien, with the date 1831. We know that Antoine and Julien worked together at times, and that carving supports the likelihood that the men may have traveled in the area together at the earlier date. Then there is evidence that Antoine actually came into possession of an already established trading post on the Unitah in 1832. That post, consisting of a single cabin, had been built by a young Kentuckian named William Reed and the veteran French trapper Denis Julien during the summer of 1828, which again associates him with the area. They traded with the Ute, and although they may not have occupied the post year round, there exists anecdotal information that Reed ran the little post for four years.19

  Part of the controversy surrounding Antoine's Uintah post, and still contested, involves not only the exact location, and whether Robidoux ever moved it, but if he actually started other temporary posts in addition to the two main bases on the Uncompahgre and the Unitah. The best information places the site at the forks of the Uintah and White Rocks Rivers. Rufus Sage, who visited the fort in 1842 and later copied the information from the 1844 report of John C. Fremont, told us exactly where it sat: “Roubideau's Fort is situated on the right bank of the Uintah, at lat. 40–27-45 north, long. 109–56-42 west” Other writers, both contemporaries and later, have placed it much closer to the confluence of the Green and White Rivers. Or they suggest a fort, or temporary post may have been there, belonging to someone else and mistakenly referred to as Fort Robidoux.20