The Fort Lookout Trading Post Sites - A Reexamination

A criticism is made of the identification of site 39LM57, the "Ft. Lookout II of the French Fur Trading Co." in a recent publication of the River Basin Surveys Papers, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin, No. 176. Events in the history of the upper Missouri fur trade, 1822 to 1852, are examined to show that this site was not the location of a post operated by the "French Fur Trading Co. "between 1831 and 1840, or the "La Barge Post" of 1840-1851. The evidence is presented to substantiate the view that there was no "French Company" trading in the Fort Lookout area during the time indicated. Also it is stated that during the 1840's, the post referred to as "Fort Lookout" was actually the Yankton trading house located on the east side of the Missouri, across the river from the traditional Fort Lookout area

Archaeology · Geography · American Environmental and Regional History · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies