Black people played a major role in developing the American West, but when we study American history, or even black American history for that matter, there is not much to be learned about them. It may seem that the achievements of blacks in the West have little significance to history. Here’s proof that they were. Fur trade has been a part of American Industry for over 150 years. In America, business is dominated by the Andrew Carnegies, John D. Rockefellers, and Henry Fords. Beaver was used to make women’s coats, collars and hats. The beaver was used to make hats for every man. Over 300 years, the American fur trade was a key factor in the development and growth of North America. Research and history reveal that John Jacobs Astor’s American Fur Company and the Hudson Bay Company – the oldest North American business – were some of the best known fur companies. Manuel Lisa’s Missouri Fur Company also made the list. Fur trade, as with all aspects in American History has many layers.
Native Americans were in business since 1500. Fur trade was a big part of the American West, and African Americans were a major player. When you study the history of American fur trading, you’ll see that black mountainmen and traders were prominent figures. From slaves to trappers, campkeepers to entrepreneurs, blacks held a wide range of positions in the fur industry. In the United States, slavery was legal during the fur-trade era. Numerous traders and fur companies principals used slaves in order to create their fur-trade empires. William Clark’s black slave York, with no apparent name other than York, accompanied Lewis and Clark’s expedition to the west coast and back. The men of the Lewis and Clark expedition worked hard, but one of the leaders said that only York and Scammon, a Newfoundland, could be trusted to follow orders. Jim, Davy Jackson’s fur trapper slave, accompanied the expedition through Mexico and on the Gila Trail to California. Many trading posts employed blacks in various roles, such as horse wranglers, cooks, traders, laborers, interpreters, hunters and trappers. Jim Hawkins is a Black man who worked at Fort Union Trading Post located on the upper Missouri River. Hawkins served as the cook for Fort Union. Later, he held the exact same job in Fort Laramie which is located today in Wyoming. Hawkins took a company boat with him and ran off to work under Pierre Sarpy. He was obviously a servant and sent some money to his St. Louis-based master while keeping the rest. Jasper was another black man living in Fort Union. The job he held at the fur-trading post is unknown. Black Frontiersman were also present. Jacob Dodson, Sanders Jackson and other free blacks accompanied John C. Fremont’s expedition to California during 1848. Dodson braved the dangers of California and Oregon with Fremont. Dodson was also involved in the Bear Flag Revolt, which was California’s fight for independence. George William Bush, an Oregon frontiersman and African-American, was a veteran of the Battle of New Orleans (1814). Bush, along with his white companions, rode across the border from Mexico to the Columbia River in the mid-19th Century. They were shocked to learn that Oregon had passed a new law that prohibited blacks from entering the territory.
The free lifestyle of fur trappers and voyageurs attracted many blacks. James Pierson Beckwourth was the most famous. Beckwourth’s meteoric rise was fueled by his mother being a slave, and father a white plantation proprietor. His skills and ability to survive in the wilderness were impressive. His eagerness and ability to master fur trade techniques was astounding. Beckwourth was one of those rare trappers who were the most powerful, skilled and dramatic.
Beckwourth’s nearly fifty-year career saw him progress from wranglers to cooks, then to hunters, trappers, interpreters, traders, war chiefs of Crow Indians and soldiers, as well as explorers, scouts and ghostwriters of autobiographies. Beckwourth worked as both a hotelier and pioneer Californian rancher. Beckwourth’s tale of life during American fur trade’s heyday has been deemed useful and accurate by many historians.
Edward Rose, another notorious mountaineer who lived a life almost as fantastical as Beckwourth’s, is also a black trapper. Auguste Janisse & Polette Lablosse also had paths that crossed with other people whose stories are recorded. Peter Ranne, who was a black free man, rode over the Mojave desert with Jedediah during the grueling trip that nearly cost Smith his life. Ranne may have been the first African to arrive in California by land. Conclusion: The American fur industry would have failed without black slaves. In America, we do not learn about the black men & women who contributed to the American West. We must never forget their contributions to our country.