Peter A. Sarpy

Infobox Person
name = Peter Abadie Sarpy


caption =
birth_date = 1804
birth_place = New Orleans, Louisiana
death_date = January 4, 1865
death_place = Plattsmouth, Nebraska
other_names =
known_for = Civic activities
occupation = Fur trader
nationality =

Peter Abadie Sarpy (1804-1865) was the owner and operator of several trading posts essential to the establishment of the Nebraska Territory and a thriving ferry business. He helped lay out the towns of Bellevue and Decatur, Nebraska. The legislature named Sarpy County after him in honor of his service to the state.

Biography

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Sarpy moved with his family to St. Louis, Missouri as a child. In 1823 he went to the Nebraska Territory to work at the American Fur Company's trading post at Council Bluff, north of present-day Bellevue. There he worked for his brother's father-in-law, John Pierre Cabanné who ran Cabanne's Trading Post. [Federal Writers Project. (1939) "Nebraska: A guide to the Cornhusker State." Nebraska State Historical Society. p 267.] Trade with area Indian tribes was competed for by both Cabanné's Post and Pilcher's Post, established at Bellevue by the Missouri Fur Company.

Sarpy later established a trading post and supply point for white settlers and pioneers on the Iowa side of the Missouri River. It went by various names, including Sarpy's Point and the "Trader's Post". [ [http://www.nacone.org/webpages/counties/countywebs/sarpy.htm "History of Sarpy County"] , Nebraska Association of County Officials. Retrieved 8/8/08.] [ [http://iagenweb.org/mills/history/MillsHistory/ferries.htm "The Early Ferries"] . Retrieved 8/8/08.]

In 1832 Cabanné ordered Sarpy to head a group of American Fur Company employees who took over a keelboat and its goods belonging to a competing company. The fur business had cutthroat competition. After getting caught, both Cabanné and Sarpy were ordered to leave Indian Territory for a year. Later the company replaced Cabanné with Joshua Pilcher at Cabanné's Trading Post. [ [http://www.nebraskahistory.org/histpres/nebraska/sarpy.htm "Nebraska National Register Sites in Sarpy County"] , Nebraska State Historical Society. Retrieved 8/8/08.]

After operating the Council Bluff trading post during 1835, Sarpy moved westward. In 1837 he established Fort Jackson on the upper South Platte River in present-day Colorado.

The next year Sarpy returned to the Bellevue area, and built another trading post. About 1846 Sarpy also started a ferrying business across the Missouri between Bellevue and the Iowa side. In 1846/47 Sarpy ferried Mormons across the river and supplied them for the rest of their trip. During the ensuing gold rush years, Sarpy's ferry boats hauled many of the would-be gold miners across the Missouri. [ [http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0400/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0400/stories/0401_0125.html "Peter Sarpy"] , NebraskaStudies.org. Retrieved 8/8/08.] Sarpy expanded his ferry business in two other locations: to cross the Elkhorn River at Elkhorn City, later called Elk City, and also at a fork of the Loup River near present-day Columbus. By the 1850s, his fleet included a steam ferry. [ [http://home.att.net/~mman/SarpyPeter.htm "Peter A. Sarpy"] . Retrieved 8/8/08]

After Sarpy returned to Bellevue in 1838, he became influential in community affairs. Through his efforts, the area post office was established there in 1849. In 1854, Sarpy was among the group that laid out the town of Bellevue. In 1857 Sarpy joined Stephen Decatur and others in founding Decatur along the Missouri in northeastern Burt County. [ [http://www.nebraskasocialstudies.org/notable/sarpy.html "Peter Abadie Sarpy"] , Nebraska Social Studies Association. Retrieved 8/8/08.] [ [http://casde.unl.edu/history/counties/sarpy/bellevue/ "Bellevue - Sarpy County"] , University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Retrieved 8/8/08.] Sarpy moved to Plattsmouth in 1862, and died there on January 4, 1865.

Honors and legacy

* Sarpy County was named in his honor. [ [http://www.nebraskasocialstudies.org/notable/sarpy.html "Peter Abadie Sarpy"] , Nebraska Social Studies Association. Retrieved 8/8/08.] [ [http://casde.unl.edu/history/counties/sarpy/bellevue/ "Bellevue - Sarpy County"] , University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Retrieved 8/8/08.]

* Sarpy's Post was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

See also

* History of Nebraska

References

External links

* [http://www.kancoll.org/books/andreas_ne/graphics/sarpy-g1.html Historical image] of Peter Sarpy.