Fontenelle's Post

Fontenelle's Post, first known as Pilcher's Post and also the basis of the community of Bellevue, was built in 1822 in the Nebraska Territory by trader Joshua Pilcher, as president of the Missouri Fur Company. [Mayhew, H. and Smucker, S.M. (1857) "The Religious, Social, and Political History of the Mormons, Or Latter-day Saints, from Their Origin to the Present Time: Containing Full Statements of Their Doctrines, Government and Condition, and Memoirs of Their Founder, Joseph Smith", Miller and Orton Publishing Company. p 247.] [Elliott, R.S. (1885) "Notes Taken in Sixty Years." R. P. Studley & Company. p 194.] Located on the Missouri River, it was among the first settlements by United States citizens in Nebraska. The Post served as a central trading point with local Omaha, Otoe, Missouri and Pawnee tribes.

In 1828 Lucien Fontenelle, a French-American fur trader representing the American Fur Company, bought the post and became the lead agent. In 1832 he sold the post to the US Government, which used it for the Missouri River Indian Agency (or Bellevue Agency) until about 1842. [ [http://www.fontenelleforest.org/history.html Fontenelle Nature Association] , accessed 7 Aug 2008] [ [http://www.nebraskahistory.org/histpres/nebraska/sarpy.htm "Fontenelle's Post"] , "Nebraska National Register Sites in Sarpy County", 17 Aug 2007, accessed 9 Aug 2008] The Post also served as the first home of Moses and Eliza Merrill, Baptist missionaries who arrived in 1833. The Indian agent offered them the trading post building as a temporary home. The Merrills founded the first Christian mission in Nebraska Territory in 1835.

History

In 1822 Joshua Pilcher of the Missouri Fur Company built a fur trading post on the west bank of the Missouri River to trade with the local tribes of Omaha, Otoe, Missouri and Pawnee. Within the American system there was no regulation and fur traders competed madly for Indian business, enticing them with goods and worst of all, liquor. While at first Pilcher competed with John Jacob Astor's Cabanné's Post of the American Fur Company north of Bellevue, in 1823 Astor's company bought Pilcher's, too, as it had so many others.

In 1828 the trapper and trader Lucien Fontenelle purchased Pilcher's Trading Post. After he took over, it was called Fontenelle's Post. He was also a representative for the American Fur Company, which by then had a virtual monopoly over the American fur trade. Fontenelle had been married for years to Me-um-bane (daughter of an Omaha chief) with whom he had five children. He sent his sons to St. Louis for their education.

With the fur trade declining, in 1832 Fontenelle sold the post to the US government for use as headquarters for the Missouri River Indian Agency, also called the Bellevue Agency. [ [http://www.nebraskahistory.org/histpres/nebraska/sarpy.htm "Fontenelle's Post", "Nebraska National Register Sites in Sarpy County"] , Nebraska State Historical Society, 17 Aug 2008, accessed 9 Aug 2008] (By 1834, having become a fabulously wealthy man, John Jacob Astor left the fur business and became a philanthropist.)

From 1840 to l853, Logan Fontenelle, the oldest son of Lucien and Me-um-bane, worked at the Indian agency at Fontenelle's Post as an interpreter for the United States Government. He achieved much respect among both the Indian and American communities. In 1853 Fontenelle was elected chief of the local Omaha tribe. [(n.d.) [http://www.nde.state.ne.us/SS/notables/fontenelle.html "Logan Fontenelle"] , Nebraska Department of Education, accessed 4 Aug 2008]

The Bellevue and Council Bluffs area were bristling with trading posts, reflecting the busy economy of the way west. A few years after Louisiana Creole Peter Sarpy arrived in the area, he established a trading post on the east side of the river, in what became Iowa. It was located at an area called by the following names: Point aux Poules, Point of the Pulls, Pull Point, Sarpy's Point, Nebraska Post Office, Council Bluffs Post Office, and Traders Point. Owned by the American Fur Company, Sarpy's Post served mostly European and US travelers, and outfitted pioneer expeditions going west. [(n.d.) [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~raymondfamily/SaintsMissouri1846.html Ray Raymond, "Council Bluffs: 1846-1852", map showing changed course of river, and narrative] , Rootsweb.com] The Post was located downriver from present-day Council Bluffs, Iowa.

By 1846 Sarpy expanded his operations to run Sarpy's Ferry, which provided passage for travelers between Bellevue and St. Mary's across the Missouri River. He carried travelers for the Oregon Trail, men going west for the Gold Rush, and Mormon pioneers. Sarpy County, Nebraska, the area around the town of Bellevue, was named after him.

In 1849 the Nebraska post office was established on the Iowa side of the river. In 1850 it was called the Council Bluffs Post Office and was held at Sarpy's Point. It was reopened on the Nebraska side in 1852 just south of the curve of the river at Sarpy's Point (Iowa) and named Trader’s Point Post Office. [(n.d.) [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~raymondfamily/SaintsMissouri1846.html Ray Raymond, "Council Bluffs: 1846-1852", map showing changed course of river, and narrative] , Rootsweb.com]

ee also

*Nebraska Territory

External links

* [http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com//images/Image/Sarpy's%20trading%20post%20and%20double%20log%20cabin%20Schymonsky%204%20inches.jpgHistoric image] of Fontenelle's Post.
* [http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0400/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0400/stories/0401_0125.html Peter Sarpy] , Nebraska Studies website

References

* Trottman, Alan C. "Lucien Fontenelle", featured in "Trappers of the Far West", Leroy R. Hafen, editor. 1972, Arthur H. Clark Company, reprint University of Nebraska Press, October 1983. ISBN 0-8032-7218-9