David Edward Jackson
(1790-1837) - Pioneer, explorer, trader and
fur trapper Jackson was born in Randolph County, West Virginia in 1790 and
spent his early life west of the Shenandoah Mountains. He participated in
the Battle of new Orleans in the War of 1812.
In the spring of
1822, he responded to an ad in the St. Louis Enquirer for a job with
William Ashley's fur company.
While in present-day
South Dakota,
Arikara warriors attacked
the expedition on June 2, 1823. The U.S. Army retaliated in what is now
known as Arikara War, the first military conflict between
the United States and the western
Native
Americans. In 1826, he and two other fur
trappers,
Jedediah Smith and
William
Sublette, bought out
Ashley's
operations and Jackson then managed part of the business. In 1828-29,
Jackson wintered among the Flathead Indians and explored the area around
Jackson Hole,
Wyoming,
which is named for him
By
1830, Jackson,
Smith and
Sublette had made a good profit and sold the company
to the
Rocky Mountain Fur Company.
with the same partners, Jackson then entered the
Santa Fe
Trail trade, reaching
New Mexico in July, 1831, after Jedidiah Smith had
been killed by Comanche
Indians. He then traveled onto
California
before returning to
Missouri.
Ailing, he lived in Paris,
Tennessee, where he died on December 24,
1837.
K
Charles Keemle (1800-1865) - Born at Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania in October, 1800, Keemle grew up to become a journalist.
He moved briefly to Vincennes, Indiana, before heading to
St. Louis, Missouri in 1817. He joined the
Missouri Fur Company in 1820 and was
soon trapping on the Yellowstone River. On May 31, 1823, he barely
survived a
Blackfoot
Indian attack that killed seven and and wounded
four other trappers. Later, that year, he took part in Colonel Henry
Leavenworth’s indecisive attack on the
Arikara
Indians. That winter,
he wintered with Crow
Indians before returning to civilization for
good. He died at
St. Louis, Missouri on September 28, 1865.
James Kipp (1788-1880)
- Born in 1788 near Montreal Canada, little is known of his early
years, but by the time he was 20, he had entered the fur trade in the
Red River region, probably working for the
North West Company. By 1818
he was working in the Upper Missouri
River region, and four years
later was working for the
Columbia Fur
Company.
That company was bought out by the
American Fur
Company
in 1827 to which Kipp then joined. In 1831 Kipp went to
the Marias River and built Fort Piegan, Montana the first post in the
Blackfoot territory. He married a Mandan princess named Earth Woman,
and was said to have been the only white man to master the Mandan
language. The couple would have one son, Joseph Kipp, who would also
grow up to be a fur trader, as well as a scout. He also allegedly
married several other
Indian wives as well as a white woman, with whom
he had several children who lived on a farm near Independence,
Missouri. He retired in the early 1860s and returned to Missouri. He
died at the age of 93 and is buried at Parkville, Missouri.
Continued Next Page
|
|
