Kenneth McKenzie ruled an economic empire in the Upper Missouri River Basin during the mid-nineteenth century that was larger than most European countries. His base of operations, Fort Union at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, was 1,800 river-miles upstream from St. Louis. How did McKenzie gain such power and influence that friends and foes called him King of the Upper Missouri?
Kenneth McKenzie, born on April 15, 1797, in Scotland, received a good education, immigrated to Canada in 1816, and worked in the fur trade for the North West Company. For years, the “Nor’ Westers” were the only competition to the powerful Hudson’s Bay Company, that dominated the fur trade. In 1821, the two companies merged, retaining the name Hudson’s Bay Company. McKenzie and many Nor’ Westers lost their jobs.
McKenzie and two friends drifted south to the United States where they joined several Americans and established the Columbia Fur Company on the Upper Mississippi River. By 1823, they expanded to the Upper Missouri River. Their largest post was Fort Tecumseh, located at the mouth of the Bad River on the Missouri in present-day South Dakota.
McKenzie became the chief partner of the Columbia Fur Company using Fort Tecumseh as headquarters from 1822 to 1829. In addition to trading for beaver pelts, McKenzie realized there was a market for buffalo robes in the eastern United States. By 1826, the Columbia Fur Company was trading for furs and buffalo robes with the Lakota, Arikara, Hidatsa, Mandan, Yankton, Ponca, and Omaha tribes.
The buffalo robe trade made the Columbia Fur Company profitable. John Jacob Astor, principal partner of the American Fur Company, bought out the Columbia Fur Company partners in 1827 with the stipulation McKenzie and his partners become partners in the American Fur Company. The former Columbia Fur Company’s Missouri River forts remained semiautonomous, being renamed the Upper Missouri Outfit. McKenzie became the outfit’s chief agent.
The American Fur Company expanded up the Missouri River into territory under the Hudson’s Bay Company’s influence. McKenzie realized he needed a fort near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers to compete against the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1828, he sent workers to the rivers’ confluence to build a trading cabin for the Assiniboine tribe.
In 1829, McKenzie sent workers to build a fort at the Assiniboine trading cabin and named it Fort Union. He moved his headquarters there in 1830. People began referring to the American Fur Company as “the Company” and any competition “the Opposition.” They also began calling Kenneth McKenzie—King of the Upper Missouri.
McKenzie held formal dinners at the fort. Attendees were required to dress in their best clothing and servants provided fine foods and liquors. The dinners were jolly affairs with many toasts presented.
McKenzie wanted to trade with the Blackfeet tribe who considered Americans their enemies and traded exclusively with the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1830, McKenzie sent Jacob Berger to the Blackfeet inviting them to Fort Union to discuss trade prospects. Berger, an old Hudson’s Bay trapper and friend of the Blackfeet, brought a Blackfeet delegation to Fort Union. After McKenzie provided presents and promised a good exchange for their furs, the Blackfeet agreed to allow the Company to build a trading post in their territory in present-day Montana. That same year, McKenzie sent employees to the Rocky Mountains to trade with the free trappers and Indians at the annual rendezvous.
McKenzie believed if steamboats could travel up the Missouri River to Fort Union, trade would increase. In August 1830, he went to St. Louis to encourage the partners to buy a steamboat. They baulked; but McKenzie convinced one partner, Pierre Chouteau, Jr., and together they swayed the others. The Company had a steamboat built, naming it Yellow Stone. It traveled as far as Fort Tecumseh in 1831, but low water kept it from proceeding further upriver. The next year, on June 17, 1832, the Yellow Stone arrived at Fort Union. Steamboats soon increased the Company’s efficiency moving furs, hides, and trade goods faster and easier.
During 1832, John Jacob Astor sold his shares in the Company to Pierre Chouteau, Jr. and other partners, while McKenzie built Fort Cass on the Yellowstone River for trade with the Crow tribe. The Company was now trading with all the major tribes on the Upper Missouri River.
McKenzie traveled to St. Louis and Washington, D.C., on business and returned to Fort Union on June 23, 1833, aboard the steamboat Assiniboine accompanying the German scientist, Prince Maximilian, and his personal artist, Karl Bodmer. On the night of July 5, McKenzie entertained the fort’s inhabitants and visiting tribes by shooting rockets in the air and tossing firecrackers into the crowd.
McKenzie read textbooks on medicine, chemistry, and natural science. He collected Indian craftwork and natural curiosities. He brought the latest in home entertainment to Fort Union — a magic lantern, the forerunner of the slide projector, and an electric spark generator. He sent to St. Louis for luxury items — brandy, cigars, and oysters, and ordered a complete suit of armor from England.
When McKenzie arrived at Fort Union aboard the Assiniboine in 1833, he brought a whiskey still. For years, trade with the tribes had involved alcohol. Congress became concerned about selling alcohol to the tribes and in July 1832, had passed a law forbidding the introduction of alcohol in Indian Country. The Hudson’s Bay Company had no restrictions and continued to provide the tribes with alcohol.
McKenzie traveled to Washington, D.C., in an unsuccessful attempt to change the law. He met with the Company’s St. Louis lawyer who found a possible loophole. The law stated alcohol could not be introduced into Indian Country but said nothing about its manufacture in Indian Country. After McKenzie shipped a still to Fort Union, he bought corn for the mash from the Mandans and began distilling whiskey.
In the autumn of 1833, Robert Campbell, Milton Sublette, and Nathaniel Wyeth, all Opposition members, stopped at Fort Union. Always the host, McKenzie wined and dined them, and showed them the still. They wanted to buy his whiskey, but McKenzie refused believing they would sell it to Indians. They were angered at McKenzie’s refusal. When they reached Fort Leavenworth, the farthest western United States’ military post, one of them told the officials about McKenzie’s still. This brought the Company major problems, so they dismantled the still and shipped it downriver.
McKenzie left Fort Union in 1837 to work out of St. Louis. He returned to the Upper Missouri in 1844 to reestablish trade with the Blackfeet after Company employees had massacred many Blackfeet in revenge for the murder of one of their men.
McKenzie left the American Fur Company and was successful in a variety of business ventures, married, and raised a family in St. Louis. He continued to provide lavish entertainment for his friends until his death on April 26, 1861.
McKenzie forged bonds of trust and friendship with diverse Indian tribes in a region and at a time when the United States government was nonexistent in the area. Kenneth McKenzie was King of the Upper Missouri.
Bill Markley can be reached at markley@pie.midco.net
