The Early Relationship with Indian Women with White Men

Many of the men on the Lewis and Clark expedition had relationships with Indian women.  Some of these men returned to the upper Missouri River country after the expedition and became fur trappers.   It was common to take up with an Indian woman as a mate and to help out with domestic chores.  

In order to obtain an Indian woman from their fathers or a tribal chief it usually was necessary to trade some horses, guns or other goods for the woman, many who were just teenage girls.  Many Indian women received better treatment by the white men than the Indian men.    Indian women were prized for their ability to speak Indian languages, make moccasins, fashion hides into garments, dig for eatable roots, butcher animals killed by the men and cook over open fires.   The Hudson Bay Company was noted for large numbers of men with Indian wives and children traveling through the Oregon Country in search of beavers in the 1820's and 30's.  They were even reported as far south as the Coastal Mountains of northern California in the book Genocide and Vendetta by Lynwood Carranco and Estle Beard.  

On many occasions if it had not been for some of these Indian women some of these men would not have survived, including the Lewis and Clark expedition without the aid and knowledge of Sacagawea. 

Lewis & Clark

As I reread about Lewis and Clark in the book Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose, I find it interesting the number of  white people that were living with the Indians near the Mandan Villages in present day North Dakota when Lewis and Clark arrived in 1804.   Many were French Canadians, some British fur traders and a couple of Americans.    Some of the French Canadians were descendent of French fathers and Indian mothers, either from Quebec or from the plains Indians.    Sergeant Patrick Gass, a member of the Lewis and Clark party, notes in his journals that many of the Indian children in the Mandan Villages had fair hair.  The Mandan Villages were a great trade center between different Indian tribes of the plains and fur traders from Canada decades before Lewis and Clarke arrived.   There were trading posts established by the Hudson Bay Company as far west as present day Alberta, in western Canada before Lewis and Clark crossed the Rocky Mountains on their way to the Pacific.   How many British fur traders ever ventured into the upper Missouri River country near the Rocky Mountains before Lewis and Clarke is unknown.  Some may have perished from the cold winters or killed by hostel Indians.   There is some speculation by Ambrose that if Lewis and Clark had not succeeded in their expedition much of the upper Missouri River might have become part of Canada.   

Lewis & Clark

 The Lewis and Clark expedition is the best adventure story I have ever read.   I think I have read every book on the subject.  Two books that stand out the most are Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose and the Journals of Patrick Gass, the oldest member of the party.  He became one of three sergeants in the party and lived into his 90's making him the longest living member of the expedition.   Another man that survived it all was John Colter, who left the expedition on the return trip and went back west with two trappers they met on the Missouri River.   His story is sketchy, but he did survive after spending two years, mostly by himself and became a farmer in Missouri after his return.   In summary if it had not been for the kindness of the different Indian tribes they would have never completed the expedition.  

After reading all these books it opened up more reading on the fur traders and mountain men that followed, some had been members of the Lewis and Clark party.   Only one other man covered more of the western frontier than Lewis and Clark and that was Jedediah Smith.   More interesting reading during these uncertain times.