|
Peter
A Sarpy was the second
son of Gregoire Berold Sarpy and Palagie L’Abadie, born on November 3,
1805. His father was an early
Missouri River fur trader, and on his mother’s side of the family were
ties of marriage and blood with the family of Pierre Chouteau, Jr.
Amid such influences, it not surprising that he also choose an
occupation in the fur trade. His given name
was Pierre Sylvester Gregoire Sarpy, but like his brother, Jean Baptiste,
he anglicized his name. In the
early years, his skills and competence were grounded in the St. Louis end
of the fur trade. Sometime
between 1824 and 1831 he would become a trader on the river, following his
older brother in the employ of the Western Division of John Jacob
Astor’s American Fur Company. The
uncertainty of the date is due to the fact that the American Fur Company
employed three men named Sarpy during this time, and it is not always
certain which was being referred to in the old documents. However,
by 1831, Peter Sarpy was carrying an independent account with the Western
Division, operating out of a post known as Fort Bellevue.
Located just north of the confluence of the Platte River and the
Missouri River, this would become his main base of activity in the fur
trade over the remainder of his career.
In 1834, John
Jacob Astor would retire from the fur trade.
The Western Department of the American Fur Company would be taken
over by Pratte, Chouteau and Company.
Peter Sarpy would be one of the company’s most trusted traders
and he would conduct operations from a number of posts on the Missouri and
Platte Rivers. The most
important post would still be Fort Bellevue which was central to the Oto,
Omaha and Pawnee Indian Tribes. Sarpy
would become a specialist in dealing with all of these tribes.
His experience and common sense, coupled with the intercessions of
his Indian wife, Nicomi, daughter of an Iowa chief, was a combination
which other traders found difficult to overcome.
From the early to
mid 1830’s Sarpy concentrated on Indian trade from the areas of present
day Nebraska, northern Kansas, and the Dakotas.
He seemed to have no ambitions to expand his trade into the
Northern Rocky Mountains, or Upper Missouri River country.
In 1836, Pratte, Chouteau and Company decided to enter into the
fiercely competitive trade in the area south of the Platte River in what
would become eastern Colorado. The
company called on Peter Sarpy and Henry Fraeb, also a savy trader, to
spearhead their efforts in this region.
Pratte, Chouteau and Company provided cash advances and credit for
Sarpy and Fraeb to move the required men and supplies into position.
In early spring of 1837, Sarpy left with a party of 15 men and four
wagons to establish a post called Fort Jackson.
The original stock of supplies included tin cups, traps, all manner
of wearing apparel, blankets, and whiskey.
Fort Jackson was located north of Fort
Lancaster (Lancaster Lupton) and immediately south of Fort
Vasquez (Louis Vasquez and Andrew Sublette).
Still further to the north was Fort George (Ceran St. Vrain and the Bent Brothers).
Such a concentration of trading posts within a twenty mile reach of
the South Platte River lead to intense competition, in which profits were
frequently sacrificed for control of the trade.
In this environment Sarpy and Fraeb were quickly able to
demonstrate their superior skills as traders.
The field work of
trading was conducted at distances of up to two hundred miles from Fort
Jackson. Henry Fraeb seems to
have stayed at the fort during the 1837-1838 season, while Sarpy worked
the area around the North Platte River.
The area south of the post to the Arkansas River was handled by a
trader named James Robertson. In
a letter to Henry Fraeb dated February 18, 1838, Sarpy writes that
business was very good. He
also reveals that he has eliminated a number of local competitors in the
North Platte area, and that he intends to take his accumulated packs of
furs and buffalo robes down the Platte River thence to St. Louis.
By 1837-1838 it
was becoming evident that the fur trade was in decline and Chouteau would
need to decide where to concentrate his interests.
One aspect of this realignment of priorities was the sale of Fort
Jackson in the summer of 1838 to the Bent, St. Vrain and Company.
So successful had been Sarpy and Fraeb, that Bent, St. Vrain and
Company felt it had to remove them by buying them out, rather than
out-trading them and driving them out. With the
sale of Fort Jackson, the interests of Pierre Chouteau, Jr. and those of
the Bent, St. Vrain and Company divided up the area of the Arkansas-Platte
River trade. Chouteau’s
interests would be centered on the North Platte River, while Bent, St.
Vrain and Company interests would encompass everything from the Arkansas
River up to the North Platte River. After the sale of
Fort Jackson, Sarpy returned to his trading business at Fort Bellevue, now one of the most strategically located posts on the lower
Missouri River. For the next
26 years he would supply an increasing trade with travelers, army units,
and Indian tribes. He would
develop ferry services across the Missouri River, as well as the Loup and
Elkhorn Rivers. These
businesses were always in addition to his interests in the fur and robe
trade, the product of which he continued to send down to the St. Louis
warehouses of Pierre Chouteau, Jr. & Company.
During the
1840’s Peter Sarpy made several trips to visit relatives in St. Louis,
but he seemed to have no interest in residing in that city.
The supply trade at Fort Bellevue continued to grow through the
1840’s as successive waves of immigrants to Oregon, Mormons and gold
seekers all passed by this post. In
1849 he established a post office at the fort.
In the 1850’s
ferrying became one of Sarpy’s most profitable businesses.
By 1854 he had acquired a steam ferry, the “Nebraska” which
became the mainstay of his ferry service till the end of the decade.
During the 1850’s he joined with others in the formation of
companies which laid out the towns of Bellevue and Decatur, Nebraska.
In recognition of his service and influence, the legislature of
Nebraska in 1857, named Sarpy County after him.
In that same year, his brother John Sarpy died, which basically
ended Peter Sarpy’s association with Pierre Choteau Jr. & Company.
In 1862 he left Bellevue, moving to Plattsmouth, Nebraska with his
wife, Nicomi, where he died on January 4, 1865 at the age of 59.
|