Missouri Fur Company
| Private | |
| Industry | Fur trade |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Successor | None |
| Founded | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. (February 24, 1809) |
| Founder |
Manuel Lisa, Jean Pierre Chouteau, William Clark |
| Defunct | June 1, 1830 |
| Headquarters | St. Louis, Missouri |
|
Area served
|
Louisiana Territory |
The Missouri Fur Company (also known as the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company or the Manuel Lisa Trading Company) was one of the earliest fur trading companies in St. Louis, Missouri. Dissolved and reorganized several times, it operated under various names from 1809 until its final dissolution in 1830. It was created by a group of fur traders and merchants from St. Louis and Kaskaskia, Illinois, including Manuel Lisa and members of the Chouteau family. Its expeditions explored the upper Missouri River and traded with a variety of Native American tribes, and it acted as the prototype for fur trading companies along the Missouri River until the 1820s.
When Manuel Lisa returned to St. Louis from his first expedition to the upper Missouri River in August 1808, he reported to merchants there about the potential of the region for fur trading. On February 24, 1809, Lisa and other prominent fur traders from the St. Louis area formed an association company; its members included Benjamin Wilkinson (nephew of Louisiana Territorial Governor James Wilkinson), Jean Pierre Chouteau (son of St. Louis co-founder René Auguste Chouteau), Auguste Pierre Chouteau (son of Jean Pierre Chouteau), Reuben Lewis (brother of Meriwether Lewis), William Clark (co-captain of the Lewis and Clark Expedition), Pierre Menard, Andrew Henry, Sylvester Labadie, William Morrison, and Andrew Fitzhugh. The articles of association, signed on March 9, 1809, defined the roles of the company's partners: Lisa and Wilkinson were named as field traders, Clark was listed as the company agent in St. Louis, and no members were permitted to trade outside their role as members of the company. The company acquired the equipment and posts of its members' private fur companies (including Fort Lisa in present-day North Dakota, where the Bighorn River emptied into the Yellowstone); the company capital resources totaled at least $40,000. Among the equipment and supplies to be traded with Native Americans for furs were guns, ammunition, and whiskey. The company defined its field of operations as the entire Missouri River valley upriver from the Platte River.
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