Pierre Chouteau, Jr.
| Pierre Chouteau, Jr. | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
19 January 1789 St. Louis, Louisiana (New Spain) |
| Died | 6 September 1865 (aged 76) |
Pierre Chouteau, Jr. (January 19, 1789 – September 6, 1865), also referred to as Pierre Cadet Chouteau, was an American merchant and a member of the wealthy Chouteau fur-trading family of Saint Louis, Missouri.
Chouteau was born in St. Louis, where his father, Jean Pierre Chouteau, was one of the first settlers and part of the ethnic French elite. His mother was Pelagie Kiersereau (1767–1793). One of his brothers was Auguste Pierre Chouteau. A half-brother (by his father's second wife Brigitte Saucier) was François Chouteau, a trader who became one of the first European-American settlers of Kansas City, Missouri. His son-in-law was John F. A. Sanford who later became one of Chouteau's business partners.
Pierre Chouteau followed in the family footsteps by starting a trade with the Osage tribe at age 15. He also operated lead mines around Dubuque, Iowa until the War of 1812. Chouteau was a member of Bernard Pratte and Company, the Western agent for John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company in 1827. He pioneered the use of steamboats on the Missouri River.
In 1834, Pratt and Chouteau bought all the Missouri River interests of the Astor Fur company. (The northern portion of Astor's company went to Ramsay Crooks, who retained the "American Fur Company" title for his company.) It was reorganized in 1838 as Pierre Chouteau, Jr. and Company and continued until it dissolved in 1864.
In 1847 Pierre and his brother Auguste established Fort Benton in present-day Chouteau County, Montana as the last fur trading post on the Upper Missouri River.
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