Fort Randall Reservoir Archeology, Geology, History

Several decades were to elapse, after the first ventures of individual fur traders, late in the 18th century, and even after the expedition of Lewis and Clark, before sustained commerce could be established with the Upper Missouri region. Spanish-born Manuel Lisa, from St. Louis, made a vigorous attempt to exploit its resources, establishing several trading posts for the purpose, up and down the river, but contact with the Indian peoples of the area was badly disrupted by the War of 1812. By the early 1820's, trade was once more slowly recovering, and at this time Fort Lookout and Fort Recovery were built, within the present reservoir area. Troubles with the native peoples themselves, however, now began to make themselves felt, and a party of traders under the famous William Henry Ashley was attacked in 1823, with serious loss of life. In retaliation, a military expedition under Colonel Henry Leavenworth, which was joined at Fort Recovery (near modern Chamberlain) by the angry traders, attacked a village of Arikara Indians in northern South Dakota. This attempt to pacify the frontier was the first armed encounter of Whites with Indians in the area.

By the early 1830's, the trading frontier had again become more settled, and that decade witnessed the establishment of more permanent and secure posts, such as Fort Pierre Chouteau (near the present city of Fort Pierre, which, like the capital of the State took its name from that post). This important trading center served as a headquarters for the entire region. The trade with the Indians was now largely in the hands of the St. Louis firm, Pierre Chouteau, Jr., and Company, which in 1834 had succeeded John Jacob Astor's famous American Fur Company in the area. Unnumbered different "companies" attempted the trade from time to time in "opposition" to this powerful firm, but none succeeded for more than a few years.

There now appeared on the upper Missouri River a new historical factor, the first successful steamboat, adapted by the experienced traders to the requirements of that often-shallow, ever-shifting stream. This was the Yellowstone, which in 1831 ascended as far as the site of the future South Dakota capital, and the following year as far as the mouth of the Yellowstone River (her original objective) and Fort Union, then the second capital of the trade in the valley, and it remained the chief means of transportation to and from its more distant parts until the coming of the railroads. By the 1860's, steamboats had reached Fort Benton, at the very gates of the mountains. The steamboat thus bridges the gap in the history of the Dakotas from the establishment of the fur- and hide-trade until its decline, and to the period of the first permanent White settlements, in tiny villages, on farms, and on cattle ranches.

Over the years, the Yellowstone was followed by many another steamboat. In the late 1830's and 1840's came the Antelope, the Omega, and the General Brooks, now sometimes transporting not only the traders to and from their stations with their wares and furs and hides, but other travelers as well — Prince Maximilian of Wied and his artist, Carl Bodmer; George Catlin; J. N. Nicollett and John C. Fremont; John James Audubon, and other scientists, artists, or observers. Later, among the steamboats came the Sonora, the Calypso, the Miner, the Scarred Wolf, the Nile, the Ida Fulton, and many others.

Not all the steamboats on the upper river were so successful as the Yellowstone had been. Most of them grounded on sandbars or caught on sawyers and snags and not always without damage. Some delayed too long and suddenly found themselves frozen in the ice and became winter-bound, as did the Nellie Peck in 1868-69. Others, even less fortunate, were wrecked on sandbars or hidden obstructions, like the Pocahontas No. 2, the Hiram Wood, the Ida Reese, and the Carroll No. 2. Sometimes they could be raised again, to be salvaged and returned to service, sometimes not. One of the largest, the Mollie Moore, of 600 tons, was wrecked in 1881 within sight of Chamberlain. Despite the uncertainties of river travel the steamboats had provided facilities far beyond any previous means of transportation, and had they not been available the development of the Fort Randall area would have been delayed even longer.