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t McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C., THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1939 Sun Down, Accidents Up When,the sun goes down, traffic accidents go up. More than 60 per cent of all fatal traffic acci dents occur at night,, the National Safety Council reports. Since about a third of the driving is done at night, it estimates, the number of traffic deaths per mile is about three times as great at night as during the daytime. In the past seven years, night accidents have increased 60 per cent in rural districts, the report says, and only 17 per cent in cities. Adequate lighting and divided highways tend to reduce headlight glare and accidents, the council said. Some states are experiment ing with new reflector buttons ’ placed along the side of the road to show the alignment of the high way on curves, hills and other hazardous places. 1 Wait, Mather* Ask Your Doctor First »V * i * Sr •';> < Anniversaries During 1939 Recall The Fame of the Chouteau Family fir*t of Line, Born 190 Years Ago, Helped Found the City of St. Louis; Another, Born 150 Years Ago, Was Head of the Company, Organized 100 Years Ago, Which Played an Important Part in Making St. Louis the "Fur Capital of the World." O Western Newspaper Union. •va •wv<. dyi y /<»*< to taka un- A mother may save a few pennies giving her children unknown prep arations. But a child's life is pre cious beyohd pennies. So—Ask your doctor before you give any remedy you don't know all about. And when giving the common . children's remedy, milk of mag nesia. always ask for “Phillips"* Milk of Magnesia. Because for three generations Phillips* has been favored by many physicians as a standard, reliable and proved preparation — marvel ously gentle for youngsters. Many children like Phillips' in * the newer form — tiny peppermint- flavored tablets that chew like candy. Each tablet contains the equivalent of one teaspoonful of the liquid Phillips.' 25/ for a big box. A bottle of Phillips* liquid Milk of Magnesia costs but 25/. So—any one can afford the genuine. Careful mothers ask for it by its full name “Phillips'Milk of Magnesia/'^g^ PHILLIPS’ MILK OF MAGNESIA it IN LIQUID OR TABLET FORM Inward Guidance «• V In a word, neither death nor ex ile, nor pain, nor anything of this kind is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action, but our inward opinions and principles.— Epictetus. st.Josepn GENUINE PURE ASPIRIN The Idle One The most unhappy man or Wom an on earth is the one who rises in the morning with nothing to do and wonders how he will pass/off the day.—Shaw. BLACKMAN STOCK AND POULTRY .MEDICINES Are Dependable ■ • BUdoMn's Medicated Uefc>A4Hk m • SteckaMa's Stock Powdet ■ • SteckaNn's Cow Tonic • Bteckaan’i Ho« Powdat • Bladuaen't PoeHry Powdat • Blackman'* Poultry Tablets • Bteekaun't Lice Powder HIGHEST QUALITY—LOWEST COST g SATISFACTION GUARANTEED OR YOUR MONEY BACK M BUY FROM YOUR DEALER — BLACKMAN STOCK MEDICINE CO." CHATTANOOGA. TENN. A Sure Index of Value ... is knowledge of a manufacturer's name and what it stands for. It is the most certain method, except that oi actual use, for judging the value of any manufac tured goods. Here is the only guarantee against careless workmanship or use oi shoddy materials. ADVERTISED GOODS Chouteau's Trading Station Near Kansas City (A part of the sculptural frieze on Kansas City’s new city hall). By ELMO SCOTT WATSON A MONG the anniversaries to be celebrated during 1939 are several connected with the famous family of Chouteaus. J A. In fact, there are so many of them and so important was this family in the history of the West that it might not be amiss to call this a “Chouteau Anniversary Year The first of the line, born f » 190 years ago, helped found a city that was once the “Gate way to the West.” Another, born 150 years ago, was the head of the company, organ ized 100 years ago, which played an important part in making that city the “Fur Capital of the World." There are other anniver saries, too—for “years end ing in 9" seem to have been constantly recurring dates in the history of this family. Arranged chronologically, here are some of those dates: 1749—In September of this year there was born to M. Rene Au guste Chouteau and his wife Mme. Marie Therese Chouteau in the French city of New Orleans, a son to whom was given his fa ther's name, Rene Auguste Chou teau. Rene Auguste Chouteau Sr. is said to have been cruel to his wife, whom he had married when she was only fifteen years old. So they separated. Living in New Orleans at that time was a thirty-eight-year-old merchant named Pierre Laclede Liguest who fell in love with Ma rie Therese Chouteau. Historians disagree as to succeeding events. Some say that she simply went to live with Liguest (or Laclede, as everyone knew him and as he war later to be known to history), while others insist that there was some sort of civil marriage, de spite the fact that M. Rene Au guste Chouteau was still living. At any rate she bore Pierre Laclede four children, all of whom took the name of Chouteau. One of them, born in 1758, was given his father’s name, Pierre. In 1763 the French governor of Louisiana granted to Laclede and five associates the exclusive right of trading, for eight years, with all the Indians in the vast Mis souri river valley and authorized him to build trading posts in that region. Laclede organized a fleet of keelboats and flatboats which he loaded with supplies and in August of that year started up the Mississippi with a force of about 30 men and boys, two of whom were his stepson, Auguste Chou teau, who appears to have been. Laclede’s chief lieutenant, and his son, Pierre Chouteau. In December they reached the French village of St. Genevieve where they expected to spend the winter. But being unable to find there a house large enough to shelter his supplies, Laclede was glad to accept the offer of the commandant at Fort de Chartres to store his goods there. A little later he took Auguste Chouteau with him and set out in a canoe upriver. They went as far north as the mouth of the Missouri riv er, then drifted down the “Father of Waters’’ 17 miles until they reached a high wooded region ris ing from a limestone bluff. “This is the place, Auguste," said Laclede. And thus St. Louis was founded. 1789—On January 19 of this year was born in St. Louis, Pierre Chouteau, son of Pierre Laclede Chouteau. At the age of fifteen he became a clerk for his father and uncle in their fur-trading opera tions which resulted in the organ ization of the Missouri Fur com pany in 1808. Assobiated with h’m in this company were his four brothers, Augustus P. Chouteau, Francis Gesso Chouteau, Freder ick. Chouteau and Cyprian Chou teau. Five years later the Mis souri Fur company was absorbed by John Jacob Astor’s American Fur company. 1819—In this year a branch of the American Fur company was established in St. Louis under the general direction of Samuel Ab bott. The Chouteaus and others who had been connected with the old Missouri Fur company then became interested in the Ameri can and were given favored po sitions in the new firm. Pierre Chouteau, Jr. and his brother, Francis, traveled throughout the present states of Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, establishing trading posts and acquiring the business of local in dependent traders. They estab lished trading posts along the Osage river and on the Missis sippi from Keokuk to St. Paul. Among the posts which they established was one on the Kaw (then known as the Kansas) river about 20 miles from its mouth, which was selected to be the seat of a general agency for the com pany. Pierre Chouteau’s original hut, built in 1821 about three miles below the present site of the American Fur company. 1839—In this year was organ ized a new company under the firm name of P. Chouteau, Jr. & Co., and it became the greatest fur-trading company in American history. Under its banner the Chouteaus extended their opera tions as far south as the Cross Timbers of Texas, as far north as the Falls of St. Anthony in'Min nesota and as far west as the Blackfeet country in Montana. They also engaged in trade over the historic Santa Fe Trail. 1849—On October 10 of this year there died in St. Louis Pierre Laclede Chouteau, “whose influence, covering a forty-year period, practically controlled the destiny of the Osage nation, in trade, policy, and dealings with the government.’* But if Pierre Chouteau, Sr. was a powerful force in an Indian nation, he left a son to carry on his work who was an even greater force in the American nation. For Pierre Chouteau, Jr., be came the best business man of the entire dynasty. For 50 years he was an.economic power, keep ing abreast of the rapidly chang ing times to hold his place. It was he who foresaw the import ance of steam to navigation and transportation on the Missouri. Pierre served as a member of the Missouri state constitutional convention in 1820. His business operations were extensive and foreseeing. He foresaw the doom of the steamboat and the increas- JPfMT** Fur traders “cordelling" up the Missouri. Kansas City, was washed away by a flood in 1826 and he rebuilt on higher ground in what is now known as Guinotte’s addition to Kansas City. This marked the beginning of Kansas City as a fur* trading center, a role which, in cidentally, it maintains to this day. In 1827 Frederick Chouteau established a trading post in what is now Douglas county, Kan., and three years later moved it to the present site of Valencia on Mission Creek. Al though part Osage, Frederick Chouteau lived much of his life among the Kaw Indians. His brother, Cyprian, married Nancy Francis, daughter of John Fran cis, hereditary chief of the Shaw- nees and lived with that tribe. It was through such intimate rela tions as these that the Chouteau brothers established themselves solidly with the Indians and profited thereby in their trading operations. 1829—On February 24 of this year died Auguste Chouteau, the pioneer, in the city which he as a lad of fourteen, had helped found. He had also founded a “dynasty of fur,” for by this time the Chouteaus were becoming the dominant force in the fur trade of the West. They became ever stronger in 1834 when Pierre, Jr. and his associates purchased John Jacob Astor’s interests in ing importance of the railroads. He was one of the original in corporators of the Missouri Pa cific railroad in 1849 and also of the Ohio & Mississippi railroad in 1851. In addition to his va ried business interests he was a patron of the arts, sciences and literature. These interests at frequent in tervals took him away from St. Louis—to eastern cities, to Eng land and to the Continent. He lived for many years in New York city but at the end he came back to his native city of St. Louis. There he died on Septem ber 8, 1865. With his death, the greatness of the Chouteaus be gan to decline. Descendants of the Chouteau family are still numerous in the United States. But none of them is as outstanding as old Auguste or Pierre Laclede or Pierre, Jr. But their fame is secure. The Chouteaus built towns, erected forts and developed new systems of transportation, amass ing large fortunes for them selves while serving their gov ernment in pushing back the frontier and maintaining peace ful relations with the Indians. They were sharp diplomats, us ing the arts of diplomacy on red man and white alike. They im printed their name indelibly up on the history of the West. They were Empire Builders. 'I ' V •. The fouhding of the Missouri Fur company, which marked the real beginning of the Chouteau family in the epic .of the fur trade, was th" direct result of a trip made up the Missouri river by an expedition led by a Span ish trader named Manuel. Lisa. ..When Lewis and Clark returned to St. Louis in 1806 from their famous exploring expedition into the West, Lisa talked with them and became inspired by their tales of the riches in furs which could be harvested in that far ^northwestern country where the Missouri flows close to the Rocky mountains. So in the spring of 1807 he set out for the Indian country with a small party of trappers and traders who spent the winter on the Yellowstone, hunting, trapping and trading with the Crows. “The following summer found Manuel Lisa back in St. Louis, flushed with the success of his prosperous venture and dream ing of greater things to come,’* says the chapter on “Traders and Trappers on the Great Plains’’ in “The Lure of the Frontier" (Yale University Press, “The Pageant of Ameri ca"). “Excitement ran high among the principal men of that frontier town. Listening to Lisa, one after another decided to join the enterprise which was duly incorporated under the name of the St. Louis Missouri Fur com pany. On the records appear most of the leading citizens of St. Louis: Manuel Lisa, William Clark, who had helped to blaze the trail across the continent, Pierre Chouteau, Sr,, Auguste P. Chouteau, Reuben Lewis, and Sylvester Labadie. To this list other names were added: Pierre IF A medal symbolizing loyalty to its interests was issued by the Chouteau Fur company of St. Louis to friendly Indians of the Northwest in 1843. The medal was of silver, 3% inches in diam eter, and bore on the obverse side a bust of Pierre Chouteau and the legend, “Pierre Chou teau, Jr. & Co^ Upper Missouri Outfit." On the reverse side was a crossed tomahawk and calumet and clasped hands and the wording, “Peace and Friend ship." Menard and William Morrison of Kaskaskia in Illinois, Andrew Henry of Louisiana and Dennis Fitz-Hugh of Louisville, Ky. The Spaniard, Frenchman and Eng lishman, reflecting in their vary names the history of the Louisi ana country, united to exploit the rich fur country of the Upper Missouri." Early the next year the com pany sent its first expedition up the river. It consisted of 150 men who took a great quantity of merchandise in their bouts to be used in establishing along the river several posts where trad ers were left in charge. Late in October the main body of the expedition went into winter quar ters in the Crow country where they carried on a profitable trade with the Indians and also se cured many valuable pelties by trapping for themselves. In the spring of 1810 a large party headed by Andrew Henry pushed on to the Three Forks of the Missouri, where they planned to establish a post in the heart of the Blackfoot country. But disaster overtook this post for in April a war party of Blackfeet swooped down upon it, when most of the trappers were away, killed the five men who had been left in charge and car ried away the horses, guns, am munition and the packs of furs which they had labored so hard to accumulate. But despite many misfortunes the young company saved the capital it had invested and even made a small profit. It suffered from other vicissi tudes of fortune during the War of 1812 but it managed to sur vive them, although reorganiza tion after reorganization of the company followed. As the years passed, one by one of the origi nal founders dropped out—all ex cept Manuel Lisa, who had ac tive direction of its operations from the end of the war until his death in 1820. His successor was Joshua Pilcher, a worthy subordinate of the great Spanish trader. In the summer of 1822 more than $25,000 worth of furs were sent down the river. Eight years later he gave up the business and the career of the Missouri Fur company came to an end. As previously stated, it was succeeded by the firm of P. Chouteau, Jr. and Co., which was destined to enjoy a greater prosperity than the pioneer com pany had ever known. AROUND THE HOUS] For Baby's Safety.—Keep 1 handles of kettles on the sto\ turned toward,the back. • • • \ Use for Old Christmas Cards.— When you are through with your Christmas cards, the children will' enjoy cutting, pasting and redeco rating them. • • • Safety Measure.—Chemical fire extinguishers have saved many homes from being reduced to ashes. Even a bucket of sand or damp sawdust is effective if used before a fire gets too much start. Cleaning Isinglass.—Apply vine gar on a cloth to the stains on isinglass on stoves. With a little rubbing, the stains will come off. • • • Lowering High Ceilings.—One way to help make a ceiling look lower is to use simple valances at high windows. • • • Save Your Back.—Whether to buy a stove with a working sur face over a low oven or a high oven, it may pay to remember that bending requires four times as much energy as standing. • • • Flavoring Mashed Potatoes.— One teaspoon of onion juice or half a sliced raw onion added to mashed potatoes gives them a dif ferent flavor. Tuden’s are 'double- barrelled'... you gee soothing relief plus an alkaline factor." Charles Lewis, Chemist, New York LUDEN'S MINTHOL COUGH DROPS s* Acknowledging Faults It is a greater thing to know how to acki\pwledge a fault than to know how not to commit one.— Cardinal de Retz. Don’t Aggravate Gas Bloating D your OAS BLOATING te earned by constipation don’t expect to get the relief you eeek by just doctoring your stomach. What you need la the DOUBLE# ACTION of Adlerika. 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