McCormick messenger. (McCormick, S.C.) 1902-current, January 26, 1938, Image 6
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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. This 35-year-old remedy te BOTH
carminatiTa and cathartic. Carmi natives
that warm and soothe the etomach and expel
GAS. Cathartics that act quickly and gently,
clearing the bowels of wastes that may have
caused GAS BLOATING, headaches, indi
gestion, sour stomach and nerve pressure for
months. Adlerika does not gnpe—is not
habit forming. Adlerika acta on the stomach
and BOTH Bowels. It relieves STOMACH
GAS almost at once, and often removes bowel
wastes in leas than two hours. Adlerika has
been recommended by many doctors for M
years. Get the genuine Adlerika today.
Sold at all drug stores
Place of Amusement
Let amusement fill up the chinks
of your existence, but not the
great spaces thereof.—T. Parker.
COLD
RELIEF I
HINT TO
MOTHER!
Every mother
wants to know
how to relieve her
child’s cold dis
comfort. Rub with
stainless, snow-
white Penetro.
Extra • medicated
vapors tend to re-
lieve congestion
of respiratory
mucous mem
brane. Penetro
eases the chest
muscle tightness.
PENETRO
Joys Concealed
He who can conceal his joys, is
greater than he who can hide his
griefs.—La vater.
AT
0000
DRUG
STOlit
.
LARGE
DOTTLE
*1.20
un
■601
3/imf^^^BCessedKeUei.
RHEUMATISMS™
WNU—7
4—39
That Na<?<?irvz
Backache
May Warn of Disordered
Kidney Action
Modern life with its burry and worry.
Irregular habits, improper eating and
drinking—its risk of exposure and infec
tion—throws heavy strain on the work
of the kidneys. They are apt to become
over-taxed and fail to filter excess acid
and other impurities from tbs life-giving
blood.
You may suffer nagging bscksche.
hesdsche, dizziness, getting up nights,
leg pains, swelling—fed constantly
tired, nervous, all worn out. Other signs
of kidney or bladder disorder may be
burning, scanty or too frequent urination.
Use Doan'* Pillt. Doan'* hdp the
kidneys to get rid of excess poisonous
body wsste. They are antiseptic to the
urinary tract and tend to rdieve Irrita
tion and the pain it causes. Many grate
ful people recommend Doan’e. They
hsve had more than forty years of public
approval. Ate your neighbor!
Doans Pills