Distinctly Montana Magazine

89 w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m than anyone McKenzie could have found "in the entire west." A 21-year veteran of the Canadian fur trade, Berger retained suf- ficient mastery of the Blackfoot language to serve competently as an envoy in preliminary negotiations. He also knew that the Blackfeet had become more receptive to the notion of trade with Americans. Berger attended the 1827 meeting in which Kainais and Piikánis invited mountaineers employed by Smith, Jackson, and Sublette to build a trading post on their land. His ability to personally corroborate the attitudinal shift expressed in those conversations gave McKenzie legitimate hope that a break- through in relations with the Piikánis was a realistic possibility. In late autumn of 1830, Berger and a party of five men left Fort Union and traveled by dogsled into Blackfoot country. They eventually made contact with a Piikáni band led by Aáh- sa'paakii (Good Woman), who recognized Berger from his previous visits as a trader for the North West Company. After wintering at Good Woman's village, Berger led a delegation consisting of representatives for all three Nitsitapii tribes back to Fort Union in the spring of 1831. Negotiations there culmi- nated in agreement, for the first time, to establish an American trading post in Piikáni territory. That fall, construction of Fort Piegan near the confluence of the Missouri and Marias rivers formally signified the end of the Blackfoot blockade to the up- per Missouri fur trade. Unlike their American predecessors, McKenzie and Berger established trade with the Piikáni by adhering to the time-tested Canadian business model. Quite simply, they proposed and en- gaged in a mutually beneficial exchange of goods. Nevertheless, the AFC and the Rocky Mountain Fur Com- pany continued to dispatch brigades of trappers into Blackfoot country as beaver populations became depleted elsewhere. In- deed, a journal entry recorded at Fort Union on May 5, 1835, acknowledged that "the beaver trade for the last three years has been regularly declining, [so it] appears that our sheet anchor will be Robe trade." The introduction of steamboats to the up- per Missouri in 1832, and their ability to transport massive car- goes, enabled the AFC to pivot adroitly in response to changes in market demand and resource availability. Records from Fort McKenzie, their principal Piikáni post from 1834-1844, illustrate the speed with which that transition occurred. Traffic in bison robes from this hub increased from approximately 3,000 in 1835 to 21,000 in 1841. Members of the Blackfoot brigades, however, experienced no cessation of hostilities during the final years of the mountain man era. Although his remarks may exaggerate the frequency with which military engagements occurred, Kit Carson opined that, by 1834, "a trapper could hardly go a mile without being fired upon." Despite such danger, some mountain men stub- bornly persisted in their quest for plews until the end of the rendezvous period. As Carson defiantly observed, "We deter- mined to trap wherever we pleased, even if we had to fight for the right." COME TRY THE BEST 2401 2nd Ave N Billings, MT (406) 534-2553 daxswingz.com Best Chicken Wings Finalist: Best Community Outreach Best New Restaurant PIZZA APPETIZERS WINGZ FRIES SALADS DESSERT

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