Fort Kiowa

Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the size of the United States nearly doubled and the fur trade quickly sought to profit from the unexplored new territory.The factory system was a nationally funded and operated trade network, in which Indigenous People would meet at certain forts and exchange furs for finished goods.[5] Fort Kiowa soon became known as the jumping-off point for the 1823 trading expedition known as "Ashley's Hundred", which included traders Hugh Glass and Jim Bridger.This feat and others where pioneers such as Adam Helmer showed perseverance despite harsh challenges in the wild have maintained a special place in the folklore of the American West.Furthermore, Pratte encircled the fort with a wooden picket fence roughly twenty or thirty feet high to prevent Native attacks.[7] Later in the same year, John Jacob Astor purchased Fort Kiowa from Pratte for his rapidly expanding American Fur Company.Astor, who was the first multi-millionaire in America, bought Fort Kiowa to establish his presence in the upper Missouri and to further his monopoly on the American fur trade.