| Chardon's Journal at Fort Clark, 1834-1839 Contributor(s): Chardon, F. A. (Author), Abel, Annie Heloise (Editor), Swagerty, William R. (Introduction by) |
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ISBN: 0803263759 ISBN-13: 9780803263758 Publisher: Bison Books OUR PRICE: $22.50 Product Type: Paperback Published: February 1997 Annotation: Thirty years after Meriwether Lewis and William Clark passed through the Mandan villages in present-day North Dakota, the Upper Missouri River region was being plied by fur traders. In 1834 Francis A. Chardon, a Philadelphian of French extraction, took charge of Fort Clark, a main post of the American Fur Company on the Upper Missouri. The journal that Chardon began that year offers a rare glimpse of daily life among the Mandan Indians, including the Arikaras, Yanktons, and Gros Ventres. In particular, it is a valuable and graphic record of the smallpox scourge that nearly destroyed the Mandans in 1837. Chardon describes much of historical interest, including such figures as the interpreter Charbonneau, Sacajawea's husband, and the fantastic James Dickson, "Liberator of all the Indians". By the time his account ends in 1839, the fur trade is already in decline. Chardon's journal was long lost, rediscovered, and finally edited and published in 1932 by Annie Heloise Abel. Her historical introduction provides background on the fur trade and on Chardon's life before and after his tenure at Fort Clark. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - 19th Century |
| Dewey: 978.484 |
| LCCN: 96029657 |
| Physical Information: 1.08" H x 5.36" W x 8" (1.24 lbs) 458 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Plains - Geographic Orientation - North Dakota |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Thirty years after Meriwether Lewis and William Clark passed through the Mandan villages in present-day North Dakota, the Upper Missouri River region was being plied by fur traders. In 1834 Francis A. Chardon, a Philadelphian of French extraction, took charge of Fort Clark, a main post of the American Fur Company on the Upper Missouri. The journal that Chardon began that year offers a rare glimpse of daily life among the Mandan Indians, including the Arikaras, Yanktons, and Gros Ventres. In particular, it is a valuable and graphic record of the smallpox scourge that nearly destroyed the Mandans in 1837. Chardon describes much of historical interest, including such figures as the interpreter Charbonneau, Sacajawea's husband, and the fantastic James Dickson, "Liberator of all the Indians." By the time his account ends in 1839, the fur trade is already in decline. |