About 1915, the exact location of the Loisel Trading Post which operated along the Missouri River in the vicinity of the center of South Dakota had been questioned by state historical officials. An article in The Madison Daily Leader of September 27, 1915 indicated at that time, authorities had placed it on Dorian Island, near Big Bend on the Missouri.
There had been a great deal of uncertainty on this suggestion for some time which prompted state historical officials to question the accuracy of the location near Big Bend. This prompted Doane Robinson to secure copies of the original Lewis and Clark journals and their accompanying maps which had been drawn as they progressed up the river.
These documents provided documentation of their daily travels which was especially helpful in determining the exact location of the Loisel Trading Post. All along the way, mileage and prominent landmarks were described in detail and specific range and township locations were given.
From the information contained in the records which Lewis and Clark maintained daily, Robinson was able to determine the location of the Loisel Trading Post. It had been discovered by Lewis and Clark on Saturday, September 22, 1804. They had passed Dorlan Island and Cedar Creek.
On an island (most likely Cedar Island) near the east shore that has since become incorporated with the east mainland in Hughes County, two miles below the mouth of Chapelle Creek and about the same distance from DeGrey post office, they discovered the trading post which was constructed by Loisel presumably in 1796. The stockade was made of cedar posts 13 1/2 feet above the ground, and with sentry boxes in two of the angles. The house was 32 by 45 feet, divided into four rooms. It contained a store room for trade, a common hall and the other two rooms being fitted up “for family purposes.”
It was reported that Loisel was marred in St. Louis in 1800. He brought his young bride with him to this post to spend their honeymoon.
Loisel, a French Canadian, located in St. Louis in 1794 became engaged in the fur trade on the upper Missouri. He became one of the most trusted employees of the company and remained loyal to them until his passing. He died in 1804 at St. Louis after Lewis and Clark had left his fort for the country farther up the river.
The trading interests of Loisel passed into the hands of Manual Lisa and from Manual Lisa to the St. Louis Fur Company. All the furs secured by this company in the winter of 1809 – 10 were stored in the Loisel Post, which burned in the spring of 1810. The furs were a total loss of more than $10,000 (that would be $252,298 in today’s market).
The first domestic live stock were brought into South Dakota by Manuel Lisa in 1812. His boat from St. Louis was stocked with cattle, hogs, and house-cats. He brought domestic cats into South Dakota to protect his furs from the ravages of mice.
Luttig says in his journal for July 31:
“This morning we left our old she-cat at the camp. Mr. Manual sent a man for her and he returned this evening with the cat, to our great satisfaction. This remark may seem ridiculous, but an animal of this kind is more valuable in this country than a fine horse. Mice are in great abundance and the company has lost, for want of cats, several thousand dollars in merchandise.” There were several varieties of mice and of course, the pesky pack rats.
It cannot be asserted that cattle have ever since been kept in the region, but it is probable that they have been. The early records are silent upon the subject: yet it is known that a small dairy herd was kept at Fort Pierre from an early date. The Fort Pierre Journal for May 24, 1830, says “Our old bull dies yesterday; he has been dwindling away for 15 days.”
The first settlers brought cattle both to the Sioux River and Missouri settlements; from that time cows have been a mainstay in all communities. In the periods of long drought and the grasshopper scourges of the early territorial period cattle were a constant reliance and but for their support many families would have been compelled to leave their homesteads.
Very early in the agricultural development cattle became an important industry. The census of 1890, the first after admission to statehood, shows that there were 631,761 cattle of all sorts in the State. The census of 1920 found a total of 2,348,157. That is, while population was increasing 93 per cent cattle increased 278 percent.
No accurate figures are available; however, one can easily assume that as the number of homesteaders increased and the increase in the year’s food-supply stored in homes across the prairie, the demand for cats increased as well.
A sign in the window of a business in Mobridge in May of 1913 read: “Nancy, our Angora cat, rented out by the hour or day. Warranted to kill every rat or mouse in your home.” That same year the Philip newspaper declared: “Cats are in demand because of so many mice.” In 1912, six cats were purchased by the University of Minnesota and assigned to the library building to wage war on mice that had invaded the structure.
Author Clarence Shoemaker, originally published in the Gregory Times-Advocate on April 10, 2024