Larocque's expedition to Yellowstone River

Larocque’s “Yellowstone Journal” provides a picture of the early fur trade with the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians in North Dakota.

During the 2½ months long journey, he and the Crows made camps in the modern states of North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.

[2]: 156 Born in Quebec, François-Antoine Larocque (1784–1869) learned English in the United States from boyhood.

The original is lost, but a copy is in the Baby Collection of the Archives Department, University of Montreal.

[2]: 129 Charles Jean Baptiste Chaboillez was then in charge of the company’s Assiniboine River branch.

[2]: 12 With orders from Chaboillez to examine the potentials of a future trade with the relatively unknown “Rocky Mountains Indians” (the Crows),[2]: 192  Larocque and some companions left Fort Montagne à la Bosse in the summer of 1805.

[2]: 160  On June 12,[2]: 164  the group arrived at the Native trading center[3]: 15  formed by the corn growing village Indians of the Upper Missouri.

Unwavering and reassured by Hidatsa chief Le Borgne (One Eye),[2]: 170 and 244  Larocque exchanged gifts of friendship with the Crow leaders on June 27.

[2]: 245  Two days later, Larocque and his companions, William Morrison and a man with the surname of Souci,[2]: 157  went to the Crow camp.

The Indians “threw down their tents” and the entire group went eight miles up the Knife and made camp for the night.

[2]: 172  The Crows were retracing their steps loaded with 200 guns with balls and powder, lots of corn as well as axes, kettles and other items acquired from the Hidatsas for 250 horses, many buffalo robes and skin clothes.

[2]: 182  After an attempt of theft of a gun, the camp chief arranged for two night guards outside the tipi.

[2]: 175  On July 18, Larocque hunted buffalo with the camp chief, while the main body moved 15 miles upstream.

Larocque noted a rich wildlife in form of beaver, buffalo, elk, pronghorn and bear.

[2]: 177 Prickly pears had covered much of the ground between the Little Missouri and the Powder, so the camp stayed for a day to let the horses feed on grass.

Due to a common buffalo hunt, the camp police halted even Larocque and the chief as they were about to leave the campsite one morning.

[2]: 180  The 1743 journal of the La Vérendrye brothers’ expedition is too vague to tell if they saw the Bighorn Mountains or just reached the Black Hills, South Dakota.

[2]: 156 A woman received a serious shot wound on August 6, inflicted by a man (not her husband) in jealousy.

He wanted to see the River aux Roches Jaunes (the Yellowstone) and the homeland of the Crows, so he could return with trading items.

Then, some Crows painted a rather detailed map of the country on a skin and showed where they usually made camps at different times of the year.

People and horses were in danger of falling down steep hills during the first movement along the Bighorn Mountains.

One day, Larocque bought a horse for a gun, 200 balls, clothes and blankets, some metal items and other stuff.

[2]: 184 The shortest camp movement of only three miles brought the travelling Indians to a scenic spot with fine grass for the horse herds.

The sound of two shots had come from a place near Bighorn River, and the camp guards had noticed a few running buffalo.

Someone had found a clear trail of many peoples near the Bighorn River, and the camp feared a large-scale attack.

[2]: 190  The noticed signs of strangers in the area proved to come from a big camp of Gros Ventre Indians (Atsina).

By the signal of four fires lit on a Pryor Mountains top on four successive days, he would announce his return to the Crow country.

[2]: 206  The Crows obtained many horses from the Flathead Indians further west[2]: 213  and exchanged them later with profit to the Mandans and the Hidatsas for kettles, guns and products of the garden.

[2]: 211–212  He made a short list of words to show the similarities between the languages of the Crow and the related Hidatsa.

The next whites passing through the heart of the Crow country were members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition during the summer of 1806.

Map with the route of a Crow Indian camp and Francois-Antoine Larocque in 1805. During the travel, they made camp in present-day North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana
Detail of Beaver Hut on the Missouri painted by Karl Bodmer. Larocque were ordered to the Yellowstone area to get first-hand knowledge of the number of beavers and to incite the local Crow Indians to hunt them
The Powder River in Johnson County, Wyoming. Larocque and the Crows followed Powder River upstream for many days
Panorama of Buffalo, Wyoming at the base of the Bighorn Mountains . Before Larocque, the only white man known to have seen Bighorn Mountains was the free fur trader Ménard around 1800. The La Vérendrye brothers may only have seen the Black Hills, South Dakota , in 1743
Indians hunting the bison by Karl Bodmer. Some times, Larocque hunted bison with the Crows
Crow Indians. Larocque traveled with a Crow camp for more than two months during his Yellowstone journey. The discovery of a war group of Assiniboine Indians near Bighorn River stirred the Crow camp one morning.