The Museum of the Fur Trade was started in 1949 by a group of Chadron citizens. It’s located on the grounds of what used to be James Bordeaux’s American Fur Company trading post, built in 1837. This portion of the Louisiana Purchase was known simply as
Indian Country, as
Nebraska (Oto Indian for "flat water") wasn’t a state or territory yet. Bordeaux ran the trading post with his Brule Lakota wife,
Huntktalutawin, also called Marie. In 1872, the business was taken over by Francis Boucher, son-in-law of Brule leader Spotted Tail. Boucher traded arms, saddles, and blankets to the Indians until the army closed him down in 1875.
Inside, the museum is divided into three sections: a history of the North American fur trade hall, textiles hall, and guns room. The displays are sectioned off behind glass, and each highlights a different geographical region or trade epoch. These include many beautifully handcrafted items by indigenous peoples of North America. Many are beaded, from clothing to containers to tools such as gun holsters and ax handles. We learn that the brightly colored European glass "seed" beads used were obtained by trade. Prior to European contact, shells, stone, bone, and dried plant seeds were used to decorate; many of these earlier items are also on display. A rain parka made entirely of seal intestine is in the Inuit display. These were sold by the thousands to Russian hunters in Alaska. Trade-silver displays show the pieces that were produced in large quantities specifically for trade to Indians as wearable art between 1750 and 1850.
Less attractive but oft used items include all shapes and sizes of animal traps, tobacco leaves and rolls, and empty booze bottles.
Some of the more intriguing items in the museum’s collection are objects held sacred by their tribe. As much as I like to view and learn about these, the pleasure I gain from this is far outweighed by the violation of their tribes by exhibiting objects never meant to be placed on public display. For example, Haudenosaunee medicine masks, labeled as "false face masks" at the museum, are considered living beings, and the sole responsibility for their care and use lies with their secret medicine societies. They ought to be returned to their rightful guardians.
Outside is every bit as interesting as indoors. Here, you’ll find the reconstructed Bordeaux trading post, living quarters, and warehouse, rebuilt in 1956 on the original foundation and filled with trade goods. The price of goods was measured in bison robes, a monetary value, and it’s about $3 a robe. Five robes bought a flintlock gun while one robe a knife, 5 yards of cotton, or 2 pounds of beads. The well-used robe press in front of the trading post pressed as many as 1,000 bison robes every winter. Beside a red-topped tipi, an Indian garden flourishes, growing precious old varieties of corn, beans, and squash. Seeds are for sale in the well-stocked gift shop.
See website for admission, hours, etc.
From journal Forests and Fur Trade in Northwest Nebraska