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Page 3
During a visit, in September of 1833, one of the Sublette brothers and Nathaniel Wyeth saw McKenzie's whiskey-making operation. Casually, they happened mention the situation to officers at Fort Leavenworth. The American Fur Company prevented a serious crisis by some most clever maneuvers, one that involved removing Kenneth McKenzie from the Indian country. No longer was he king of the fur trading.
When Sully departed this long-standing fort that measured 220 by 240 feet including 34 buildings with stockade and McKenzie's double-story mansion, soldiers were left at Fort Union. The fur trade had dwindled and on August 15, 1865 Fort Union, as a fur trading post went out of business and was sold to the military. Eventually the buildings of Fort Union were torn down to be used for the construction of Fort Buford. Today all traces of this famous fort are gone. Only a lone flagpole marks the spot were so much of the fur trade history was made. As to McKenzie's whiskey still, any reports remaining today of the fort's fur trapping business make no mention of the still, whether it was found, and if so, whether it was also moved to Fort Buford.
Index of Forts in this series can be seen at: Forts of the West: An Introduction http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/1379... To learn more about Kenneth McKenzie and fur trapping on the Internet, please see: One of Many Feathers http://groups.msn.com/ONEOFMANYFEATHERS/... Alcohol and the Indian Fur Trade http://www.thefurtrapper.com/indian_alco...
Further information concerning Western Forts and related incidents can be found at Suite 101 University at: THE GREAT AMERICAN WEST, 1861 to 1876. http://www.suite101.com/course.cfm/17161... BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN, 1872 to 1876. http://www.suite101.com/course.cfm/17638... Sources for this article are: Chittenden, Hiram Martin. The American Fur Trade of the Far West, Volume 1. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1986. Hart, Herbert M. Old Forts of the Northwest. Superior Publishing Company, no date given. Utley, Robert M. A Life Wild and Perilous: Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1997. Copyright 2005 Mary Trotter Kion
The copyright of the article Fort Union - Page 3 in The Great Plains is owned by Mary Trotter Kion. Permission to republish Fort Union - Page 3 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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