Factory (fur trade)
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The factory was a system of United States government sanctioned trading posts from 1796 to 1822 that were scattered throughly the mostly territorial portion of the country.
The factories were officially intended via a series of legislation called the Indian Intercourse Acts to protect Native Americans from exploitation. However, in practice numerous tribes conceded extensive territory in exchange for the trading posts as happened in the Treaty of Fort Clark in which the Osage Nation ceded most of Missouri at Fort Clark.
Usually a blacksmith was assigned to the factory to repair utensils and build or maintain plows. Frequently the factories had some sort of milling operation associated with them.
The factories marked the United States attempt to continue a process originally pioneered by the French and then by the Spanish to officially license the fur trade in Upper Louisiana.
Factories were frequently referred to as "Forts" and often had numerous unofficial names. Legislation was often passed calling for military garrisons at the fort but their defacto purpose was a trading post.
The head of the factory was called a Factor.
[edit] Factories
Factories under the Superintendent of Indian Trade:[1]
- Creek:
- Colerain, 1795-97
- Fort Wilkinson, 1797-1806
- Ocmulgee Old Fields, 1806-9
- Fort Hawkins, 1809-16
- Fort Mitchell, 1816-20
- Cherokee:
- Fort Tellico, 1795-1807
- Fort Hiwassee, 1807-10
- Fort Wayne, 1802-12
- Choctaw:
- Fort St. Stephens, 1802-15
- Fort Confederation, 1816-22
- Fort Chickasaw Bluffs, 1802-18
- Fort Detroit, 1802-5
- Fort Arkansas, 1805-10
- Fort Chicago, 1805-22
- Fort Belle Fontaine, 1805-9
Natchitoches -- Sulphur Fork
- Fort Natchitoches, 1805-18
- FortSulphur Fork, 1818-22
- Fort Sandusky, 1806-12
- Fort Madison, Iowa 1808-15
- Fort Osage, 1808-22
- Fort Mackinac (Michilimackinac), 1808-12
- Fort Green Bay, 1815-22
- Fprt Praire du Chien, 1815-22
- Fort Edwards, 1818-22
- Fort Spadre Bluffs (Illinois Bayou), 1818-22
