However, his presence there was not welcomed by the British who had claims in that area and Canadian enterprises, including the North West Company and the Hudson Bay Company.Īstor understood that his proposal for the expedition was as much political, as it was commercial, but he was not willing to “concede so lucrative a trade to their British and Canadian counterparts without a spirited contest.” In 1810 Astor and his working partners established the Pacific Fur Company. Astor’s plans were to create a company that would control the entire existing fur trade, and to extend it all the way to the Pacific. New York fur magnate John Jacob Astor had determined to expand his fur trading empire beyond the Great Lakes. Fur trading involved almost constant travel, and Marie often accompanied him on buying and selling trips through what would become the states of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas. Pierre Dorion made a living in the fur trading business that centered in St. Men of French heritage had far better relations with Native American women than other Europeans, and they often assimilated into their wives’ tribes.
Pierre and Marie settled in this area just after the nineteenth century began, and some consider him “the first white resident of South Dakota.” While still a teenager, she married Pierre Dorion, whose father was French Canadian his mother was a member of the branch of the Sioux Nation that lived near modern Yankton, South Dakota.
She was most likely baptized in the Roman Catholic Church early in her life she also gave Christian names to her sons, Jean Baptiste and Paul. It appears that Marie did not to have a Native American name. Her epic story shows the strength and perseverance needed to survive in the unforgiving wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.Ī member of the Iowa tribe, Marie was probably born in 1786.
Her journey followed that of Sacagawea by six years, but Dorion’s 3,500-mile trek was both longer and much more difficult. Marie Dorion (1786–1850), a Native American of the Iowa tribe, was the only female member of the Astor Expedition (1811-1812) from Missouri to Oregon Country.
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