Oklahoma Historical Day
Oklahoma Historical Day, now known as Chouteau Day, commemorates the birth of Major Jean Pierre Chouteau on October 10, 1758. Recognized as the Father of Oklahoma, Chouteau founded Salina, the state’s oldest permanent settlement, during a time when earlier French outposts had been abandoned. His establishment of a trading post near the Grand River marked a significant moment in the region's history, as it became a hub for trade with the Osage and other tribes. Chouteau's efforts to maintain control over the fur trade and his strategic alliances with Native American tribes shaped much of Oklahoma's early economic landscape. The observance of Chouteau Day not only honors Chouteau's contributions but also highlights the complex interactions between European settlers and Native Americans during the formative years of Oklahoma's development. This event serves as a reminder of the state's diverse heritage and the pivotal role of early settlers in its history.
Subject Terms
Oklahoma Historical Day
Chouteau Day, formerly called Oklahoma Historical Day, celebrates the birth of Major Jean Pierre Chouteau on October 10, 1758. Chouteau, known as the Father of Oklahoma, founded Salina, the state's oldest permanent settlement.
As early as 1740, French traders and trappers had made settlements in other sections of the state, but these small outposts had all been abandoned by the beginning of the nineteenth century, making Chouteau's subsequent outpost the first that lasted.
Much of the early history of Oklahoma is connected with the French family named Chouteau. In 1794 Major Chouteau took command of the newly constructed Fort Carondelet on the south bank of the Osage River in what is now Missouri. The fort was intended to protect settlers in the region west of St. Louis from the native attacks caused by intertribal hostility between the Osages and various other tribes that resented Osage dominance. Major Chouteau and his half-brother René Auguste took over a virtual monopoly of the fur trade with the natives of the area, especially the Osage. Spain, which then owned the vast central region known as Spanish Louisiana, at first left them undisturbed. Later, however, the Spanish granted extensive fur trading rights in the area to a young New Orleans-born Spaniard named Manuel Lisa (or Liza) and his French associates. This action threatened to close down the Chouteau trade.
Not easily thwarted in his plans, Major Chouteau began to scout around for another base of operations for his profitable business. In late March 1796 he formed a party of French hunters and traders, and headed southwest from Fort Carondelet into what was then unknown country. Some 400 miles from the fort, he came upon a sizable river, which the natives called Neosho. Chouteau ordered his men to follow cette grande riviere and thus unwittingly gave that part of the Neosho River the name it bears today, namely the Grand River. Following this river south, the major found a site for his new trading post. Located near a freshwater spring and a ford across the Grand River, it also had convenient access to the extensive water network via the Grand, Arkansas, and Mississippi Rivers to the New Orleans markets.
One part of the Chouteau party erected a cabin at the site of Salina to serve as a headquarters and trading post, while another group set out to explore the surrounding vicinity. Despite the ideal location of the post, Chouteau was dismayed to learn that within hundreds of miles there were no native villages with which he could trade.
Forced to leave their campsite near the Grand River at least temporarily, Chouteau and his men returned to Fort Carondelet. The major still planned to salvage the family's lucrative trading business, and he skillfully used his power, wealth, and position to create dissension among the Osages. He persuaded one faction of the tribe to move its villages southwest into the country around the Grand, Arkansas, and Verdigris Rivers and agreed to establish trade with them at the little campsite (Salina) that he had already selected. As soon as the Osages started to move into the area in 1802, the major personally oversaw the reestablishment of the remote outpost. Several thousand Osages were soon shooting and trapping in their new hunting grounds, providing Chouteau's trading post with an abundant supply of pelts. The furs, as Major Chouteau had anticipated, were then piled onto rafts or flatboats and floated down the river network to New Orleans.
Meanwhile, in 1800 France had acquired the territory known as Louisiana by the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso. In 1803 the United States, through the Louisiana Purchase, bought the huge tract which included Oklahoma. Chouteau frequently visited his “American” trading post from 1802 to 1817, when he passed its supervision over to his oldest son, Auguste Pierre. The major retired from the fur trade around 1820, but for several generations his descendants continued to be active not only in expanding the fur trade, but also in settling other places such as Vinita and Chouteau within what is now Oklahoma.
Etter, Jim. "Chouteau Day Celebration Marks History in Modern-Day Salina." The Oklahoman, 7 Oct. 1989,
www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1989/10/07/chouteau-day-celebration-marks-history-in-modern-day-salina/62596803007/. Accessed 2 May 2024.
"Jean Pierre Chouteau." Claremore Museum of History, 22 Feb. 2022, claremoremoh.org/8668/. Accessed 2 May 2024.