 This large two-story building served as sleeping quarters for the
French- Canadians and the
Americans who were employed by the fur company to do the back-breaking labor of the trade.
They cordelled the keelboats upstream in the cold waters of the Missouri, walked
across the cactus covered prairie in moccasins to collect furs and risked losing their
scalps each time they left the fort to hunt, cut wood, or tend their
live- stock. Their labor was grossly underpaid at $150 per year. Their life at the fort
provided little excitement with a lot of boredom.
Small shops for the craftsmen, who
were needed to maintain the Fort and its business, were located on the
ground floor. The tinker,
tailor, carpenter and blacksmith operated shops within the compound that were maintained
by the company.
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