Pierre Dorion Jr. (1782Royot, Daniel
''Divided Loyalties in a Doomed Empire.''
Newark: University of Delaware Press. 2007, p. 137.–1814) was a

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

fur trapper and interpreter who worked across the modern Midwestern United States and later the Pacific Northwest.

Early life

Pierre was named after his father, Pierre Dorion Sr. and had a Yankton Sioux mother. He remained among the Yankton peoples for much of his early life. Dorion met members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition on 29 August 1804.Lewis, Meriwether
"August 29, 1804."
Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Online. Accessed February 26, 2016. At the time he was engaged in mercantile transactions with some of the 70 Yankton present by the explorer's camp. Later in 1806 he took

Marie Aioe Dorion "Madame" Marie Aioe Dorion Venier Toupin (ca. 1786 – September 5, 1850) was the only female member of an overland expedition sent by Pacific Fur Company to the Pacific Northwest in 1810. Like her first husband, Pierre Dorion Jr., she was Métis p ...

as a wife "through barter or wager." Dorion was employed by Nathaniel Hale Pryor as an interpreter in a trading expedition organized by Pryor in 1807. Besides Dorion there were 10 other men and a small boat used to sail up the Missouri River to trade with the

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...

nations. In 1809, Manuel Lisa hired Dorion for his services as an interpreter and "conducted their traders in safety through the different tribes of the Sioux." Irving, Washington
''Astoria''
Paris: Baudry's European Library. 1836, p. 87. While based at Fort Lisa, Dorion quickly became in debt due to excessive purchases of alcohol. In June 1810, Dorion, Marie and their two infant children left Fort Lisa for St. Louis.

Pacific Fur Company

In the winter of 1810-1811, Dorion was the only qualified speaker of the

Sioux language Sioux is a Siouan language spoken by over 30,000 Sioux in the United States and Canada, making it the fifth most spoken indigenous language in the United States or Canada, behind Navajo, Cree, Inuit languages, and Ojibwe. Regional variation Si ...

s in St. Louis. This made him a desirable hire for fur traders. Both Lisa and

W. Price Hunt Wilson Price Hunt (March 20, 1783 – April 13, 1842) was an early American pioneer, pioneer and explorer of the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest of North America. Employed as an agent in the fur trade under John Jacob Astor, Hunt organized ...

wanted to have his services for their companies, respectively the

Missouri Fur Company The Missouri Fur Company (also known as the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company or the Manuel Lisa Trading Company) was one of the earliest fur trading companies in St. Louis, Missouri. Dissolved and reorganized several times, it operated under various ...

and the Pacific Fur Company (PFC). In the end, Hunt was able to secure Dorion, on the condition that Marie and his two children be brought along as well. Early into the travel north where the PFC wintering camp was located, Dorion physically abused his wife and caused her to flee for a day. Upon rejoining the main party, Hunt led the expedition further up the Missouri, intent on following the course made by Lewis and Clark. After leaving

Fort Osage Fort Osage (also known as Fort Clark or Fort Sibley) was an early 19th-century factory trading post run by the United States Government in western Missouri on the American frontier; it was located in present-day Sibley, Missouri. The Treaty of ...

, Dorion "severely beat his squaw" as Marie desired to stay with newly made

Osage Nation The Osage Nation ( ) ( Osage: 𐓁𐒻 𐓂𐒼𐒰𐓇𐒼𐒰͘ ('), "People of the Middle Waters") is a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Great Plains. The tribe developed in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 700 BC along ...

, rather than continue with the expedition. A war party of several hundred Lakota and Yankton were eventually encountered. A battle was narrowly avoided by the firing the company cannons with only powder and the linguistic skills of Dorion. In the ensuing discussions with assembled Sioux leadership Dorion translated for Hunt. Assurances were given that the expedition wouldn't trade with the neighboring Arikara, Mandan and the Gros Ventre nations, all three of whom the Sioux were at war with. After this the expedition was allowed to continue towards the Pacific Coast. Lisa and his own expedition caught up with the Pacific Fur Company group in early June. John Bradbury recounted how tensions arose between Dorion and Lisa:

Mr. Lisa had invited Dorion, our interpreter, to his boat, where he had given him some whiskey, and took that opportunity of avowing his intention to take him away from Mr. Hunt, in consequence of a debt due by Dorion to the Missouri Fur Company...

A duel between Lisa and Dorion was narrowly avoided by Henry Marie Brackenridge and Bradbury intervening between the men.

Death

After many material struggles, the overland expedition reached Fort Astoria in 1812. Dorion and his family were sent to the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...

as part of a trapping outfit under John Reed the following year. Early in 1814, Dorion, Reed and five other trappers were killed by a band of either

Northern Shoshone Northern Shoshone are Shoshone of the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho and the northeast of the Great Basin where Idaho, Wyoming and Utah meet. They are culturally affiliated with the Bannock people and are in the Great Basin classification ...

or Bannocks His wife and two children then began their celebrated journey back to the safety of Pacific Fur Company posts.

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorion, Pierre, Jr. 1782 births 1814 deaths Canadian fur traders Oregon pioneers Place of birth missing