in the autumn of 1823, and Scott had become a free trapper, when he met LeClerc. (Ferris says that Scott was clerk of the American Fur Company, and that may have been true at one time, but not in 1828.)

The competition among the companies had driven the most enterprising men into the free trapper fraternity, and the exactions of free trappers drove the companies to consolidation. The Northwest had become a part of the Hudson Bay, and in July, 1827, the American Fur Company absorbed the Columbia. Free trappers would undoubtedly receive less for their peltries, and LeClerc and Scott determined to organize a new company.

MrKenzie, manager of the post of the American, was a special object of dislike. LeClerc told Papin, a confrere, at a later date, that he "would like nothing better, than puffing a good cigar along side of McKenzie."

Now while the Northwest had been absorbed by the Hudson Bay, the name had a traditional and commercial value, and LeClerc

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

and Scott decided upon "Northwest Fur Company," as the name for their new concern. Thus it transpired that a considerable number of free trappers were assembled under the leadership of LeClerc, with Hiram Scott as clerk and bookkeeper. And they were enroute for St. Louis in 1828, to dispose of their first collection of peltries, and formally launch their company.

Chittendon says that this new company was outfitted by Henry Shaw, but that was later and after the death of Scott.