store, the first bank, the first hotel and the first postoffice. Not even one building had been built on the site of the future St. Paul or Minneapolis, when Grande Lisiere was built.

        The post stood on the NE1/4 of Section 10 in Lowville township. You can still find dark yellow clay ash, Indian beads, little pieces of pipestone after a very heavy rain.


The Fur Trading Post at Bear Lake

The American Fur Trading Post was built at Bear Lake in 1833. Charred
stumps of the stockade could be seen as late as 1878


        Joe Laframboise was a lifelong trapper and trader. He knew every landmark from the Mackinac to the Missouri River.

        When Catlin visited this section on the way to the Pipestone Quarries, he stopped at the Laframboise home.

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        Catlin was 41 years old when he came west. He was the greatest Indian painter of his day as well as a writer and explorer. History credits him with being the first white man to visit the Pipestone Quarries. The soft pipestone, a sample of which he took with him, was named Catlinite in his honor.

        While there may have been white men at the quarries and no doubt there were, as independent traders roamed the prairies in defiance of the fur trading posts, Catlin was given the credit.

        Nicollet and Lieut. John C. Fremont, who came west with a government expedition in 1838, were also guests at the Laframboise home. This expedition explored the country between the Minnesota River and the Missouri. Of Nicollet Colonel Folwell, Minnesota's great historian, says, "The splendid map of his explorations in the northwest, standing for years of travel, observation and deliberation, will remain his sufficient monument."

        John C. Fremont, second in command, was the most colorful of all Americans. He was an engineer when he made his first trip west which was the stepping stone to a most brilliant career in American history until blasted by political and military enemies.

        The party was a large one and spent three days at the post. Nicollet who had plenty of time to study the wild fowl and game and the natural beauty of the nearby woods and lake named the Bear Lake, timber "The Great Oasis."

        In his travels Nicollet mentions the "Lost Timber." The Sioux called these woods "Tchan-na tambe" which means hidden woods. The French called it "Bois Cache."

        Laframboise was comparatively literate. He could write and some of his letters from this post can be found in the records of the Minnesota Historical Society. His contract called for four hundred dollars a year and he was to be charged l2 1/2 per cent above invoice for all goods purchased. As part of the agreement the fur company gave him a blue capote, a fine frock coat, and a pair of fine trousers and vest.

        Laframboise left Mendota for the west. He went by the Minnesota River to Traverse des Sioux (St. Peter). His wife

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