JAMES BOYD HUBBELL:

Hubbell, one of the best known traders on the upper Missouri after the Civil War, came to Minnesota from Winsted, Connecticut in 1857. He settled in Mankato, Minnesota where he entered the mercantile business and helped organize the First National Bank. With his fellow-townsman, Alpheus F. Hawley, he formed a partnership to trade in the Far West. By the 1860s, he was engaged in freighting, filling government contracts, and trading with Native American tribes at several posts on the Missouri River. He was the initiator and moving spirit on the organization of the North West Fur Company in 1865. His interests later expanded into railroads in Minnesota and Montana, mines in Montana and Dakota, and townsites in Montana. He moved to St. Paul in 1881, and died there in 1905, at the age of sixty-nine.

Return to top

A picture of the organization and activities of the little-known Northwestern Fur Company, which operated on the Upper Missouri from 1865 to 1870, emerges from the papers of James Boyd Hubbell. The collection consists of sixty-five items, including Hubbell's correspondence with his family and business associates, his diaries for 1880 and 1891 (typewritten and microfilm copies), business accounts, articles of agreement, depositions, a microfilmed diary kept by William Tew (1834), Hubbell's father-in-law, and miscellaneous papers.

Return to top

Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. James Boyd Hubbell Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 7712; 9054

Location of Originals:

Originals of the microfilm. Loaned for copying by Mrs. V.W. Dawson, St. Paul.

Processing Information:

Catalog ID number: 990017300750104294

Return to top

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Dakota Indians -- Wars, 1862-1865.

Fur trade -- Dakota Territory.

Fur trade -- Missouri River.

Gypsum mines and mining -- Michigan.

Military bases.

Mines and mineral resources -- Great Plains.

Railroads -- United States.

Persons:

Baker, Isaac G.

Bates, C. Francis.

Boyd, James, author.

Hawley, Alpheus F.

Hoffman, Charles W.

Pay, Byron E., 1844-

Pease, F. D.

Powers, T. B.

Rankin, William Galloway.

Sitting Bull, 1831-1890

Tew, William, author.

Wilder, Amherst H., author.

Wilkinson, Mahlon H.

Wilkinson, Morton S. (Morton Smith), 1819-1894, author.

Willard, John A., 1833-1897.

Organizations:

American Fur Company

Columbus and Black Hills Railroad Company.

Cook Gold Mining and Milling Company.

Hubbell and Hawley.

Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad Company (1857-1872)

North West Fur Company.

Northwest Fur Company.

Northwestern Fur Company.

Pierre Chouteau Jr. & Company, author.

Rocky Fork Town and Electric Company (Red Lodge, Mont.)

Rocky Fork and Cooke City Railway Company.

St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company.

Meetings:

Fisk Expedition.

Places:

Fort Benton (Mont.)

Fort Berthold (N.D.)

Fort Pierre (S.D.)

Fort Randall (S.D.)

Fort Rice (Fort Rice, N.D.)

Fort Ridgely (Minn.)

Fort Sully (S.D.)

Fort Thompson (S.D. : Fort)

Fort Union (N.D.)

Mankato (Minn.)

Document Types:

Microforms.

Return to top