Pictured in color on a postcard by Fred Preisler is the impressive reconstruction of Fort Osage at Sibley, Mo. The site, high on the bluffs of the Missouri River, was noted by William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition on their westward journey of exploration in 1804. President Thomas Jefferson ordered a fort built at this strategic point and Clark returned to build it two years after the expedition ended. Mountain men and explorers heading west now say the first white settlement in this part of the country. Sometimes boats tied up for the night to huge iron rings embedded in the cliff at the Missouri’s shoreline. After the fort was built as many as 5,000 Indians camped around the stockade waiting to purchase ammunition, blankets, traps and guns. They traded or sold buffalo robes, deer skins dressed and shaved, and bear, beaver, racoon, wolf, fox and badger skins. The first “factor” or Indian agent was George S. Sibley. In 1922 government posts were closed. Fort Osage among them. It was dismantled in 1925. Battlements were left to decay and gradually buildings disappeared as the timbers were taken away by settlers. The whole area was covered by a tangle of wild vines, shrubs and trees. Highway workmen discovered the foundation of the factor’s house in 1940 as they were removing a huge walnut stump. “Native Sons” of Kansas City promptly went to work on plans for restoration of the fort. Purchase and development of the site and construction of the buildings and stockades were made by Jackson County. 113 acres of ground were bought. Washington archives furnished original maps and architectural plans of the facility. Sunday drivers and history buffs are highly rewarded by the trip out to the fort. They remember and honor the eight years of dedicated work of the Native Sons, especially George Fuller Green and James Anderson. Anderson even brought tons of sacked earth from the site to his home basement, where he sifted and found artifacts of the daily life at the fort. Many are on exhibit today. Kansas City Times, September 22, 1989
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