The city of St. Louis began as an early French trading community established by the Chouteau brothers. <span> <span>
The Chouteaus - Early Traders</span></span>The Chouteaus were early French traders and trappers who operated west of St. Louis, Missouri in the latter part of the 1700s and early 1800s. Their prominent name among explorers began with Auguste Chouteau. One of the founders of the city of St. Louis, Auguste was born at New Orleans on August 14, 1750. In the early part of the year 1764, although not yet 14 years of age, he was sent up the Missouri River from Fort Chartres by his stepfather, Pierre Liguest, with a company of 30 men to select a site for a trading post, and it is said that the boy's suggestions led to the selection of the spot where St. Louis now stands. After Liguest's death, Auguste succeeded to the business, and later formed a partnership with John Jacob Astor which was the inception of the American Fur Company. In 1794 he built Fort Carondelet in the Osage country, in what is now Vernon County, Missouri.<span><span><span /><span>He was commissioned colonel of the militia in 1808; and in 1815 was appointed one of the commissioners to make treaties with the Indians who had fought on the side of the British in the War of 1812, the other two commissioners being Ninian Edwards and William Clark .</span> </span></span>
