Note 281 — TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR OF NORTH AMERICA, IN THE YEARS 1832, 1833, AND 1834 (continued 5)

William Laidlaw was a Scotchman who had been trained in the British fur companies, and came to the Missouri with the Columbia Fur Company. He was for several years the factor of Forts Tecumseh and Pierre, and was then promoted to the charge of Fort Union, where he was as late as 1845—probably for some time after. When he finally retired, it was to settle near Liberty, Missouri, where he died a poor man. He was an able trader, but of quick, irascible temper, and unpopular with his subordinates.—Ed.