This place stood at the center of Missouri Valley history as a major Indigenous stronghold, a fur trade hub, a military staging point, and a transportation link. Before white settlement, it was an Indian capital, with great bastioned fortresses, Indian villages, and cultivated lands on both sides of the river. In 1743 Verendrye planted a leaden plate for France four miles downstream. In 1804 Lewis and Clark held council with the Teton Sioux at this dam site, and in 1811 the well-known fight between Manuel Lisa and Hunt, leader of the Astorians, took place here. Permanent fur posts existed by 1817, and for half a century this was the center of the fur trade, with eight fur posts and two military posts within view. In 1831 the Yellowstone, the first steamboat, arrived to carry away buffalo hides, helping destroy the great herds. In 1856 Harney met in council here with the Sioux in what was called the largest gathering of Indians ever assembled. Sully's expeditions against the hostile Sioux began here in 1863 and 1864. The site later became the steamboat head for the Black Hills Gold Rush in 1876 and the railhead for its continuation from 1880 to 1886.