Pratte French Company. Brazeau fortified the ~20,000-square-foot complex with a blockhouse and watchtower to guard against Crow and Sioux attacks. Fort Kiowa soon became known as the jumping-off point for the 1823 trading expedition known as "Ashley's Hundred", which included traders Hugh Glass and Jim Bridger. Several months after the journey began, Glass was brutally attacked by a grizzly bear. Glass was able to kill the bear, but suffered many serious life-threatening wounds in the process. Two of Glass’ companions were instructed to remain with Glass until he died, and then bury him before reuniting with the rest of the party. However, the pair were allegedly chased off by a group of Arikaree natives, and Glass was left alone to die. Bridger returned to the hunting party and reported to his commander that Glass had perished. However, Glass survived and was able to set his own wounds and crawl more than 200 miles back to Fort Kiowa. This feat and others where pioneers such as Adam Helmer showed perseverance despite harsh challenges in the wild have maintained a special place in the folklore of the American West. Late history In 1827, Bernard Pratte purchased Fort Kiowa from Brazeau and made significant improvements. Pratte added several four room log houses, a storehouse, and a smith shop. Furthermore, Pratte encircled the fort with a wooden picket fence roughly twenty or thirty feet high to prevent Native attacks. Thus fortified, Fort Kiowa was expanded into a major trading post for Natives in the region. Later in the same year, John Jacob Astor purchased Fort Kiowa from Pratte for his rapidly expanding American Fur Company. Astor, who was the first multi-millionaire in America, bought Fort Kiowa to establish his presence in the upper Missouri and to further his monopoly on the American fur trade. Astor found the upper Missouri river area to be extremely prosperous. However, in the late 1830s, Astor’s American Fur Company was forced to abandon Fort Kiowa as the once lucrative fur trading business was no longer profitable due to several factors. First, there was a scarcity of beaver caused by rapid overhunting by intruding trappers. Second, there was a lack of public demand in America and Europe for pelts, as a new style, silk hats, was gaining prominence. Lastly, the intrusion of American trappers on what natives perceived as their land angered native tribes who began to revolt against the