the years that followed, the herds virtually disappeared. In 1846, drought and the failure of the corn crop made things worse, particularly among the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands, and traders including Martin McLeod and Norman Kittson had to extend credit to the Dakota in the form of food. The Mdewakantons, on the other hand, were somewhat cushioned by the annuities they received from the 1837 treaty. In addition, some Mdewakantons such as Taoyateduta Little Crow, who succeeded his father as chief of the Kaposia band in 1846, found ways to trade which effectively competed with Sibley's business. By 1848, a ring of Dakota including Little Crow had become so successful in trading whiskey for fur skins that Sibley and McLeod were compelled to set up river patrols to stop any canoes carrying contraband to the west. From 1842 to 1846, Sibley also bought buffalo hides from Joseph R. Brown on his personal account, even though Brown was a competitor of Choteau Company's Upper Mississippi Outfit. When Brown finally exited the fur trade, Sibley bought out his interests and assets on generous terms. Formation of the Northern Outfit In the summer of 1848, Henry Mower Rice, who had taken over trade with the Winnebago when Hercules Dousman exited the business, proposed the creation of a new Northern Outfit. The Northern Outfit combined the Dakota, Winnebago and Ojibwe trade under a single business unit. The Choteau Company held half of the firm, while Sibley, Rice and a new partner, Sylvanus Lowry, each held one-sixth. Sibley would later come to regret this move. Early experience in public office Henry Sibley was initiated into public life as a young man in Michigan Territory when he received his first commission as justice of the peace of Mackinac County from Governor George Bryan Porter. Magistrate in Iowa Territory After moving to Mendota, Sibley received a similar commission as a justice of the peace of Clayton County, which he called "an empire of itself" in size, extending from a line twenty miles below Prairie du Chien on the west of the Mississippi River to Pembina, and across to the Missouri River. He had been appointed by Governor John Chambers of the newly organized Iowa Territory in 1838, and received extensions to his commission through 1842. Sibley later stated that it was his "fortune to be the first to introduce the machinery of law...into what was a benighted