Not many Spaniards went into the fur trade in the booming city of St. Louis, but Manuel Lisa was one of them, and he became a founder of the Missouri Fur Company. An ambitious man, Manuel took a keelboat up the Missouri River farther than anyone had ever gone before and established the first trading post in what would later be the state of Montana. But Manuel’s true claim to fame would be a feat that no one else would ever surpass.