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Chittenden tells of Provost's skill in managing recruits taken up the Missouri for service with the fur company. It was a favorite pastime with that veteran mountaineer, Etienne Provost, who was often sent up in charge of recruits, to compel an early settlement which would determine all blustering and quarreling. H e would form a ring on the forecastle and compel every braggart to' make good his claims before the assembled passengers and crew. One after another would succumb, until one man would emerge from the contest victorious over all the others. He would then be awarded the championship, and receive a red belt in token thereof.65
Provost died in St. Louis on July 3, 1850.69 His funeral service was held in the St. Louis Cathedral standing west of the new, impressive, 630foot Gateway Arch in the Jefferson Memorial to Westward Expansion. Provost's wife and a grown daughter survived him. His estate papers are preserved in the Probate Court Records at St. Louis, where the author examined them in July of 1967. A purported will of April 1, 1839, was denied by the widow and was not accepted by Probate Judge Peter Ferguson. "Mary Provot," the widow and her daughter Mary were the only heirs. An inventory of the estate and the final expenses are itemized. The real estate and personal property included the home at Second and Lombard streets, St. Louis; some pieces of land in Lee County, Iowa; and lots in Keokuk, Iowa, and Nashville, Tennessee. Cash on hand was $102.70 and household furniture was appraised at $78.95. 67 Etienne Provost was indeed a legendary character in his own lifetime. When the Mormons founded a town beside Provo River in 1849 and named it Provo, they were probably unaware that the fabled character they honored was still alive in St. Louis.
65
Ibid., 128. The notice in the Missouri Republican of July 4 said: "Died. Yesterday afternoon, about 4 o'clock Mr. Etienne Provot, an old resident of this
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city. "The friends and acquaintances of the family are invited to attend his funeral, This afternoon, at 4 o'clock, from his late residence on the corner of Lombard and Second streets, to the Cathedral burial ground." 67 Among the furniture and household items listed were: twelve chairs, $12.00; one rocking chair, $2.00; one bureau, $8.00; one spitton, 10 cents; one setee, $1.00; one clock, $8.00; one glass globe, 50 cents; one picture of President of the United States, 10 cents. The funeral expenses included: "Extra fine finished velvet coffin with handles and overcase delivered, $25; for Hears [hearse] and 5 carriages, $17.50; 6 pairs gloves and 2 pieces of crepe, $7; 16 W Spurm Candles at 45 cents, $7.20; burial service St. Louis Cathedral, $6; attendant clergyman to cemetery, $3." "Final Medicine" from the druggist: "mustard, 10 0, Flaxseed 5 ÂŁ, Black tea, 5 f, rice 5ÂŁ, pins, 5<f, ginger 10 0, oil 5 f. Laudanem, 10 0, whiskey, 10 <2, vinegar 5 0, Brandy, 10 #, mustard 10 i\ total $1.00."
