Hunt needed interpreters.

He needed men who could communicate with the many different Native nations the expedition would encounter along the route.

And when Pierre Dorion Jr. showed up as a candidate for the interpreter role, he came with a condition: Marie and the children were coming too.

According to contemporary accounts, Hunt objected.

The standard fur-trade expedition did not include women and children.

The practical arguments against it were obvious: women and children required food, they could not carry packs as effectively as men, they slowed the pace, and they represented additional mouths to feed when food was scarce.