Before the Pioneers Came...

Let's go back in time now to long before the Homesteaders, the Cattlemen or the Gold Rushers came west - and meet the mountain men and the trail blazers of the West, the "real pioneers" as some have called them, the rugged men like Jedediah Smith, Kit Carson, Jim Bridger and Joseph Walker.  They were the hunters, fur trappers and traders in a west dominated by Native Americans and the raw, untouched and uncivilized territory of the early 1800s.

Before we set off with Joe Walker who is probably the greatest and least known of these mountain men, a bit of background would be helpful...

One historian has divided those operating in the continental stage into four groups:

1.  The American Fur Company (John Jacob Astor)

2.  The Rocky Mountain Fur Company

3.  The Hudson Bay Company (British) which later merged with the Northwest Company

The independent men also worked with or against any of the above, shifting their allegiance as long as the fur trade lasted.  These men lived off the land, trapping and hunting, without a permanent shelter, ready food, or civilization nearby.  In the true sense of the word, they opened the West to those who followed.  Next time we will take a look at a couple of popular mountain men and their lives.