John Colter - "Mad Man" and "Colter's Hell"

For some reason Colter was sent out to find new trapping routes, and reach agreements with Blackfoot Indians.  Colter started out on foot alone

His route took him through much of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho country.  He crossed the Continental Divide at Union Divide and visited the Yellowstone Park area.  He came across steaming geysers and bubbling mud.  The tales he told of these gave him the name "madman" and were dismissed as deranged hallucinations.  His discovery was know as "Colter's Hell."

Without knowing it, Colter had become the stereotype of a mountain man.  He survived alone in the wilderness, killed his own game, trapped to make his own clothes, endured extreme cold and heat to become a legend. 

Colter escaped death at least twice.  In 1808 he was captured by the Blackfoot, his clothes taken, and told to run for his life while warriors pursued him.  He made the river six miles away, hid underwater until night fall when he made his way away in the darkness.

In 1810, Colter was the only one of six who survived a Blackfoot ambush, to which he said, "If only God will let me off, I will leave this country and never come back again."  He immediately went back to St. Louis where he died in poverty in 1813.

Next time...John Jacob Astor
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On this Day in Pioneer History:  On March 17, 1804,  Jim Bridger is born in Richmond, Virginia. Twenty years later, Bridger, heading West along the routes Lewis and Clark pioneered, became one of the greatest mountain men of the 19th century.  For more on Jim Bridger search this blog...

1830s Fur Trading Companies

Before our story continues we need some background behind the Fur Trading Companies of the 1820s and 30s. The Rocky Mountain fur trade's heyday was from 1825-1835.  The year that Walker's expedition camped at the Green River was the most violent and chaotic year in fur trading history.

Let's meet some of the major players:
The Hudson Bay Fur Company monopolized the industry from the northern Great Plains to the Arctic Ocean.  They were the known troublemakers to the Indians and laid waste to the beaver population.

The Blackfoot Indians were the most ferocious tribe of the northern Rockies and anti-American.  They were allies of the Hudson Bay Company when it served their purpose.  They also could manipulate the
British as well as be terrorists to the other tribes and to the Americans.  Basically they went against anyone who wasn't an ally at the time.

Some of the most famous trappers - Bridger, Smith, Fitzpatrick, Rose, Clyman, Glass and Subletter, were among some of the first men to try to venture into the Rockies area in 1832 and made up the Rocky Mountain Fur Company,  formed in 1826. Although they were the most knowledgeable of the companies, they were also deep in debt.

The Astor American Fur Company on the other hand  (John Jacob Astor's company) controlled 75% of the total trade in the Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley and moved into the Rocky Mountains as well. They had the monetary means to outbid their rivals for the services of the best trappers.  It was this company that financed Walker and Bonneville's westward expedition. 

Next Time...let's attend a "trapper's rendezvous"!