Mountain Men Beginnings

he first to exploit North American resources for profit were the French in the 17th century.  When England gained the monopoly over the fur trade in 1763, their Hudson Bay Company moved all the way to the Rockies by 1787,

The first mountain men encountered Lewis and Clark's expedition in 1806.  Around the Yellowstone River, 150 miles from St. Louis, they came across a couple of shaggy beaver trappers - Joseph Dickson and Forrest Hancock who had left Illinois in the summer of 1804. 

The American trappers asked if anyone in the expedition would like to join them on the hunt.  Pvt. John Colter of Virginia, along with a couple of other men, were eager to go.  The Trappers moved along the river making winter camp in a Rocky Mountain Valley.  By spring, the two companions had had enough and headed back to the expedition.  Colter however, stayed on to trap, hunt, and hone his wilderness skills.

By 1807 Colter was in St. Louis to sell his catch.  He met one swarthy Manuel Lisa, a St. Louis businessman and schemer.  He was ruthless, unprincipled, and violent, but he could sniff out profit from 1000 miles.  Genius or just a crook, in 1807, he took 50 frontiersmen into two boats up the Missouri to the Far West.  John Colter was among them as a guide.  They halted at the Yellowstone and Big Horn River to build a fort. 

Next time...the Story of John Colter continues
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On this Day in Pioneer History: On March 14, 1879, Albert Einstein is born, the son of a Jewish electrical engineer in Ulm, Germany. Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity drastically altered man’s view of the universe, and his work in particle and energy theory helped make possible quantum mechanics and, ultimately, the tomic bomb.

Packing the Big Gun

Fremont and Carson set off in the summer of 1842.  Fremont had a deep need for instant glory and he could arrange situations where he was the center of attention and a hero.  In the 1840s he presented himself as a kind of frontier hero, a trailblazer for all.  He compared himself to John Jacob Astor and was an instant celebrity as he went west...why you might ask?

John Charles Fremont took along on his survey party a 12 pound cannon which he had gotten illegally from the army.  There was no possible use for a cannon on a survey expedition other than a photo op - it was fired on only one occasion at a herd of buffalo.  His military superiors were furious and his men who had to deal with him over the trails said he was "ridiculous".  Beginning to get a picture of why Captain Joseph Walker wanted nothing to do with Fremont's "survey" expedition?

Next time...An Explosion of Wagon Trains

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Today in History:  On November 3,  1883  authorities almost catch Charles Boles, California bandit and infamous stagecoach robber called Black Bart.  He manages to make a quick getaway, but drops an incriminating clue that eventually sends him to prison.

Walker 2, Paiutes 0

The marshes around Humboldt Sink were swarming with Paiute Indoans - more so than the year before when Walker had to charge on them.  This time Walker and his men did everything they could think of to reconcile and be friendly, but the Paiutes would have none of it.  In no mood to be bribed or pacified, they prepared for battle.

Captain Joe Walker was concerned his men would get out of control and cause a total massacre, but again he gave
the order to charge.  14 Indians died, 3 whites were injured.  Walker called off his men and avoided further hostilities - something he was known and respected for.

The party continued up the Humboldt River without further Indian trouble, crossed over the Snake River and on to Bear River where he met up with his old buddy...

Next time..How ya doin' Ben?