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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #50381 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50381)
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-Project Gutenberg's Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole, by Merrill J. Mattes
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole
-       The Fur Trappers' Exploration of the Yellowstone and Grand
-       Teton Park Region
-
-Author: Merrill J. Mattes
-
-Release Date: November 4, 2015 [EBook #50381]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLTER'S HELL AND JACKSON'S HOLE ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
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-
-                             COLTER’S HELL
-                                  AND
-                             JACKSON’S HOLE
-
-
-                          By Merrill J. Mattes
-
-
-                              Published by
-               YELLOWSTONE LIBRARY AND MUSEUM ASSOCIATION
-                                and the
-                GRAND TETON NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION
-                          in cooperation with
-                         NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
-                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
-
-[Illustration: Yellowstone Library and Museum Association; National Park
-                                Service]
-
-           © 1962 Yellowstone Library and Museum Association
-                              Reprint 1970
-
-
-The Yellowstone Library and Museum Association and the Grand Teton
-Natural History Association are non-profit distributing organizations
-whose purpose is the stimulation of interest in the educational and
-inspirational aspects of Yellowstone and Grand Teton history and natural
-history. The Associations cooperate with and are recognized by the
-United States Department of the Interior and its Bureau, the National
-Park Service, as essential operating organizations.
-
-As one means of accomplishing their aims the Associations publish
-reasonably priced booklets which are available for purchase by mail
-throughout the year or at the museum information desks in the parks
-during the summer.
-
-Photographs used were provided through the courtesy of the National Park
-Service, except where otherwise credited.
-
-
-
-
-                   COLTER’S HELL AND JACKSON’S HOLE:
- The Fur Trappers’ Exploration of the Yellowstone and Grand Teton Park
-                                 Region
-
-
-                                   By
-                           Merrill J. Mattes
-
-
-
-
-                           TABLE OF CONTENTS
-
-
-                                                                     Page
-       I. Strange Land of “Volcanoes” and “Shining Mountains”           1
-      II. The Mystery of “La Roche Jaune” or Yellow Rock River          9
-     III. John Colter, The Phantom Explorer—1807-1808                  13
-      IV. “Colter’s Hell”: A Case of Mistaken Identity                 19
-       V. “Les Trois Tetons”: The Golden Age of Discovery, 1810-1824   25
-      VI. “Jackson’s Hole”: Era of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company,
-                               1825-1832                               35
-     VII. “The Fire Hole”: Era of the American Fur Company, 1833-1840  53
-    VIII. Epilogue: 1841-1870                                          77
-          Selected Bibliography                                        86
-          Vicinity Map at rear
-
-                      [Illustration: BEAVER TRAP]
-
-
-
-
-         I. Strange Land of “Volcanoes” and “Shining Mountains”
-
-
-The Yellowstone-Grand Teton region was not officially discovered and its
-scenic marvels were not publicly proclaimed until the 1870’s, beginning
-with the Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition. For thirty years before,
-from 1841 to 1869, this region was a Paradise Lost, rarely visited by
-white men. But for thirty years before that, or from 1807 to 1840, this
-region had hundreds of appreciative visitors. These were the Rocky
-Mountain fur trappers. While searching for the golden-brown fur of the
-beaver, destined for the St. Louis market, these adventurers thoroughly
-explored this fabulous region. Although news of their discoveries
-received scant public notice back in the settlements, or was discounted
-as tall tales, to them belongs the honor of being the first actual
-explorers of these twin parks.
-
-Neighboring Yellowstone and Grand Teton, established as National Parks
-in 1872 and 1929, respectively, are separately managed today as units of
-our National Park System. But geographically, now as well as in the
-early nineteenth century, they embrace one unique region, characterized
-by topographic and geologic features that are the crescendo of a great
-scenic symphony. Here, at the heart of the continent, the source of the
-three major river systems of the continent—the Columbia, the Colorado,
-and the Missouri-Mississippi—may be found the greatest geyser basins,
-the largest mountain lake, the most colorful of kaleidoscopic canyons,
-one of the richest arrays of wildlife, and one of the most spectacularly
-beautiful mountain ranges in the world. The Yellowstone-Grand Teton
-region has historical unity, also, particularly during the obscure but
-heroic age of the Rocky Mountain fur trade.
-
-“Colter’s Hell”—bearing the name of the legendary discoverer, and
-conjuring up visions of a primitive “Dante’s Inferno”—is the term which
-visitors today associate with the early history of Yellowstone National
-Park and its universally famous hydrothermal wonders. Actually, the
-wandering, bearded, buck-skinned beaver trappers never referred to the
-geyser region of the upper Madison as Colter’s Hell. As we will see, the
-real Colter’s Hell in Jim Bridger’s day was another place altogether,
-having nothing to do with anything within Yellowstone Park itself. In
-trapper times the Yellowstone geyser area had no fixed name but was
-variously described by them as a region of “great volcanoes,” “boiling
-springs” or “spouting fountains.” On the recently discovered Hood and
-Ferris maps (see below) it is labeled “the Burnt Hole” (although this
-name seems to have been restricted by Russell and others to the Hebgen
-Lake Valley). Captain Bonneville tells us that his men knew of this
-region as “the Firehole” and this name, as applied to the river draining
-the geyser basins, survives today.
-
-Yellowstone Park, carved out of territorial Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho,
-is a rough-edged rectangle of 3,500 square miles that straddles the
-twisting course of the Continental Divide. It is a geological circus, a
-unique creation of ancient volcanoes and glaciers, flanked on the
-southeast and east by the Absaroka Range, on the north by the Snowy
-Range, on the northwest by the Gallatin and Madison ranges, on the west
-by the Centennial Range, and on the south by the Teton Mountains.
-
-From the Park flow the headwaters of two continental rivers and their
-major tributaries. From here the Snake River arcs southward toward
-Jackson’s Hole and the cathedral-like Tetons, destined to join the
-Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean. Here the Firehole and Gibbon
-rivers, draining the principal geyser basins, unite to become the
-Madison River, and here also arises the Gallatin, these being two of the
-Three Forks of the Missouri. Here arises a branch of the North Fork of
-the Shoshone River, a tributary of the Bighorn. And here, after its
-birth near Two Ocean Pass, begins the mighty Yellowstone River which,
-after passing through its vast mirror-like lake and its prismatic
-canyon, flows out onto the plains to receive the Bighorn and join the
-Missouri on its marathon journey to the Mississippi River and the Gulf
-of Mexico.
-
-                [Illustration: Indians at Jackson Lake.]
-
-This region held a fortune in coveted beaver skins, but it was remote,
-snowbound, haunted by the vindictive Blackfeet, and plagued by weird
-visions, sulphurous fumes, and uncanny noises. Here indeed was fertile
-soil for a legend.
-
-On a clear day Yellowstone Park visitors can see to the south the
-mountain spires which identify Grand Teton National Park of Wyoming, an
-indefinable shape of 500 square miles. (The actual boundaries of these
-neighboring parks are separated by a scant five miles.) The Tetons are
-perhaps the most distinctive of the granite giants which comprise the
-Rocky Mountains. A series of sharp pyramids of naked rock, the peaks
-stand like sharks’ teeth against the sky. The most precipitous sides and
-the most needle-like summit belong to the highest of these, the Grand
-Teton, which rises over 7,000 feet from its immediate base, nearly
-14,000 feet above the level of the distant sea.
-
-The Teton Mountains are the most conspicuous landmarks of a region which
-contains the scrambled sources of the three greatest river systems of
-continental United States. As we have seen, Yellowstone Park to the
-north gives birth to the eastward-flowing Missouri and the westward
-flowing Columbia waters. East of the Tetons, in the Wind River
-Mountains, is the head of Green River which rolls southward to merge
-into the mighty Colorado River, tumbling through the arid lands to the
-Gulf of California.
-
-Jackson’s Hole is that part of the Upper Snake River Valley which lies
-at the eastern base of the Teton Range. One of the largest enclosed
-valleys in the Rocky Mountains, its glaciated floor extends about sixty
-miles north and south, and varies up to twelve miles in width. It is
-bounded on the west by the Tetons, on the east and south by the less
-pretentious Mount Leidy Highlands and the Gros Ventre and Hoback
-Mountains. The Gros Ventres merge imperceptibly into the Wind River
-Mountains farther east, the crest of which forms the Continental Divide.
-The southern extremity of the Tetons merges with the eastern end of the
-Snake River Range near the canyon where the Snake River escapes from the
-valley.
-
-Historic Jackson’s Hole, also known as “Jackson’s Big Hole”—but now
-politely refined to just plain Jackson Hole—was named in 1829 for David
-Jackson, one of the partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. To the
-early trapper a “hole” was a sizeable valley abounding in game, and
-usually (with the exception of Yellowstone’s “Firehole”) associated with
-some distinctive personality—hence Brown’s Hole, Pierre’s Hole,
-Gardner’s Hole, etc. However, Jackson’s Hole was more than just a
-pleasant spot for trapping and camping. Research gives substance to the
-view that this was the historic crossroads of the Rocky Mountain fur
-trade.
-
-Jackson’s Hole was destined by geography to become a traffic center of
-the Western fur trade. Between South Pass at the head of the Little
-Sandy and the northern passes above the Three Forks of the Missouri it
-offered the most feasible route across the Rocky Mountain barrier. In
-addition, it was the focal point of a region that was highly prized and
-vigorously contested because of its populous beaver streams. Here
-trappers’ trails converged like the spokes of a great wheel and, after
-Lewis and Clark, most of the important trapper-explorers crossed
-Jackson’s Hole on their journeys.
-
-       [Illustration: Indian “Buffalo Jump”—Yellowstone Valley.]
-
-In historic times there were seven gateways to and from Jackson’s Hole:
-northward up Snake River; northeastward up Pacific Creek to Two Ocean
-Pass; eastward up Buffalo Fork to Twogwotee Pass; eastward up the Gros
-Ventre to Union Pass; southward up the Hoback to Green River; westward
-via Teton Pass or Conant Pass (at the south and north extremities of the
-Teton Range) to Pierre’s Hole.
-
- [Illustration: “Dawn of Discovery”—Exhibit in Fur Trade Museum, Grand
-                         Teton National Park.]
-
-The Tetons received their name from French-Canadian trappers who
-accompanied the earliest British expeditions into this territory. As
-they approached the range from the west, they beheld three towering
-mountains upon which they bestowed the name of “Trois Tetons” (“Three
-Breasts”). This romantic designation was readily adopted by the lonely
-trapping fraternity to whom the sharp snowy peaks (now known as the
-Grand, Middle and South Tetons) became a beacon to guide them through
-the hostile wilderness. To the Indians the Tetons were variously known
-as “The Three Brothers,” “The Hoaryheaded Fathers,” and “Tee Win-at,”
-meaning “The Pinnacles.” The earliest Americans in the region, being
-more practical than romantic, could find no better name for the silvery
-spires than “The Pilot Knobs,” while an official Hudson’s Bay Company
-map indicates with equal homeliness, “The Three Paps.” The name “Three
-Tetons” survived, however, and was officially recognized by
-cartographers. The name first appeared publicly in the Bonneville Map of
-1837.
-
-The Upper Snake River (i.e., above the mouth of Henry’s Fork) was called
-“Mad River” by the Astorians. Others simply referred to it as the
-“Columbia River” or “the headwaters of the Columbia,” but to most of the
-fur trappers it was “Lewis River” or “Lewis Fork,” so originally named
-in the Clark Map of 1810 for Capt. Meriwether Lewis, as Clark’s Fork of
-the Columbia was named after his fellow explorer, Capt. William Clark.
-This name was much more appropriate than its present one, which is
-derived from the Snake or Shoshone Indians, and first appears on the
-Greenhow Map of 1840.
-
-In spite of past efforts by water power advocates to “improve” it by a
-dam, Yellowstone Lake remains just as it was when first discovered by
-John Colter, the original “Lake Eustis” of the Clark Map of 1810.
-Jackson Lake, however, was enlarged by a dam built in 1916 by the Bureau
-of Reclamation. This lake is identifiable with the “Lake Biddle” of the
-Clark Map of 1810, the “Teton Lake” of Warren A. Ferris, and the “Lewis
-Lake” referred to frequently by another trapper, Joseph L. Meek. There
-is today a tributary of the Upper Snake known as Lewis River, heading in
-a Lewis Lake within the confines of Yellowstone National Park, neither
-of which are to be confused with the historic “Lewis River” and “Lewis
-Lake.”
-
-            [Illustration: Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.]
-
-                      [Illustration: POWDER HORN]
-
-
-
-
-        II. The Mystery of “La Roche Jaune” or Yellow Rock River
-
-
-For some twenty years before the advent of Lewis and Clark,
-French-Canadian voyageurs of the North West Company were in league with
-the Mandans, and from these Indians learned of the distant “Pierre
-Jaune” or “Roche Jaune” River, a translation from the Indian equivalent
-of “Yellow Rock River.” Chittenden theorizes that the ultimate origin of
-the name descends from the brilliant and infinite varieties of yellow
-which dominate the color scheme of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,
-and which probably awed the first aboriginal explorer just as it does
-today’s auto-borne tourist.
-
-Although there is room for debate as to whether any of the Canadian
-traders beat Lewis and Clark to the mouth of the Yellowstone, it is
-certain that one of their number preceded the Americans in the approach
-to its headwaters. On September 10, 1805, Francois Antoine Larocque
-reached “Riviere aux Roches Jaunes” just below the mouth of Pryor’s
-Fork, near present Billings, Montana, in the course of “a voyage of
-discovery to the Rocky Mountains.” After wintering at the Mandan
-villages in 1804-1805 as a neighbor of the hibernating Lewis and Clark,
-and being thwarted in his desire to accompany them upstream, Larocque
-had returned to his post on the Assiniboine for supplies, then hurried
-back to the Mandans, going from there overland via Knife River, the
-Little Missouri, and the Tongue to the Bighorn Mountains, country of the
-Crows.
-
-While wintering with the Mandans, Captain Clark sketched two maps of the
-unexplored country westward, based on “the information of traders,
-indians and my own observation and ideas.” One of these shows
-“Rochejhone River” with six tributaries from the south, five with Indian
-names, two translated as “Tongue River” and “Big Horn R.” The Bighorns
-and Rocky Mountains beyond are represented only by diagrammatic strokes.
-There is a trail from the mouth of Knife River to the Bighorns, roughly
-the same subsequently taken by Larocque. This was actually a refinement
-of a sketch made for Clark by the Mandan Chief Big White. The second map
-shows “River yellow rock” minus tributaries but with the Crows (“gens de
-Corbeau”) located just west of an imaginative “montagne de
-roche—conjecturall.” These maps, the first to our knowledge to depict
-the Yellowstone River, were sent to President Jefferson on April 7,
-1805, by Meriwether Lewis, to accompany his eagerly awaited progress
-report.
-
-Upon their return trip in 1806, after wintering at Fort Clatsop at the
-mouth of the Columbia, Lewis and Clark divided in order to explore the
-country more thoroughly, the latter undertaking to determine the source
-of the mysterious Yellowstone. On July 15, with eleven white men, the
-Indian woman Sacajawea and her baby, the cavalcade crossed Bozeman Pass,
-which marks the divide between the Yellowstone and Gallatin Fork, and
-reached the vicinity of present Livingston, Montana. Never suspecting
-what wonders lay concealed behind the snowy mountain wall to the south,
-Clark hurried on down the river to rejoin Lewis, with glory enough for
-one expedition.
-
-There is only one hint of volcanic phenomena which Clark seems to have
-obtained from any source other than the presumed conversation with
-Colter, mentioned below. This was an Indian tale, received after Clark’s
-return, but before Colter’s return, to the effect that at the head of
-Tongue River, a branch of the Yellowstone, “there is frequently heard a
-loud noise like Thunder, which makes the earth Tremble, they state that
-they seldom go there because their children Cannot sleep—and Conceive it
-possessed of spirits, who were averse that men Should be near them.”
-Speculates Vinton, “it can hardly be doubted that the Indians referred
-to the geyser basin in the Park,” rather than to the Tongue River
-neighborhood.
-
-It is commonly supposed that, prior to Colter, no white man had
-knowledge of strange phenomena on the Upper Yellowstone, this
-supposition being one of the pillars of the “first-discovery” theory. It
-is fairly evident that Clark knew nothing of geysers when he was within
-seventy-five miles of them in 1806 but, ironically enough, at this time
-some intimation of them had certainly reached others, including Clark’s
-sponsor, Thomas Jefferson. On October 22, 1805, James Wilkinson,
-governor of Louisiana Territory, with headquarters in St. Louis, sent to
-the President, in care of Captain Amos Stoddard,
-
-  a Savage delineation on a Buffalo Pelt, of the Missouri & its South
-  Western branches, including the Rivers plate & Lycorne or Pierre
-  jaune; This Rude Sketch without Scale or Compass ‘et remplie de
-  Fantaisies ridicules’ is not destitute of Interests, as it exposes the
-  location of several important Objects, & may point the way to useful
-  enquiry—among other things a little incredible, a volcano is
-  distinctly described on Yellow Stone River.
-
-Wilkinson apparently obtained this primitive map from unidentified
-traders. It could not have been a copy of Clark’s map sent from Fort
-Mandan the April previous, for it obviously contained new data. In an
-advice to Henry Dearborn, Secretary of War, dated September 18, 1805,
-Wilkinson revealed that his interest in Yellowstone curiosities was
-sufficiently aroused to dispatch an expedition of his own upriver!
-
-  I have equipt a Perogue out of my Small private means, not with any
-  view to Self interest, to ascend the missouri and enter the River
-  Piere jaune, or yellow Stone, called by the natives, Unicorn River,
-  the same by which Capt. Lewis I find since expects to return and which
-  my informants tell me is filled with wonders. This Party will not get
-  back before the Summer 1807—they are natives of this town....
-
-Who were Wilkinson’s explorers, and what became of them? Who were the
-“informants”? Was their information firsthand or derived from Indians
-who, unlike the Mandans, were acquainted with details of the Upper
-Yellowstone? These questions may be unanswerable, but they arise to
-shadow the giant figure of John Colter.
-
-   [Illustration: Fur Trade Museum, Moose Visitor Center—Grand Teton
-                      National Park Headquarters.]
-
-                      [Illustration: HAWKEN RIFLE]
-
-
-
-
-            III. John Colter, the Phantom Explorer—1807-1808
-
-
-The epic journey of discovery known as “The Lewis and Clark Expedition”
-was organized in the autumn of 1803 at Maysville, Kentucky. Here, on
-October 15, John Colter enlisted as a private with the stipulated pay of
-$5 a month, apparently answering the requirement for “good hunters,
-stout, healthy, unmarried men, accustomed to the woods and capable of
-bearing bodily fatigue in a pretty considerable degree.”
-
-Colter shared all the hardships and triumphs of the expedition, as well
-as routine adventure in hunting, starving, Indian diplomacy, and getting
-chased by grizzly bears. In August 1806 the returning party reached the
-Mandan villages. Here Colter was granted permission by the explorers to
-take his leave and join two trappers from Illinois, Forrest Hancock and
-Joseph Dickson, bound for Yellowstone River.
-
-The extent of the wanderings of this trio is not known. In the spring of
-1807 Colter alone paddled a canoe down the Missouri to the mouth of the
-Platte where he found keelboats of the Missouri Fur Company of St.
-Louis, led by Manuel Lisa. He was promptly recruited and went with this
-expedition up the Missouri and the Yellowstone to the mouth of the
-Bighorn River, where Lisa built a log fort known as Fort Raymond or
-Manuel’s Fort.
-
-It was from this point that Colter made his famous journey of discovery
-during the autumn and winter of 1807-1808. Colter left no written record
-of his own. The only thing resembling written evidence is the following
-by Henry Brackenridge, who heard it from Manuel Lisa:
-
-  He [Lisa] continued his voyage to the Yellowstone River, where he
-  built a trading fort. He shortly after dispatched Coulter, the hunter
-  before mentioned, to bring some of the Indian nations to trade. This
-  man, with a pack of thirty pounds weight, his gun and some ammunition,
-  went upwards of five hundred miles to the Crow nation; gave them
-  information, and proceeded from them to several other tribes. On his
-  return, a party of Indians in whose company he happened to be was
-  attacked, and he was lamed by a severe wound in the leg;
-  notwithstanding which, he returned to the establishment, entirely
-  alone and without assistance, several hundred miles.
-
-Aside from this slim clue, his course can be determined solely on the
-basis of “Colter’s Route in 1807” and other data which appear on William
-Clark’s “Map of the West,” published in 1814, presumably based on a
-conversation of 1810 at St. Louis, whither the trapper-explorer returned
-after hair-raising adventures with the Blackfeet in the Three Forks
-country. Inevitably, in view of the topographical errors and distortions
-of the Clark map, Colter’s precise route is subject to wide differences
-of opinion.
-
-A composite of theories offered by Hiram M. Chittenden, Stallo Vinton,
-Charles Lindsay, and Burton Harris, to mention only four qualified
-scholars who have undertaken to hypothecate Colter’s route, is that
-Colter ascended the Bighorn, followed up the Shoshone River to near
-present Cody, went south along the foot of the Absaroka Mountains, up
-Wind River to Union Pass, into Jackson’s Hole, thence probably across
-Teton Pass into Pierre’s Hole, thence north via Conant Pass to the west
-shore of Yellowstone Lake and northeast to the crossing of the
-Yellowstone near Tower Falls, thence up the Lamar River and Soda Butte
-Creek, back across the Absarokas, thence south to the Shoshone River,
-and back to Lisa’s Fort by way of Clark’s Fork and Pryor’s Fork.
-
-The key to Colter’s route is the identification of Lakes Jackson and
-Yellowstone, respectively, as Clark’s Lake Biddle (named for the patron
-of his publication) and Lake Eustis (named for the Secretary of War), no
-longer questioned by historians. The “Hot Spring Brimstone” at the
-sulphur beds crossing of the Yellowstone River near Tower Falls and the
-“Boiling Spring” near the forks of the Stinkingwater or Shoshone (see
-Chapter IV) are other checkpoints which now seem quite firm. In
-addition, there are two interesting claims of physical evidence. While
-these are both necessarily debatable and subject to challenge as hoaxes,
-they deserve consideration. According to Philip A. Rollins, quoted by
-Vinton:
-
-  In September of 1889, Tazewell Woody (Theodore Roosevelt’s hunting
-  guide), John H. Dewing (also a hunting guide) and I, found on the left
-  side of Coulter Creek, some fifty feet from the water and about three
-  quarters of a mile above the creek’s mouth, a large pine tree on which
-  was a deeply indented blaze, which after being cleared of sap and
-  loose bark was found to consist of a cross thus ‘X’ (some five inches
-  in height), and, under it, the initials ‘J C’ (each some four inches
-  in height).
-
-  The blaze appeared to these trained hunting guides, so they stated to
-  me, to be approximately eighty years old.
-
-  They refused to fell the tree and so obtain the exact age of the blaze
-  because they said they guessed the blaze had been made by Colter
-  himself.
-
-  The find was reported to the Government authorities, and the tree was
-  cut down by them in 1889 or 1890, in order that the blazed section
-  might be installed in a museum, but as I was told in the autumn of
-  1890 by the then superintendent of the Yellowstone Park, the blazed
-  section had been lost in transit.
-
-The second reputed Colter relic, which has survived, is the so-called
-“Colter Stone” which is now exhibited by the National Park Service in
-its new Fur Trade Museum at the Moose Visitor Center, Grand Teton
-National Park. This is a piece of rhyolite hand-carved roughly in the
-shape of a human head, with the inscribed lettering “John Colter 1808.”
-This specimen was dug up in 1931 by William Beard and son while clearing
-timber on their farm about five miles east of Tetonia, Idaho, just
-within the Wyoming state line. In 1933 Aubrey Lyon, a neighbor, obtained
-the “stone head” in trade for a pair of riding boots, and presented it
-to park officials.
-
-[Illustration: Colter’s Hell today (with Superintendent Lon Garrison and
-                                 wife).
-                                                         Photo by Author]
-
-Although the natural tendency to view such finds with skepticism may be
-respected here, several factors lend plausibility. Members of the Beard
-family had no knowledge of John Colter. In 1931 the Colter story had not
-been well researched, and the version then was largely confined to the
-year 1807; yet if Colter made winter camp in the Teton Basin, and left a
-record to help while away the time, this would logically occur early in
-1808. The stone itself yields no conclusive evidence on the basis of
-wear or patination; but some geologists agree that 125 years of
-weathering and soil acidity could have elapsed between the initial
-carving and time of discovery. At least the Colter Stone is a great
-historical conversation piece!
-
-According to Thomas James, an associate of Colter’s, the fight with the
-Blackfeet, mentioned by Brackenridge as occurring on Colter’s
-Yellowstone journey, did not actually occur until the summer of 1808,
-near the Three Forks of the Missouri. On this occasion Colter was
-wounded in the furious battle between the Blackfeet and Flatheads.
-
-Still later in 1808 Colter and John Potts (another Lewis and Clark
-veteran) were captured by Blackfeet on Jefferson River. Potts was killed
-and dismembered. Colter was stripped naked and told to run for his life.
-The Indians, who were to have great sport with Colter in this way, were
-enraged when he managed to escape his tormentors and kill one of them.
-He finally made his way back to Manuel’s Fort, greatly emaciated.
-
-After this fabulous feat of endurance, Colter remained in the wilderness
-until 1810, when he guided Colonel Menard to Three Forks, where a new
-fort was built, which was subject to constant Blackfeet harassment.
-Vowing never to return to the mountains, Colter returned downriver to
-St. Louis, arriving in May 1810 after six years of perils which well
-entitle him to claim as “The American Ulysses.”
-
-Colter settled at the village of Charette, a few miles above the mouth
-of the Missouri River, and married a girl named Sally. According to
-Washington Irving, in 1811 Wilson Price Hunt of the Astorian expedition
-attempted to persuade Colter to join him but this Colter declined to do
-after “balancing the charms of his bride against those of the Rocky
-Mountains.” In 1813 he died, ingloriously, of “jaundice.” Thus passed
-the phantom discoverer of the Teton-Yellowstone region, to whom James
-pays this tribute:
-
-  [Colter was] five feet ten inches in height and wore an open,
-  ingenious, and pleasing countenance of the Daniel Boone stamp. Nature
-  had formed him, like Boone, for hardy indurance of fatigue, privation
-  and perils.... His veracity was never questioned among us and his
-  character was that of a true American backwoodsman.
-
-    [Illustration: Upper Geyser Basin from the cone of Old Faithful.
-                                               W. H. Jackson photo. 1871]
-
-                      [Illustration: WHISKEY KEGS]
-
-
-
-
-            IV. “Colter’s Hell”: A Case of Mistaken Identity
-
-
-One of the most venerable old axioms of fur trade history is that of
-Colter’s Hell, which may be formulated thus: “After John Colter
-discovered what is now Yellowstone National Park, he told others of the
-scenic wonders there. No one believed him, and his listeners derisively
-dubbed the imaginary place Colter’s Hell.” No item of Yellowstone
-history is more widely believed, more universally beloved, and more
-transparently incorrect.
-
-There was a Colter’s Hell in the fur trappers lexicon, which referred
-specifically to an ancient thermal area bordering the Shoshone River
-just west of present Cody, Wyoming. The term was never applied
-historically to the thermal zone within Yellowstone Park itself. It was
-Hiram M. Chittenden, the esteemed engineer and historian who first
-suggested this usage in 1895 with the original edition of his book,
-Yellowstone National Park.
-
-The earliest published reference to “Colter’s Hell” is in Washington
-Irving’s version of Capt. Benjamin L. E. Bonneville’s journal narrating
-events from 1832 to 1835. However, note here that this “volcanic tract”
-with its “gloomy terrors, its hidden fires, smoking pits, noxious
-streams and the all-pervading ‘smell of brimstone’” was located,
-according to Irving, not on the headwaters of the Yellowstone but on the
-Shoshone or “the Stinking River” or “the Stinkingwater,” originally
-named on the Clark Map. It was Chittenden in 1895 and not Irving in 1837
-who started the legend by asserting vaguely that “the region of ...
-[Colter’s] adventures was long derisively known as ‘Colter’s Hell,’”
-implying that by “region” he meant Yellowstone Park, the subject of his
-book. He does not accuse Bonneville or Irving of error, perforce
-conceding that “this name early came to be restricted to the locality
-where Colter discovered the tar spring on the Stinkingwater,” but he
-hopefully guesses that “Colter’s description, so well summed up by
-Irving ... undoubtedly referred in large part to what he saw in the
-Yellowstone and Snake River Valleys.” This is where the misconception
-got started.
-
-It is significant that no historian prior to Chittenden entertained this
-misconception. For example, in 1890 Hubert H. Bancroft wrote: “Far east
-of ... [the volcanic basins on the Upper Madison], on the Stinkingwater
-Fork ... is Colter’s Hell, where similar phenomenon is exhibited on a
-lesser scale.” It is further significant that in his monumental American
-Fur Trade of the Far West, the first edition of which appeared in 1902,
-seven years after the first edition of Yellowstone, Chittenden wrote
-that Colter was “the first to pass through the singular region which has
-since become known throughout the world as the Yellowstone Wonderland.
-He also saw the immense tar spring at the forks of Stinkingwater River,
-a spot which came to bear the name of Colter’s Hell.” This is his only
-reference here to the term, which is a clear if tacit admission that he
-was in error in the first instance to create the impression that it ever
-applied contemporaneously to Yellowstone Park. But the impression once
-created would not down. Like Aladdin’s wonderful lamp, the jinni was out
-of the bottle, and the poetic version of “Colter’s Hell” has become a
-stock item in Western literature.
-
-Defenders of the Colter’s Hell mythology are eager to challenge
-Washington Irving as an authority. True, Irving’s Captain Bonneville by
-his own admission never personally saw the Yellowstone Park area. Also,
-it is true that geysers are not to be seen today along the Shoshone
-River. Hence it might be reasoned that the only noteworthy thermal
-activity in 1807 was likewise confined to the Yellowstone (more
-particularly, to the upper Madison), and that Bonneville was merely
-reporting a twisted rumor. But a cold examination of the facts shows
-that Irving and Bonneville were correct.
-
-                    [Illustration: Colter Monument.
-                                                         Photo by Author]
-
-First, there is no good reason to question Bonneville’s geographical
-knowledge. While he never saw it himself, Bonneville had quite a crew
-circulating through the future park as early as 1833 and, in fact, there
-is reason to believe that the great geyser basin of Firehole River,
-climaxed by Old Faithful, was discovered that year by one of his own
-lieutenants (see Chapter VII).
-
-Secondly, although there are no phenomena readily apparent to passing
-motorists at the bona fide and unmarked Colter’s Hell site just west of
-Cody, the evidence of thermal activity, not entirely extinct now, is
-abundantly evident to anyone who cares to pause enroute to or from
-Yellowstone’s East Gate. On the Canyon rim downstream from the rocky
-defile enclosing the Buffalo Bill Dam, there are extinct geyser cones up
-to thirty feet in height and an extensive crust of fragile sinter. In
-the canyon floor itself there are bubbling fountains in the river bed,
-and the same pervasive smell of rotten eggs, (or more scientifically,
-sulphur dioxide) which assails one’s nostrils on the Upper Firehole.
-(Other related hot springs once existed at the forks of the Shoshone,
-now drowned beneath the reservoir).
-
-            [Illustration: Colter Stone Find Site (Wyoming).
-                                                         Photo by Author]
-
-How very strange that this spot, quite evidently the “Boiling Spring” of
-Colter’s famous route on the William Clark Map of 1810, has been largely
-ignored since 1895. Campfire writers and lecturers have been so
-enchanted by the Yellowstone “Wonderland,” they never gave thought to
-this historical-geological feature 50 miles outside of the Park
-boundary.
-
-Thirdly, Bonneville wasn’t the only one who knew about the phenomena on
-the Stinkingwater. The true identity of Colter’s Hell was well
-understood by other mountain men. In 1829 Joe Meek knew all about steam
-vents “on the Yellowstone Plains,” but he also was familiar with a
-volcanic tract on “Stinking Fork,” previously “seen by one of Lewis and
-Clarke’s men, named Colter, while on a solitary hunt, and by him also
-denominated ‘hell.’” In 1852 the famed missionary-explorer, Father De
-Smet, cited “Captain Bridger” as the source of his information that,
-“Near the source of the River Puante, which empties into the Big Horn
-... is a place called Colter’s Hell—from a beaver-hunter of that name.
-This locality is often agitated with subterranean fires....”
-
-Stallo Vinton, early Colter biographer and editor of the 1935 edition of
-Chittenden’s American Fur Trade, paid no attention to Chittenden’s
-footnoted correction of 1902. Rather, he did more than anyone, perhaps,
-to exterminate the true Colter’s Hell and pin the name on the National
-Park. He accuses Irving of a substantial error in locating “Hell” on the
-Stinking River. Similarly, he ignores Joe Meek’s careful distinction
-between the Yellowstone and Shoshone volcanic tracts.
-
-In 1863 Walter Washington DeLacy accompanied a party of Montana
-gold-seekers through the Yellowstone Park area. Although his companions
-were too absorbed in the search for the precious metal to pay any
-attention to the scenic wonders, DeLacy, a surveyor by trade, did pay
-attention and subsequently published a crude but illuminating map of the
-Park region. Here the principal geyser basin on Firehole River is called
-“Hot Springs Valley.” And far to the east, near the forks of the
-Shoshone is a “Hot Spring, Colter’s Hill.” [sic] In 1867 the official
-map of the Interior Department, by Keeler, apparently reproducing
-DeLacy’s data, also indicates a “Hot Spring, Coulter’s Hill.” [sic] So
-the Federal Government, at this early date, gave this official
-recognition to the clear distinction between the two thermal areas.
-
-Vinton refers to the DeLacy and Keeler maps but he dismisses this
-further evidence as a mistake. Perhaps his stubborn version of Colter’s
-Hell would have collapsed if he had seen the recently discovered
-Bridger-De Smet Map of 1851, in the Office of Indian Affairs. Here
-Bridger also clearly distinguishes between “Sulphur Spring or Colter’s
-Hell Volcano” on Stinking Fork and an entirely different “Great Volcanic
-Region in state of eruption” drained by Firehole River. (See Chapter
-VIII.) Can we invoke any higher authority than Jim Bridger?
-
-                      [Illustration: Jim Bridger.]
-
-                   [Illustration: GREEN RIVER KNIFE]
-
-
-
-
-     V. “Les Trois Tetons”: The Golden Age of Discovery, 1810-1824
-
-
-In the spring of 1810, after Colter had departed, the Missouri Fur
-Company fort at Three Forks was so besieged by the Blackfeet that Andrew
-Henry was forced to flee with his trappers southwestward. They crossed
-the Continental Divide to the north fork of Snake River, since known as
-Henry’s Fork. A few log shelters built here near present St. Anthony,
-Idaho, called “Henry’s Fort,” became the first American establishment on
-the Pacific slope. During the rigorous winter of 1810-1811 it may be
-reasoned that these men explored the country within a wide radius of the
-Teton Mountains. Any belief that they touched Yellowstone Park must be
-conjectural, but that they were acquainted with Jackson’s Hole is quite
-evident from the testimony of the Astorians. In the spring of 1811 the
-starving company disbanded. Henry and others returned down the Missouri
-via Three Forks, while John Hoback, John Robinson and Jacob Reznor went
-eastward via Teton Pass, Jackson’s Hole, Twogwotee Pass, and overland to
-the Arikara villages on the Missouri, where they shaped a dugout and
-proceeded downstream.
-
-In 1808 John Jacob Astor secured a charter from the state of New York
-creating the American Fur Company. The most ambitious of his schemes was
-the establishment of a trading post at the mouth of the Columbia River,
-to exploit the wealth of the Northwestern wilderness. To promote this
-enterprise, Astor organized the subsidiary Pacific Fur Company and sent
-out two expeditions, one of which went by sea around Cape Horn, while
-the other was to proceed overland along the route of Lewis and Clark.
-The overland Astorians achieved fame as the first transcontinental
-expedition after Lewis and Clark, but fate decreed that they should
-blaze their own trail—through Jackson’s Hole.
-
-Early in 1811 the overland party, under the command of Wilson Price Hunt
-of New Jersey, left St. Louis and sailed by keelboat up the Missouri
-River. On May 26, near the mouth of the Niobrara River, they met Hoback,
-Robinson, and Reznor. This trio was persuaded to join the outfit as
-guides and hunters, and it appears that it was their reports of hostile
-Indians on the Upper Missouri that prompted Hunt to abandon his boats on
-July 18 at the Arikara villages and proceed on dry land. From this point
-on the expedition consisted of 82 horses, 62 men, and the squaw and two
-children belonging to the interpreter Pierre Dorion.
-
-                     [Illustration: Fort Astoria.]
-
-The hopeful caravan retraced the route that Hoback and his companions
-had followed across the trackless plains and the Bighorn Mountains, then
-started up Wind River. Here, on September 14, according to Irving’s
-Astoria, the guides
-
-  assured Mr. Hunt that, by following up Wind River, and crossing a
-  single mountain ridge, he would come upon the head waters of the
-  Columbia. The scarcity of game, however, which already had been felt
-  to a pinching degree, and which threatened them with famine among the
-  sterile heights which lay before them, admonished them to change their
-  course. It was determined, therefore, to make for a stream [Green
-  River] which, they were informed, passed the neighboring mountains to
-  the south and west, on the grassy banks of which it was probable they
-  would meet with buffalo. Accordingly about three o’clock on the
-  following day, meeting with a beaten Indian road which led in the
-  proper direction, they struck into it, turning their backs upon Wind
-  River.
-
-  In the course of the day they came to a height that commanded an
-  almost boundless prospect. Here one of the guides paused, and, after
-  considering the vast landscape attentively, pointed to three mountain
-  peaks glistening with snow [the Tetons], which rose, he said, above a
-  fork of Columbia River. They were hailed by the travellers with that
-  joy with which a beacon on a sea-shore is hailed by mariners after a
-  long and dangerous voyage....
-
-After a buffalo hunt on the “Spanish” or Green River, the Astorians
-crossed the dividing ridge to the head of the Hoback River (presumably
-then named in honor of their guide), which they followed into Jackson’s
-Hole.
-
-The Hunt cavalcade paused at the confluence of the Hoback and the Snake
-rivers, and debated. “Should they abandon their horses, cast themselves
-loose in fragile barks upon this wild, doubtful, and unknown river; or
-should they continue their more toilsome and tedious, but perhaps more
-certain wayfaring by land?” After some tentative exploring of the Snake
-River Canyon, and upon the advice of the three hunters, they wisely
-decided in favor of the latter course. They forded the Snake, and on
-October 5 as they crossed “the mountain [Teton Pass] ... by an easy and
-well-beaten trail, snow whitened the summit....” On the 8th they arrived
-at Andrew Henry’s abandoned post. Here Hoback, Robinson, Reznor, and two
-others left the party on a separate exploring trip; and here it was that
-Hunt yielded to the demands of his followers, which he previously had
-resisted, and abandoned his horses in favor of passage by canoe flotilla
-down the Snake, a tragic mistake which brought great suffering to the
-Astorians before they reached their goal.
-
-While the main body passed on, four men remained in Jackson’s Hole to
-“catch beaver.” This was the first known actual trapping of that area.
-Even more important, it was the first actual step in the great
-commercial project of Astoria. Irving recognized the significance of
-this move:
-
-  [The expedition] had now arrived at the head waters of the Columbia,
-  which were among the main points embraced by the enterprise of Mr.
-  Astor. These upper streams were reputed to abound in beaver, and had
-  as yet been unmolested by the white trapper. The numerous signs of
-  beaver met with during the recent search for timber gave evidence that
-  the neighborhood was a good ‘trapping ground.’ Here then it was proper
-  to begin to cast loose those leashes of hardy trappers, that are
-  detached from trading parties, in the very heart of the wilderness.
-  The men detached in the present instance were Alexander Carson, Louis
-  St. Michel, Pierre Detaye, and Pierre Delaunay.
-
-                  [Illustration: Snake River crossing.
-                                                         Photo by Author]
-
-These men were instructed to “trap upon the upper part of Mad (Snake)
-River, and upon the neighboring streams.” Whether they entered
-Yellowstone Park at this time is entirely conjectural. In the spring of
-1812 they were attacked by Crow Indians near the Three Forks, and Detaye
-was killed.
-
-On June 29, 1812, seven men led by Robert Stuart left Astoria carrying
-dispatches overland to Astor. The party arrived at St. Louis on April
-30, 1813. They were the first organized transcontinental expedition
-eastbound after the return of Lewis and Clark, and the first to discover
-South Pass and the great Platte or Central route which was destined to
-become the main highway of the covered-wagon migrations. This journey
-again took them through Jackson’s Hole.
-
-Stuart had gone out to Astoria by sea, but his fellow travelers had all
-been members of the Hunt expedition. These were John Day, Benjamin
-Jones, Francois Leclerc, Andre Valle, Ramsay Crooks, and Robert
-McClellan. Soon after setting out up the Columbia River John Day became
-violently deranged because of his sufferings from the previous winter
-and had to be sent back to Astoria. To the six remaining travelers,
-however, was eventually added Joseph Miller, who had been with Hoback,
-Robinson, and Reznor after they left Hunt in October 1811. The Stuart
-party reached Bear River intending to go due east; but there Crow
-Indians got on their trail. To elude them Stuart went north to the Snake
-and thus struck Hunt’s route of the preceding year. At Snake or “Mad
-River” near the present Idaho-Wyoming boundary, Crows stampeded their
-horses. They built a raft and descended the Snake for over a hundred
-miles, then crossed over the Snake River Range to Pierre’s Hole at the
-foot of the “Pilot Knobs,” where they reached familiar territory.
-
-Here, in order to avoid a chance encounter with a Blackfoot war party,
-Stuart kept to the foothills, but the cantankerous McClellan,
-complaining of sore feet, refused to detour and went his own way. He was
-not to be seen again for thirteen days. Crooks, who had been ailing for
-some time, fell desperately ill, and despite recourse to castor oil and
-“an Indian sweat,” tied up the expedition in Pierre’s Hole for four
-days. On October 5 they set out again and on the 7th crossed “the summit
-of Pilot Knob Mountain [Teton Pass]” and reached the east bank of “Mad
-River.” Their stock of venison was by this time depleted. On the 9th
-they started up the precipitous Hoback Canyon and on the 12th reached
-Green River drainage, where they found McClellan. Warding off starvation
-by slaughtering an “old rundown buffalo bull,” the travelers journeyed
-from here to South Pass and down the Platte, wintering in the vicinity
-of Scotts Bluff.
-
-For a few years after Stuart’s party disappeared up Hoback Canyon, the
-Tetons and Jackson’s Hole were left in solitude. Due to the hostility of
-the Blackfeet, the loss of Astoria in the War of 1812, and the
-indifference of the Federal Government, American interest in the Western
-Fur trade suffered a relapse. British interests now took the initiative.
-In 1816 the Northwest Company, licensed by the Crown to trade in Oregon,
-put Donald McKenzie in charge of the Snake River division. From Fort Nez
-Perce at the mouth of the Walla Walla, he set forth in September of 1818
-at the head of an expedition “composed of fifty-five men, of all
-denominations, 195 horses and 300 beaver traps, besides a considerable
-stock of merchandise.” He reported his course to Alexander Ross:
-
-  From this place [the “Skamnaugh” or Boise] we advanced, suffering
-  occasionally from alarms for twenty-five days, and then found
-  ourselves in a rich field of beaver, in the country lying between the
-  great south branch and the Spanish waters [Bear River?].... I left my
-  people at the end of four months. Then taking a circuitous route along
-  the foot of the Rocky Mountains, a country extremely dreary during a
-  winter voyage, I reached the head water of the great south branch
-  regretting every step I made that we had been so long deprived of the
-  riches of such a country....
-
-In a description of the Snake River country, presumably furnished him by
-McKenzie, Ross continues:
-
- [Illustration: “The British Threat”—Exhibit in Fur Trade Museum, Grand
-                         Teton National Park.]
-
-      For twelve years after the returning Astorians disappeared up the
-      Hoback, no Americans entered Jackson Hole. The British North West
-      Company, and then the Hudson’s Bay Company, with which it merged,
-      trapped unchallenged west of the Rockies.
-
-  The Rocky Mountains skirting this country on the East, dwindle from
-  stupendous heights into sloping ridges, which divide the country into
-  a thousand luxurious vales, watered by streams which abound in fish.
-  The most remarkable heights in any part of the great backbone of
-  America are three elevated insular mountains, or peaks, which are seen
-  at the distance of one hundred and fifty miles: the hunters very aptly
-  designate them the Pilot Knobs they are now generally known as the
-  Three Paps or ‘Tetons’; and the source of the Great Snake River is in
-  their neighborhood....
-
-  Boiling fountains, having different degrees of temperatures, were very
-  numerous; one or two were so very hot as to boil meat. In other parts,
-  among the rocks, hot and cold springs might alternately be seen within
-  a hundred yards of each other, differing in their temperature.
-
-McKenzie’s exact route can only be conjectural, but the context suggests
-passage through Jackson’s Hole into a corner, at least, of Yellowstone
-Park. It was apparently on this occasion that the “Trois Tetons” and
-“Pierre’s Hole” were given their names by Iroquois or French-Canadians
-who accompanied McKenzie.
-
-Chittenden reports the discovery in 1880 by Colonel P. W. Norris of a
-tree near the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone with the inscription “JOR
-Aug 19 1819.” Although of course the initials prove nothing as to
-identity, Chittenden accepts this as proof of white men in the Park at
-that time.
-
-Stimulated by McKenzie’s success in acquiring peltries, the Northwest
-Company followed up with other Snake River expeditions. The threat of
-British domination of Oregon was aggravated when, in 1821, the Northwest
-Company was absorbed by the powerful Hudson’s Bay Company.
-
-Shortly after the consolidation of the British companies, the prospects
-for a revival of American interest in the mountain fur trade were
-awakened in the frontier town of St. Louis by the formation of a
-partnership that would evolve into the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. In
-1822 General William H. Ashley and the veteran Major Andrew Henry
-enlisted the aid of “one hundred young men to ascend the Missouri River
-to its source” on a trapping expedition. Among those who joined the
-enterprise, then or subsequently, were men destined to make history in
-the West—James Bridger, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Jedediah Smith, William
-Sublette and David E. Jackson. They were green boys, hardly fit material
-for an epic invasion of the uncharted Rocky Mountains; yet they were
-destined to become continental explorers.
-
-Henry took his young men in keelboats up the Missouri to the mouth of
-the Yellowstone, where they spent the winter. In the spring of 1823 he
-set out for the Blackfoot country to the west. Again, as in 1810, these
-Indians proved to be most inhospitable, scalping four of his recruits
-and driving him back to his fort. Meanwhile General Ashley organized
-another expedition and proceeded upriver without incident until he
-arrived at the villages of the Arikara. There his plans were upset by a
-treacherous attack in which thirteen of his men were killed and many
-others were wounded. Colonel Leavenworth hastened to the rescue, but his
-campaign against the Indians was something of a fiasco. Soon afterward
-Ashley returned to St. Louis, Henry returned to his post on the
-Yellowstone, and a third contingent started overland under the command
-of Jedediah Smith. In February 1824 this last group made the first
-crossing of South Pass from east to west, their discovery of rich beaver
-fields in Green River Basin opening a new era in fur trade history. In
-June they split into four parties. Fitzpatrick, heading east for Fort
-Atkinson to report the situation to Ashley, rediscovered the Platte
-route of the returning Astorians; Sublette, Bridger, and others went
-southwest to explore the Bear River country and lay claim to the
-discovery of Great Salt Lake; and Smith, with six unidentified
-companions, went north. The details of their course are given in
-Washington Hood’s Original draft of a report of a practicable route for
-wheeled vehicles across the mountains, written at Independence, August
-12, 1839.
-
-  After striking the Colorado, or Green river, make up the stream toward
-  its headwaters, as far as Horse creek, one of its tributaries, follow
-  out this last mentioned stream to its source by a westerly course,
-  across the main ridge in order to attain Jackson’s Little Hole, at the
-  headwaters of Jackson’s fork [Hoback River]. Follow down Jackson’s
-  fork to its mouth and decline to the northward along Lewis’s fork
-  [Snake River], passing through Jackson’s Big Hole to about twelve
-  miles beyond the Yellowstone pass [sic], crossing on the route a
-  nameless beaver stream. Here the route passes due west over another
-  prong of the ridge [Conant Pass], a fraction worse than the former,
-  followed until it has attained the headwaters of Pierre’s Hole,
-  crossing the Big Teton, the battleground of the Blacksmith’s fork;
-  ford Pierre’s fork eastward of the butte at its mouth and Lewis fork
-  also, thence pass to the mouth of Lewis fork.
-
-Subsequently the Smith party encountered a Hudson’s Bay Company brigade
-under Alexander Ross, giving first notice that Americans would actively
-contest British claims to Oregon. This expedition to the Jackson’s Hole
-country was also significant as the first in an amazing series which has
-established Jedediah Smith as perhaps the foremost explorer of Western
-America.
-
-We have noted the visit of McKenzie’s brigade of British-Canadians to
-the Upper Snake and a region of boiling fountains, in 1818-1819, as
-reported by Ross. Now, in 1824, Ross himself conducted the second
-British invasion of Yellowstone Park, while crossing from Okanagon to
-the headwaters of the Missouri. In the foolscap folios which make up his
-official report, the entry for April 24 reads: “We crossed beyond the
-Boiling Fountains. The snow is knee-deep half the people are snow-blind
-from sun glare.” So British traders have supplied the first clear record
-of Yellowstone thermal wonders to follow the hazy notations along
-Colter’s route on The Clark Map of 1810.
-
-               [Illustration: TRADE BEADS AND HAWK BELLS]
-
-
-
-
- VI. “Jackson’s Hole”: Era of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, 1825-1832
-
-
-Late in 1824 General Ashley, journeying west to reap the winter’s
-harvest of furs, approached the mountains by way of the little-known
-South Platte route and the Colorado Rockies and explored the lower Green
-River. In the summer of 1825 on Henry’s Fork of the Green (near the
-Wyoming-Utah line) he inaugurated the annual rendezvous of the mountain
-trappers, which provided a more flexible system of fur trading than the
-“fixed fort system” which had hitherto prevailed in the Western fur
-trade. The beaver catch brought in this first year was of such magnitude
-that Ashley was assured of a substantial profit. With Smith and a strong
-guard he took his prize by pack train to the Bighorn, by bullboats to
-the mouth of the Yellowstone, and by keelboats down the Missouri River
-to St. Louis.
-
-Jedediah Smith left Flathead House in 1825 with Peter Skene Ogden of the
-Hudson’s Bay Company, but left him in time to rejoin his comrades at the
-rendezvous. When the reunited Americans exchanged tales of their
-adventures, it is possible that Smith offered a glowing account of the
-Jackson’s Hole region. Whatever the inspiration, Bridger and Fitzpatrick
-are reported to have headed there to resume trapping operations, after
-seeing Smith and Ashley safely down the Bighorn. This may have been the
-first large-scale trapping venture in which Jackson’s Hole was a primary
-objective.
-
-The rendezvous of 1826 took place near Great Salt Lake. The turnover of
-furs was immense and, having made his fortune, General Ashley sold his
-interests to three of his most able employees, Jedediah Smith, David E.
-Jackson, and William Sublette. Smith left the rendezvous to lead a band
-southwest across the desert to the Spanish settlements of California,
-being the first to make this perilous passage. Jackson and Sublette
-headed for the Snake River country to trade with the Flatheads, taking a
-large force of trappers.
-
-Daniel T. Potts of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, one of Sublette’s
-men on this expedition, is now identified as the long-mysterious author
-of the letter which first appeared in the Philadelphia Gazette and Daily
-Advertiser, September 27, 1827, reprinted in Niles’ Register of October
-6, which contains the earliest known description of any portion of
-present Yellowstone National Park by an American. The original document
-came to light in 1947 when Mrs. Kate Nixon and Miss Anne G. Rittenhouse
-of Washington, D. C., collateral descendants of Potts, made themselves
-known to officials of the National Park Service. It has been fittingly
-acquired for posterity by the Yellowstone Library and Museum Association
-at Mammoth Hot Springs. The cover is addressed to “Mr. Robert T. Potts,
-High Street, Philadelphia” and stamped “St. Louis, Missouri.” Dated July
-8, 1827, at the “Sweet Lake” or Bear Lake (Utah) rendezvous, it
-describes how the Potts party, no members of which are identified, went
-north after the Salt Lake rendezvous of 1826:
-
-  A few dass sinci our trader arived by whom I received two letters one
-  from Dr. Lukens the other from yourself under date of January 1827
-  which gives me great congratulation to hear that you are both happy
-  wilst I am unhappy also to hear from my friends shortly after writing
-  to you last year I took my departuri for the Black-foot Country much
-  against my will as I could not maki a party for any other rout. We
-  took a northerly direction about fifty miles where we cross Snake
-  River or the South fork of columbia at the forks of Henrys & Lewis’s
-  forks at this place we was dayly harrased by the Black-feet from
-  thence up Henrys or North fork which bears North of East thirty miles
-  and crossed a large ruged Mountain which sepparates the two forks from
-  thence East up the other fork to its source which heads on the top of
-  the great chain of Rocky Mountains which sepparates the water of the
-  Atlantic from that of the Pacific. At or near this place heads the
-  Luchkadee or Calliforn Stinking fork Yellow-stone South fork of
-  Massuri and Henrys fork all those head at an angular point that of the
-  Yellow-stone has a large fresh water lake near its head on the verry
-  top of the Mountain which is about one hundrid by fourty miles in
-  diameter and as clear as crystal on the south borders of this lake is
-  a number of hot and boiling springs some of water and others of most
-  beautiful fine clay and resembles that of a mush pot and throws its
-  particles to the immense height of from twenty to thirty feet in
-  height The clay is white and of a pink and water appear fathomless as
-  it appears to be entirely hollow under neath. There is also a number
-  of places where the pure suphor is sent forth in abundance one of our
-  men Visited one of those wilst taking his recreation there at an
-  instan the earth began a tremendious trembling and he with dificulty
-  made his escape when an explosion took place resembling that of
-  thunder. During our stay in that quarter I head it every day.
-
-From here, probably the West Thumb thermal area, “by a circutous rout to
-the Nourth west” and after some more bloody encounters with the
-Blackfeet, the trappers moved toward the Bear Lake rendezvous. In 1828
-Potts left the hostile mountains and embarked from New Orleans on a
-cattle ship, which sank with all hands in the Gulf of Mexico.
-
-  [Illustration: Daniel T. Potts at the Bear Lake rendezvous of 1827.]
-
-At the 1827 rendezvous at Bear Lake Jedediah Smith appeared like a ghost
-out of the Great Salt desert, reporting that the Spanish Governor of
-California had expelled him from that province. He arranged with his
-partners, Jackson and Sublette, to meet two years hence “at the head of
-Snake River.” Then, after a rest of only ten days, he summoned
-volunteers and again set his face toward the Pacific Ocean. In the
-winter of 1827-28, while Sublette attended to the business of getting
-supplies from St. Louis, Jackson sent fur brigades north from Bear Lake
-to the Snake River and its tributaries, where they came in frequent
-contact with the Hudson’s Bay Company trappers under Ogden. In 1828 the
-rendezvous was again Great Salt Lake, and again the trappers dispersed
-to hunting grounds on the Bear, the Snake, and the Green.
-
-               [Illustration: Keelboat up the Missouri.]
-
-In March 1829 William Sublette left St. Louis for the mountains with a
-heavily laden pack train and 60 men, including a novice of 19 named
-Joseph L. Meek, whose life story, as told to Mrs. F. F. Victor, is a
-prime source of information. After the general rendezvous, which that
-year was held in July on the Popo Agie River northeast of South Pass,
-Captain Sublette sent a brigade under his brother, Milton Sublette, to
-the Bighorn Basin, then set out with the main party, including Meek,
-Bridger, and Fitzpatrick, for the upper Snake River Valley at the foot
-of the Tetons, the point of reunion with his partners which had been
-agreed upon two years previously. The episode which followed, one of the
-treasured traditions of the Western fur trade, is described in Mrs.
-Victor’s River of the West:
-
-  Sublette led his company up the valley of the Wind River, across the
-  mountains, and on to the very headwaters of the Lewis or Snake River.
-  Here he fell in with Jackson, in the valley of Lewis Lake, called
-  Jackson’s Hole, and remained on the borders of this lake for some
-  time, waiting for Smith, whose non-appearance began to create a good
-  deal of uneasiness. At length runners were dispatched in all
-  directions looking for the lost Booshway.
-
-  The detachment to which Meek was assigned had the pleasure and honor
-  of discovering the hiding place of the missing partner, which was in
-  Pierre’s Hole, a mountain valley about thirty miles long and of half
-  that width, which subsequently was much frequented by the camps of the
-  various fur companies.
-
-         [Illustration: Arikara attack on Ashley Party, 1823.]
-
-This is the core of the tradition. From this it has generally been
-inferred that it was on this occasion that the lake and the valley were
-named in honor of David E. Jackson, and that this was Captain Sublette’s
-idea. David E. Jackson, sometimes referred to as “Davey,” is the mystery
-man of the Smith-Jackson-Sublette trio. How old he was, what he looked
-like, where he came from prior to 1823 is not known. He was one of the
-“enterprising young men” who responded to Ashley’s call in that year.
-That his “rating” with trappers was high and that he was one of the
-acknowledged leaders of the Rocky Mountain fur trade is clear from the
-fact of the partnership formed in 1826. He was not illiterate, for his
-signature appears on documents, but like most of his associates he kept
-no diary, so that our knowledge of his exact wanderings is indistinct.
-It is part of the tradition that he spent the winter of 1828-29 in the
-vicinity of Jackson’s Hole, and his known interest in the region prompts
-us to believe that he had spent several previous years there as well. He
-might well have been one of the six men who accompanied Smith on his
-“discovery” of Jackson Hole in 1824. He left the mountains in 1830, went
-to Santa Fe and then on to California on a trading venture in 1831, and
-apparently returned to St. Louis in 1832, where he disappears, so to
-speak, under a cloud. One rumor has it that he “ran off with property
-belonging to the firm of Jackson, Waldo and Young,” another that “he
-dissipated his large and hard-earned fortune in a few years.”
-
-After the reunion in Pierre’s Hole, according to Meek, the entire
-company moved up Henry’s Fork of the Snake, and across the Divide to the
-valleys of the Madison and Gallatin. Crossing the Gallatin Range in
-early winter, the trappers reached the vicinity of Cinnabar Mountain,
-three miles below Yellowstone Park’s present North Entrance. Here two
-men were killed and the party was scattered by the Blackfeet. Meek
-alleges that he wandered into the future Park, where he ascended a high
-peak. Crossing Yellowstone River, he ran into an incredible region
-smoking “like Pittsburgh on a winter morning” with the vapor from
-boiling springs, haunted by the sound of whistling steam vents, dotted
-with cone-shaped mounds surmounted by craters from which issued “blue
-flames and molten brimstone,” and devoid of living creatures. From here,
-apparently the seldom visited Mirror Plateau, Meek crossed the Absaroka
-Range to the winter camp on Powder River.
-
-About the first of April 1830, according to Meek, “Jackson, or ‘Davey,’
-as he was called by his men, with about half the company, left for the
-Snake country.” At the Wind River rendezvous in July, “Jackson arrived
-from the Snake country with plenty of beaver....”
-
-At Wind River, on August 4, 1830, Smith, Jackson, and Sublette, having
-earned a deserved fortune from their labors, decided to retire from the
-mountain trade, and sold their interest to a group of their employees
-who had already distinguished themselves in the service—James Bridger,
-Thomas Fitzpatrick, Milton Sublette, Henry Fraeb, and Baptiste Gervais.
-The main trapper band, numbering over two hundred and including Meek,
-followed Bridger and Fitzpatrick northward to the Three Forks of the
-Missouri, thence south to Ogden’s Hole, a small valley in the Bear River
-Mountains. In the fall of 1830, John Work, heading the annual Snake
-River expedition of the Hudson’s Bay Company, got wind of the American
-invasion of his domain. Among other rumors was one that Fontenelle and
-his men “have been hunting on the Upper Snake. They were set upon by the
-Blackfeet on the Yellowstone River and 18 men killed.”
-
-In the spring of 1831, after wintering again at Powder River, Meek
-reports on the spring hunt: “Having once more visited the Yellowstone,
-they turned to the south again, crossing the mountains into Pierre’s
-Hole, on to Snake river; thence to Salt river; thence to Bear river; and
-thence to Green river to rendezvous.” Confirmation of this comes from
-Joseph Meek’s brother Stephen, who says that this year he trapped on the
-Yellowstone, Wind, and Musselshell Rivers, “going through Jackson’s Hole
-to the rendezvous on Popyoisa River.”
-
-From the Powder River encampment Fitzpatrick headed for St. Louis to
-round up a supply caravan. Running into his old companions Smith,
-Jackson, and Sublette en route to Santa Fe, he was persuaded to join
-them, being promised an outfit when they arrived. Thus he shared the
-delays and perils of that expedition in which Jedediah Smith was slain
-by a Comanche spear, and when he left Santa Fe, he was far behind
-schedule. Picking up young Kit Carson and other volunteers at Taos, he
-followed the east slope of the Rockies into eastern Wyoming country,
-sometime during September reaching the North Platte River at Laramie’s
-Fork. Here he met Fraeb, who had been sent to look for him while the
-others waited impatiently with parched tongues at Green River.
-Fitzpatrick returned to St. Louis for supplies, while Fraeb led the
-recruits westward, traveling via Green River and Jackson’s Hole to
-“winter quarters on the head of Salmon River.” Thus there was no real
-summer rendezvous in 1831.
-
-At this time the shadow of the American Fur Company, the great monopoly
-of the Upper Missouri region, fell across the Rocky Mountains. In
-February 1830 the newly organized “Western Department” of this company,
-determined to capture the lucrative mountain trade, sent out an
-expedition from St. Louis under Andrew Drips, Lucien Fontenelle and one
-Robidoux. Our chief source of information about this company during the
-early 1830’s is the journal of Warren A. Ferris. From an encampment near
-the Big Hole country of Montana, Ferris writes: “On the 8th [of October,
-1831] two of our men accompanied by three or four Indians departed for
-the Trois Tetons, to meet Mr. Dripps who was expected this fall from the
-Council Bluffs, with an equipment of men, horses, and merchandise.”
-
-From spring camping grounds on the Bear and Snake River tributaries, the
-brigades of the rival companies converged on Pierre’s Hole, where the
-Rocky Mountain Fur Company partners had scheduled their rendezvous for
-1832. Although they welcomed peaceful Indians and “free” trappers, they
-expressly did not invite their competitors of the American Fur Company
-who, nevertheless decided to attend. Rumors of the impending conclave of
-the “mountain men” also reached the scattered bands of independent
-trappers, among whom was George Nidever. In the spring Nidever’s band
-trapped up the Green River until May, intending to continue on to “the
-head waters of the Columbia,” but turned back when they learned that
-“the place we intended going was already being trapped by other
-companies.” (This strongly suggests that somebody, probably Rocky
-Mountain men, were trapping in Jackson’s Hole prior to the rendezvous.)
-Returning to the Platte River, they met “O’Felon” and Moses “Black”
-Harris, two other independent traders, with whom they proceeded by way
-of Teton Pass to the rendezvous, where they arrived on July 4.
-
-The experienced William Sublette, one-time partner, had contracted with
-the Rocky Mountain Fur Company to supply trade goods, and to take out
-the beaver hides. With Robert Campbell he set out for St. Louis in May
-1832 with over 100 men. At Independence he picked up a band of eighteen
-green New Englanders under Nathaniel J. Wyeth, an ambitious young man
-who had hopes of succeeding, where John Jacob Astor had failed, in
-establishing a fur-trading empire in Oregon. At Laramie’s Fork he
-recruited some twenty trappers under Alfred K. Stephens, and other
-trappers were picked up farther on. Not the least remarkable feature of
-this expedition was that at least five of its members kept notes—William
-Sublette, the methodical Nathaniel Wyeth, his brother John B. Wyeth,
-another of his followers named John Ball, and Zenas Leonard, one of the
-“free” trappers with Stephens.
-
-Sublette’s account is contained in a letter to General Ashley, dated
-Lexington, Missouri, September 21, 1832. He indicates that he arrived at
-the head of the “Colorado of the West” (Green River) on July 2, being
-attacked that night by Blackfoot Indians; arrived “on the waters of the
-Columbia” July 4 “and at the rendezvous of the Rocky Mountain Hunters,
-on the Columbia river, west of the Three Teton Mountains,” on July 8.
-Nathaniel Wyeth’s diary agrees substantially with Sublette on
-chronology, but is much more illuminating. He clearly depicts the
-dangerous descent of the Hoback, the fording of “Lewis River” on July 6,
-and the climb up Teton Pass, “a gap of the mountains due south of the
-Trois Tetons.” The disillusioned brother, John Wyeth, gives us a
-dramatic picture:
-
-  On the 4th [6th?] of July, 1832, we arrived at Lewis’s fork [Snake
-  River], one of the largest rivers in these rocky mountains. It took us
-  all day to cross it. It is half a mile wide, deep and rapid. The way
-  we managed was this: one man unloaded his horse, and swam across with
-  him, leading two loaded ones, and unloading the two, brought them
-  back, for two more, and as Sublet’s company and our own made over a
-  hundred and fifty, we were all day in passing the river. In returning,
-  my mule, by treading on a round stone, stumbled and threw me off, and
-  the current was so strong, that a bush which I caught hold of only
-  saved me from drowning.
-
-“Broken Hand” Fitzpatrick became “White Hair” Fitzpatrick as a result of
-events which befell him in 1832. Zenas Leonard states that in June 1832
-while he was encamped at Laramie’s Fork:
-
-  Mr. Fitzpatrick and a company of 115 men came to our camp. He was on
-  his way [from St. Louis] to join his company on the west side of the
-  mountains, on the Columbia River, and to supply them with merchandise,
-  ammunition, horses, etc....
-
-  Having made this arrangement with Mr. F., our camp [on the Laramie]
-  was all confusion at an early hour this morning, preparing to depart
-  for the Columbia river. Mr. F. took one of the fleetest and most hardy
-  horses in his train, and set out in advance of the main body, in order
-  to discover the disposition of the various Indian tribes through whose
-  dominions we were to travel, and to meet us at a designated point on
-  the head of the Columbia river.
-
-While en route to Pierre’s Hole, probably in the valley of Green River,
-Fitzpatrick was ambushed by or stumbled upon the hostile Gros Ventres,
-probably the same who later raided Sublette’s camp. By sacrificing his
-horse and secreting himself in a hole in the rocks, he managed to elude
-these savages, but nearly starved while wandering through the
-wilderness. Fitzpatrick’s whereabouts during his ordeal are not
-recorded, and in most accounts he merely turns up (on July 8, according
-to Ferris) in Pierre’s Hole in a pitiful state. Meek relates that “he
-made his appearance in camp in company with two Iroquois half-breeds,
-belonging to the camp, who had been out on a hunt,” which is also the
-way that Irving got it from Bonneville. George Nidever claims to have
-been one of these hunters, and, if his story is straight, Fitzpatrick
-was found in Jackson’s Hole: “A week or so after the arrival of the
-company a trapper by the name of Poe and I went out for a short hunt,
-and met Fitzpatrick crossing the Lewis Fork.... We piloted him back to
-camp.”
-
-By the 17th of July the whiskey kegs were all empty, and the wild
-celebration which invariably climaxed every rendezvous of the fur
-traders perforce came to an end in Pierre’s Hole. On this day the
-combined companies of Nathaniel Wyeth and Milton Sublette set out for
-the lower Snake River. On the morning of the 18th they described a
-column of Gros Ventre tribesmen descending a hillside, “fantastically
-painted and arrayed, with scarlet blankets fluttering in the wind.” The
-ensuing conflict was a victory for the trappers. Some of the Indians
-escaped from their improvised fort into Jackson’s Hole, leaving perhaps
-twenty-six of their number dead, while their trail of blood suggested
-other heavy casualties. This battle upset the general time-table and
-delayed the various departures from the rendezvous. On the 24th of July,
-Wyeth and Milton Sublette resumed their journey which had before been so
-rudely interrupted, Wyeth eventually continuing on to visit the British
-establishments on the Pacific Coast. Captain Sublette was compelled to
-linger because of his injuries, and, on the 25th, seven who planned to
-accompany him to St. Louis became impatient and started out by
-themselves. These were Joseph More of Boston, one of Wyeth’s deserters,
-a Mr. Foy of Mississippi, Alfred K. Stephens, “two grandsons of the
-celebrated Daniel Boone,” and two others unidentified. In Jackson’s
-Hole, apparently near the mouth of the Hoback, they were ambushed by a
-band of Gros Ventres. More and Foy were killed instantly, while Stephens
-died from his wounds after he and the four survivors retreated with
-tiding of disaster to Sublette’s camp.
-
-On July 30 Bridger and Fitzpatrick led the Rocky Mountain Fur Company
-brigades northward from Pierre’s Hole toward the headwaters of the
-Missouri, while William Sublette found himself sufficiently recovered to
-assist Campbell in organizing the homeward-bound caravan, composed of
-sixty men and a beaver-laden packtrain. According to Irving, “they chose
-a different route through the mountains, out of the way, as they hoped,
-of the lurking bands of Blackfeet. They succeeded in making the frontier
-in safety.” It seems evident that the Sublette caravan turned north
-after crossing the Snake and then ascended the Gros Ventre River and
-crossed over to Wind River by way of Union Pass. While the Sublette
-caravan was leaving the valley, they were shadowed by a “large body of
-the Blackfoot tribe,” doubtless the murderers of More and Foy, who
-showed a healthy respect for the heavily armed trappers. Thus it would
-seem that, while he did not entirely elude the Blackfeet, Sublette
-managed to bluff his way past them and avoid what might well have become
-the “Battle of Jackson’s Hole.”
-
-At the Pierre’s Hole rendezvous, Drips and Vanderburgh, the American Fur
-Company partisans, were frustrated in their competitive effort by the
-fact that their supply train under Fontenelle had failed to arrive. It
-was now too late to bid for the furs taken out by Sublette, but they
-might follow Bridger and Fitzpatrick with profit if they only had trade
-goods. Accordingly, they resolved to hasten to Green River to see if
-they could find the belated caravan. The clerk, Warren A. Ferris, gives
-a detailed account of the passage through “Jackson’s Big Hole,” in early
-August:
-
-  In the evening we halted on a spring, four miles east of Lewis River,
-  after marching twenty-two miles. On the 5th we passed six or eight
-  miles southeast, and halted on the margin of the stream [Hoback],
-  flowing from that direction. During our march, some of the hunters saw
-  the bones of two men, supposed to be those killed from a party of
-  seven, in the latter part of July....
-
-After losing one horse in precipitous Hoback Canyon, the party reached
-Jackson’s Little Hole, where they killed several buffalo, and
-successfully by-passed a large village of Indians. They crossed over to
-Green River, and on the 8th fell in with Fontenelle, “who had passed
-from St. Louis to the mouth of the Yellowstone in a steamboat, and
-thence with pack horses to this place.” Ferris accompanied Vanderburgh
-and Drips on the return trip in pursuit of Bridger. He writes:
-
-  On the 14th we passed through the Narrows, between Jackson’s Holes;
-  and avoided some of the difficulties we met on our previous passage,
-  by crossing the river, several times. In the evening we halted for the
-  night near the remains of two men, who were killed in July last. These
-  we collected, and deposited in a small stream, that discharged itself
-  into a fork of the Lewis river; that flows from Jackson’s Little Hole.
-
-                   [Illustration: Rendezvous scene.]
-
-Captain Benjamin L. E. Bonneville, a Frenchman of distinguished
-antecedents, applied in 1831 for a leave of absence from the U.S. Army
-for the joint purpose of exploration and trade. With funds provided by
-hopeful New York capitalists he organized an impressive company,
-including 110 men and twenty ox-drawn wagons, and on May 1, 1832, he set
-out from Fort Osage. Bonneville’s wagon train was the second to ascend
-the traditional overland route along the Platte and the Sweetwater, and
-the first to cross South Pass. In the Green River Valley on July 26 the
-Captain was overtaken by Fontenelle’s company. On the west side of the
-Green, five miles above Horse Creek, he started the erection of Fort
-Bonneville, while his rival encamped farther upstream, for his jaded
-horses and mules would budge no further. After Fontenelle’s departure,
-above noted, the Captain decided upon the advice of “free trappers,” to
-head for Salmon River for the winter. Leaving his cumbersome wagons at
-the fort, he cached most of his baggage and then packed the rest on
-mules and horses. The expedition set forth on August 22, reaching Teton
-Pass on September 3. Instead of taking the standard route via the
-Hoback, where hostile Indians waited in ambush, Captain Bonneville
-elected to take a long circuitous route to the headwaters of Green
-River, entering Jackson’s Hole via the Gros Ventre River.
-
-   [Illustration: “Weapons of the Pierre’s Hole Fight”—Exhibit in Fur
-               Trade Museum, Grand Teton National Park.]
-
-Following the rendezvous in Pierre’s Hole, the Rocky Mountain men
-conducted their fall hunt in the dangerous Blackfoot country around the
-Three Forks of the Missouri. In attempting to follow them, Vanderburgh
-of the American Fur Company was slain by the Blackfeet. During the
-winter of 1832-33 the various rival bands holed up along tributaries of
-the Snake and Salmon rivers; and at the first melting of the snow they
-resumed their feverish scramble for the prime hunting grounds.
-
-Most of the other trapping bands remained west of the Continental Divide
-to make their spring hunt, and approached the Green River rendezvous
-through Jackson’s Hole. The first to stir in this direction was the
-American Fur Company partisan Drips, who led the bulk of his forces,
-probably about sixty men, up Snake River, hunting and trapping as they
-went. At the junction of Salt River, they were compelled to leave the
-Snake to make the toilsome detour over the Snake River Range and Teton
-Pass, which they reached on May 31. Ferris vividly describes their
-journey through the “immense banks of snow on the mountain,” the fording
-of “Lewis River,” and the ascent of “Gros Vent’s Fork” to the head of
-Green River. He notes, “We found a large herd of buffalo in the valley,
-and killed several; also a large bear, which paid with his life the
-temerity of awaiting our approach.”
-
-Wyeth’s enterprise on the Columbia River was balked by the shipwreck of
-the vessel which was to supply him, and, after a fruitless winter at
-Fort Vancouver, he set out eastward with Francis Ermatinger of the
-Hudson’s Bay Company. Below the forks of the Snake they came up with
-Captain Bonneville. The Wyeth journal tells the story of their Jackson’s
-Hole passage via Teton Pass and the Hoback. He found “horse flies on the
-mountains ... buffalo in the bottom also mosquitoes.” Evidence of the
-recent trail of the “men of Dripps and Fontenelle” was observed, also
-the place where More and Foy were killed the year before. Of this
-passage Irving reports,
-
-  No accident of a disastrous kind occurred, excepting the loss of a
-  horse, which, in passing along the giddy edge of a precipice, called
-  the Cornice, a dangerous pass between Jackson’s and Pierre’s Hole,
-  fell over the brink, and was dashed to pieces.
-
-  On the 13th of July [1833], Captain Bonneville arrived at Green
-  River....
-
- [Illustration: Fort Bonneville site, on Horse Creek near its junction
-                           with Green River.
-                                                         Photo by Author]
-
-  [Illustration: Section of “Map of the Rocky Mountains” by Washington
- Hood, Corps of Topographical Engineers, 1839. Data by William Sublette
-     and others. Records of the War Department, National Archives.]
-
-                 [Illustration: Trapper type—American.]
-
-                      [Illustration: BULLET MOLD]
-
-
-
-
-    VII. “The Fire Hole”: Era of the American Fur Company, 1833-1840
-
-
-By 1832 only fragments of the Yellowstone Park area had apparently been
-explored, notably the Lake region. According to Warren A. Ferris, one of
-the great geyser basins was visited in the spring hunt of 1833 by a
-party of forty men under a Spaniard named Alvaris (or Alvarez). They
-reached the area by going up Henry’s Fork, later returning to Green
-River for the rendezvous. This is the first concrete evidence of white
-men in the Firehole Basin. The discoverer may have been Manuel Alvarez,
-United States consul at Santa Fe from 1839 to 1846, who figures
-prominently in Josiah Gregg’s journal.
-
-The rendezvous of 1833 was held at Bonneville’s fort on Horse Creek,
-tributary of Green River, near Daniel, Wyoming. The St. Louis supply
-caravan of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, led by Robert Campbell,
-included young Charles Larpenteur, who wrote in his journal of a side
-trip through Jackson’s Hole:
-
-  The day after we reached the rendezvous Mr. Campbell, with ten men,
-  started to raise a beaver cache at a place called by the French Trou a
-  Pierre, which means Peter’s Hole. As I was sick Mr. Campbell left me
-  in camp, and placed Mr. Fitzpatrick in charge during his absence,
-  telling the latter to take good care of me ... after seven or eight
-  days Mr. Campbell returned with ten packs of beaver.
-
-An epidemic of hydrophobia brought on by “mad wolves” seems to have
-contributed to the early break-up of the 1833 meeting. Campbell, Wyeth,
-and the partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company with fifty-five packs
-of beaver and a strong guard circled down through South Pass and up to
-the junction of the Shoshone and the Bighorn rivers, where they embarked
-on bullboats for the mouth of the Yellowstone. Here Wyeth was
-entertained at the palatial Fort Union by the famous Kenneth McKenzie,
-and observed a powder flask which had belonged to the unfortunate More,
-and which had found its way here from Jackson’s Hole by the devious
-channels of the fur trade.
-
-While Bonneville outfitted an expedition under Joseph R. Walker to
-explore California (and discover Yosemite Valley), the American Fur
-Company brigades headed for the Snake River country. On July 20 Warren
-A. Ferris and Robert Newell departed at the head of an outfit destined
-for the Flathead trade. The little party consisted of six “engages” with
-pack horses, and five armed Indians, amounting in all to thirteen armed
-men. Their route was the usual one via Hoback Canyon and Teton Pass. The
-ecstatic description of Jackson’s Hole from the summit of the pass,
-given by Ferris on this occasion, is one which can be appreciated by the
-modern tourist:
-
-  ... Gazing down in the direction of Jackson’s Hole, from our elevated
-  position, one of the most beautiful scenes imaginable, was presented
-  to our view. It seemed quite filled with large bright clouds,
-  resembling immense banks of snow, piled on each other in massy
-  numbers, of the purest white; wreathing their ample folds in various
-  forms and devious convolutions, and mingling in one vast embrace their
-  shadowy substance.—Sublime creations! emblems apt of the first
-  glittering imaginings of human life!...
-
-  Turning with reluctance to things of a more terrestrial nature we
-  pursued our way down to Pierre’s Hole, where we fortunately discovered
-  and killed a solitary bull....
-
-The rendezvous of 1834 was scheduled for June on Ham’s Fork of the Green
-near present Granger, Wyoming; and here converged all the scattered
-trapper bands, with the exception of those in the pay of Bonneville, who
-had his own private rendezvous on Bear River. Drips hunted up the Snake
-River to Jackson’s Hole, and apparently crossed into the valley of the
-Green from there. Behind him came Ferris. On his southward journey from
-Montana country, Ferris decided to make a side trip from Henry’s Fork to
-investigate strange rumors concerning the upper Madison, a trip which
-resulted in the second known published description of the Yellowstone
-Park wonders.
-
-                       [Illustration: Fort Hall.]
-
-Ferris, a native of New York who later resided in Texas, made his first
-western journey with the American Fur Company in 1830. Hardly a typical
-mountain man, he kept a journal of his travels entitled “Life in the
-Rocky Mountains,” which appeared serially in 1842 and 1843 in the
-Western Literary Messenger, an obscure weekly published in Buffalo, New
-York. The piece containing an account of his visit to the geyser region
-in 1834 appeared on July 13, 1842, attracted no special attention at the
-time except that of the editors of the Nauvoo, Illinois, Wasp, who ran
-it without credit in their edition of August 13, 1842. Olin D. Wheeler
-discovered it and republished it in 1901. Its historical importance as
-the first adequate description of the geysers by an eyewitness (and the
-second published description of any portion of Yellowstone Park) was
-appreciated by Chittenden, but his identity and the magnificent scope of
-his journal was not fully understood until its republication with
-extensive editorial notes by Dr. Paul C. Phillips in 1940. It was in May
-1834, while his brigade was traveling through Idaho country en route to
-the rendezvous on Ham’s Fork of the Green, that Ferris and two Indian
-companions made a hurried side trip, going almost due east forty miles.
-His object was to verify the rumors concerning “remarkable boiling
-spring on the sources of the Madison” which he had heard at the
-rendezvous of 1833. He soon realized that “the half was not told me.” A
-fragment of his vivid description follows:
-
-  From the surface of a rocky plain or table, burst forth columns of
-  water, of various dimensions, projected high in the air, accompanied
-  by loud explosions, and sulphurous vapors, which were highly
-  disagreeable to the smell. The rock from which these springs burst
-  forth, was calcareous, and probably extends some distance from them,
-  beneath the soil. The largest of these wonderful fountains, projects a
-  column of boiling water several feet in diameter, to the height of
-  more than one hundred and fifty feet—in my opinion; but the party of
-  Alvarez, who discovered it, persist in declaring that it could not be
-  less than four times that distance in height—accompanied with a
-  tremendous noise. These explosions and discharges occur at intervals
-  of about two hours.
-
-          [Illustration: Baling beaver hides inside stockade.]
-
- [Illustration: Section of “Map of the Northwest Fur Country,” 1836, by
-     Warren A. Ferris. From _Life in the Rocky Mountains_, Old West
-                   Publishing Company, Denver, 1940.]
-
-After this adventure, he returned to Henry’s Fork and thence to Pierre’s
-Hole, crossing Teton Pass on May 24. In the Hoback Canyon he found
-evidence that a party under Drips had preceded him.
-
-Less well known than the vivid description by Ferris but even more
-remarkable is his “Map of the Northwest Fur Country,” drawn in 1836.
-Lying in the family trunk for over a century, unknown to geographers and
-historians, it was made available in 1940 for publication with the
-journals. This is, to quote Dr. Phillips, “the most detailed and
-accurate of all the early maps of the region,” far superior in accuracy
-to the famous maps by Bonneville, Parker, John C. Fremont, and others
-which were published contemporaneously. In addition to mountain chains,
-valleys, and trails, it locates such fascinating details as “Yellow
-stone L.,” “Boiling water,” and “Volcanoes” near the south shore of the
-lake and “spouting fountains” within the “Burnt Hole” at the head of
-Madison River, indicating the present West Thumb thermal area and the
-Upper Geyser Basin on Firehole River, respectively. The context of the
-journal, together with the evidence of the map, suggests that Ferris
-beheld and described Old Faithful, the geyser which has become the
-symbol of Yellowstone National Park.
-
-In August of 1834 a party of fifty-five men in Bonneville’s employ led
-by Joseph H. Walker ascended Pacific Creek from Jackson’s Hole and after
-some debate “agreed to move down onto Wind River,” instead of descending
-the Yellowstone. Thus Walker, who had previously discovered Yosemite
-Valley, and Zenas Leonard, the journalist of the expedition, missed the
-big exploring opportunity which Ferris had grasped.
-
-The quaint nomenclature bestowed on certain locales and landmarks by the
-mountain trappers offer more than one clue to their shadowy passage. The
-Gardner River Valley at Swan Lake Flats, between Mammoth Hot Springs and
-Obsidian Cliff, seems to be the most likely locale of the beaver-rich
-“Gardner’s Hole” frequented by the mountain men, probably named for
-Johnson Gardner, a freelance trapper who must have frequented those
-parts at least as early as 1834, possibly as early as 1830 as Chittenden
-suggests. His name appears in the Fort Union account books of 1832,
-which include an agreement to purchase his stock of beaver skins then
-cached on Yellowstone River. In 1834 he fell in with Prince Maximilian
-of Wied on the Lower Missouri, revealing to that distinguished traveler
-that “he was on his return from hunting beavers on the Upper
-Yelowstone.”
-
-Three significant events occurred in connection with the rendezvous of
-1834. (1) En route from St. Louis, Sublette and Campbell began the
-building of Fort Laramie (originally Fort William) on the North Platte.
-(2) Nathaniel Wyeth, embarking on a second venture, brought in trade
-goods which were not accepted, and so resorted to the establishment of
-Fort Hall near the junction of the Snake and Portneuf. The advent of
-these two fixed trading posts prophesied an end to the traditional
-rendezvous system. Also (3), at the rendezvous the partnership of the
-Rocky Mountain Fur Company was dissolved, Fraeb and Gervais selling out
-their interests. The remaining partners—Fitzpatrick, Bridger, and Milton
-Sublette—formed a new firm, but they made an agreement with Fontenelle
-which gave the American Fur Company a virtual monopoly of the Rocky
-Mountain fur trade.
-
-Among those whom Nathaniel Wyeth had left at Fort Hall in 1834 was a
-young man named Osborne Russell, whose subsequent career as a trapper
-was hardly typical, for among his trapping accessories were copies of
-Shakespeare and the Bible! Although later a prominent pioneer of Oregon
-and California, his claim to fame rests on his Journal of a Trapper,
-which “as a precise and intimate firsthand account of the daily life of
-the trapper explorer ... has no equal,” except that of Warren A. Ferris,
-who left the mountain scene just as Russell arrived. On the 15th of June
-1835 a party of fourteen trappers and ten camp keepers was made up.
-Writes Russell:
-
-  Here we again fell on to Lewis’ Fork, which runs in a southerly
-  direction through a valley about eighty miles long, there turning to
-  the mountains through a narrow cut in the mountain to the mouth of
-  Salt River, about thirty miles. This valley was called ‘Jackson Hole.’
-  It is generally from five to fifteen miles wide. The southern part
-  where the river enters the mountains is hilly and uneven, but the
-  northern portion is wide, smooth and comparatively even, the whole
-  being covered with wild sage and surrounded by high and rugged
-  mountains upon whose summit the snow remains during the hottest months
-  in summer. The alluvial bottoms along the river and streams
-  intersecting it through the valley produced a luxuriant growth of
-  vegetation, among which wild flax and a species of onion were
-  abundant. The great altitude of this place, however, connected with
-  the cold descending from the mountains at night, I think would be a
-  serious obstruction to the growth of most kinds of cultivated grains.
-  This valley, like all other parts of the country, abounded with game.
-
-After a nearly disastrous attempt to cross “Lewis Fork” by bullboat and
-raft, the party discovered a ford, and then ascended Gros Ventre Fork.
-The party became lost in the mountains for several weeks, missing out on
-the Green River rendezvous. After extricating themselves from the craggy
-wilderness of the Absarokas, the party reached the Lamar River or East
-Fork of the Yellowstone, where they encountered some woebegone
-Sheepeater Indians, and lost a hunter. They apparently forded the
-Yellowstone at the lower end of the Grand Canyon near the mouth of
-Antelope Creek, at a point just above the spectacular Tower Falls and
-the Basaltic Cliffs where the river “rushes down a chasm with a dreadful
-roar echoing among the mountains.” From “Gardner’s Hole” the party then
-crossed the mountains to Gallatin and Madison forks, where they fell in
-with a trapping brigade under Bridger. Just below the Madison Canyon the
-combined forces were attacked by eighty Blackfeet and narrowly escaped
-massacre.
-
-The supply caravan under Fitzpatrick arrived at the Green River
-rendezvous on August 12, 1835. Accompanying him were two famous
-missionaries—Marcus Whitman, who distinguished himself among the
-trappers by extracting an Indian arrow from the back of Captain Bridger,
-and Reverend Samuel Parker, who alienated them by his overzealous
-moralizing. However, Parker made quite a hit with the assembled
-Flatheads and was so enthusiastic over their eagerness for Christian
-knowledge that it was decided that he would accompany them to their
-homes, while Whitman would return to the states to recruit help for a
-permanent mission in Oregon. Parker tells of his journey westward:
-
-  August 21st, commenced our journey in company with Capt. Bridger, who
-  goes with about fifty men, six or eight days’ journey on our route.
-  Instead of going down on the southwest side of Lewis’ river, we
-  concluded to take our course northerly for the Trois Tetons, which are
-  three very high mountains, covered with perpetual snow, separated from
-  the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, and are seen at a very great
-  distance; and from thence to Salmon river....
-
-  On the 22d ... we ... arrived at what is called Jackson’s Hole
-  [Jackson’s Little Hole]....
-
-  Sabbath, 23d. Had an opportunity for rest and devotional exercises. In
-  the afternoon we had public worship with those of the company who
-  understood English. The men conducted with great propriety, and
-  listened with attention....
-
-  Arose very early on the 24th, and commenced our way through the narrow
-  defile, frequently crossing and recrossing a large stream of water
-  [Hoback] which flows into the Snake river....
-
-  ... on the 25th, [we] encamped in a large pleasant valley, commonly
-  called Jackson’s large hole. It is fertile and well watered with a
-  branch of Lewis’ river coming from the southeast [Hoback], and another
-  of some magnitude coming from the northeast [Snake River itself],
-  which is the outlet of Jackson’s lake, a body of water situated just
-  south of the Trois Tetons....
-
-  We continued in this encampment three days, to give our animals an
-  opportunity to recruit, and for Captain Bridger to fit and send out
-  several of his men into the mountains to hunt and trap....
-
-  On the 28th, we pursued our journey and passed over a mountain [Teton
-  Pass] so high, that banks of snow were but a short distance from our
-  trail. When we had ascended two-thirds of the way, a number of
-  buffalo, which were pursued by our Indians, came rushing down the side
-  of the mountain through the midst of our company....
-
-  In [Pierre’s Hole] ... I parted with Captain Bridger and his party,
-  who went northeast into the mountains to their hunting ground, which
-  the Blackfeet claim, and for which they will contend.
-
-According to the impious Joseph L. Meek, the sermon on Sunday the 23rd
-in Jackson’s Little Hole (the site of which has been memorialized by the
-State of Wyoming as that of “the first Protestant sermon in the Rocky
-Mountains”) was not such a great success as Parker makes out, for, “in
-the midst of the discourse, a band of buffalo appeared in the valley,
-when the congregation broke up, without staying for a benediction,” and
-every man excitedly joined in the hunt.
-
-    [Illustration: Marcus Whitman removing arrow from Jim Bridger.]
-
-Another who accompanied this expedition was Kit Carson. Parker gave
-Carson his initial shove into immortality by relating the story of his
-victory at the rendezvous over a “great bully” named Shunar:
-
-               [Illustration: Trappers at Old Faithful.]
-
-  ... I will relate an occurrence which took place near evening, as a
-  specimen of mountain life. A hunter, who goes technically by the name
-  of the great bully of the mountains, mounted his horse with a loaded
-  rifle, and challenged any Frenchman, American, Spaniard, or Dutchman,
-  to fight him in single combat. Kit Carson, an American, told him if he
-  wished to die, he would accept the challenge. Shunar defied him. C.
-  mounted his horse, and with a loaded pistol, rushed into close
-  contact, and both almost at the same instant fired. C’s ball entered
-  S’s hand, came out at the wrist, and passed through the arm above the
-  elbow. Shunar’s ball passed over the head of Carson; and while he went
-  for another pistol, Shunar begged that his life might be spared. Such
-  scenes, sometimes from passion, and sometimes for amusement, make the
-  pastime of their wild and wandering life.
-
-Another rendezvous was held for the summer of 1836, again on Horse Creek
-tributary of Green River. Fitzpatrick and Fontenelle arrived with the
-supply caravan on July 3. With them were the missionaries Marcus Whitman
-and H. H. Spalding, accompanied by their wives, the first white women
-ever to attend a rendezvous of the mountain men and doubtless the first
-to come within 100 miles of the future Grand Teton and Yellowstone
-Parks. At this meeting Major Joshua Pilcher, as agent for the American
-Fur Company, formally and legally took over the interests of Bridger,
-Fitzpatrick, and Fontenelle, thus consolidating the monopoly. The
-missionaries, accompanied by Hudson’s Bay Company agents, followed the
-Bear River route westward. The fur trappers were left in the mountains
-with Drips, Fontenelle, and Bridger. Says Osborne Russell:
-
-  Mr. Bridger’s party, as usual, was destined for the Blackfoot country.
-  It contained most of the American trappers and amounted to sixty men.
-  I started with a party of fifteen trappers and two camp keepers,
-  ordered by Mr. Bridger to proceed to the Yellowstone Lake and there
-  await his arrival with the rest of the party.
-
-Russell entered Jackson’s Hole by way of the upper Green and Gros Ventre
-rivers, followed the Snake River north to Jackson Lake, and on August 7
-started up Buffalo Fork, to reach Two Ocean Pass. On August 13, he
-camped at the inlet of Yellowstone Lake, and on the 16th “Mr. Bridger
-came up with the remainder of the party.” They followed along the
-eastern shore of the lake to its outlet at present Fishing Bridge, and
-camped again “in a beautiful plain which extended along the northern
-extremity of the lake.” Russell describes the lake as “about 100 miles
-in circumference ... lying in an oblong form south to north, or rather
-in the shape of a crescent.” His further description of the boiling
-springs, hot steam vents, and the hollow limestone crustation “of
-dazzling whiteness,” apparently in Hayden Valley, ranks him with Potts
-and Ferris as a pioneer journalist of the Park phenomena.
-
-[Illustration: Section of Father De Smet “map of the Indian country” of
-   1851, reflecting data given by Jim Bridger. From the Cartographic
-                      Section, National Archives.]
-
-In 1837 Thomas Fitzpatrick again led the supply train across the plains,
-picking up Fontenelle at Fort Laramie, and arriving at the rendezvous on
-July 18. After the business of that year was transacted, Drips returned
-east with Fitzpatrick’s caravan, and Fontenelle and Bridger made up a
-strong company of 110 men to invade the hostile Blackfoot country.
-Osborne Russell and five others started off separately “to hunt the
-headwaters of the Yellowstone, Missouri and Bighorn Rivers.” Going due
-north up Green River, they were attacked by “sixty or seventy”
-Blackfeet, but managed to escape to the rendezvous. Here they wisely
-decided to throw in with Fontenelle’s party, as Russell explains,
-“intending to keep in their company five or six days and then branch off
-to our first intended route.” After descending the Hoback, Russell and
-three others left the main party at the ford of “Lewis Fork” in
-“Jackson’s Big Hole” and took the same route to Yellowstone Lake used
-the preceding year, then went northeast over the mountains to gain the
-“Stinking Water.”
-
-In the spring of 1838 the company moved westward from Powder River,
-trapping the Bighorn and other tributaries of the Yellowstone. Russell
-and Meek report another fight with the Blackfeet on the Madison,
-followed by a gathering of the brigade on the north fork of the
-Yellowstone, near the lake. Afterward, Meek reports:
-
-  Bridger’s brigade of trappers met with no other serious interruptions
-  on their summer’s march. They proceeded to Henry’s Lake, and crossing
-  the Rocky Mountains, traveled through the Pine Woods, always a
-  favorite region, to Lewis’ Lake on Lewis’ Fork of the Snake River
-  [Jackson Lake]; and finally up the Grovant Fork, recrossing the
-  mountains to Wind River, where the rendezvous was appointed.
-
-  Osborne Russell describes this rendezvous of 1838:
-
-  ... [July] 4th—We encamped at the Oil Spring on Popo-azia, and the
-  next day we arrived at the camp. There we found Mr. Dripps from St.
-  Louis, with twenty horse carts loaded with supplies, and again met
-  Captain Stewart, likewise several missionaries with their families on
-  their way to the Columbia River. On the 8th Mr. F. Ermatinger arrived
-  with a small party from the Columbia, accompanied by the Rev. John
-  Lee, who was on his way to the United States. On the 20th of July the
-  meeting broke up and the parties again dispersed for the fall hunt.
-
-The Captain Stewart referred to by Russell was an English veteran of
-Waterloo, Sir William Drummond Stewart, ostensibly a wealthy sportsman,
-who became a perennial visitor to the annual conclaves of the “mountain
-men,” beginning in 1833. He probably entered Jackson’s Hole on more than
-one occasion, in company with the trapper bands, but of this there is no
-proof, except the following passage to be found in Altowan, a romantic
-novel based on his experiences:
-
-  On the banks of a small stream, which ultimately finds its way into
-  the upper waters of Snake River, a rugged path, made by the bison
-  descending from a pass above, winds its way through the dwarf willows
-  and quaking asp that line its side ... on a sudden turn of the road
-  round a projecting cliff, Altowan stopped to contemplate the scene
-  below, which, though not new to him, is one of undying wonder and
-  magnificence. Far over an extensive vale rise ‘the three Tetons,’ high
-  above surrounding mountains; their peaked heads shine white against
-  the azure sky, while other ranges succeed each other like waves beyond
-  and beyond, until they merge into the purple haze of the Western
-  Horizon.
-
-By 1838, competition for beaver pelts was beginning to exhaust the
-streams, and the law of diminishing returns was making itself felt in
-the Rocky Mountain fur trade. Nevertheless, after the rendezvous of that
-year, the field commanders of the company assembled their trappers for
-another invasion of the Jackson’s Hole country. Again Osborne Russell
-illuminates the scene:
-
-  I started, with about thirty trappers, up Wind River, expecting the
-  camp to follow in a few days. During our stay at the rendezvous it was
-  rumored among the men that the company intended to bring no more
-  supplies to the Rocky Mountains, and discontinue all further
-  operations. This caused a great deal of discontent among the trappers
-  and numbers left the party. 21st—We traveled up Wind River about
-  thirty miles and encamped. 22nd—Continued up the river till noon, then
-  left it to our right, traveled over a high ridge covered with pines,
-  in a westerly direction about fifteen miles, and fell on to the
-  Grosvent Fork. Next day we traveled about twenty miles down Grosvent
-  Fork. 24th—Myself and another crossed the mountain in a northwest
-  direction, fell on to a stream running into Lewis Fork, about ten
-  miles below Jackson’s Lake. Here we staid and trapped until the 29th.
-  Then we started back to the Grosvent Fork, where we found the camp,
-  consisting of about sixty men, under the direction of Mr. Dripps, with
-  James Bridger pilot.
-
-  The next day the camp followed down the Grosvent Fork to Jackson’s
-  Hole. In the meantime myself and comrade returned to our traps, which
-  we raised, and took over the mountain in a southwest direction and
-  overtook the camp on Lewis Fork. The whole company was starving.
-  Fortunately I had killed a deer in crossing the mountain, which made
-  supper for the whole camp. Aug. 1st—We crossed Lewis Fork and encamped
-  and staid the next day. 3d.—Camp crossed the mountain to Pierre’s Hole
-  and the day following I started with my former comrade to hunt beaver
-  on the streams which ran from the Yellowstone....
-
-              [Illustration: Trapper train in Teton Pass.]
-
-Russell’s side trip appears to have been made cross country from near
-the Cottonwood Creek tributary of the Gros Ventre over the foothills of
-Mt. Leidy to Spread Creek, where he set traps, then back along this same
-route to Bridger’s camp on the Gros Ventre, then back to Spread Creek,
-and later down the Snake River, rejoining the main camp near the mouth
-of the Gros Ventre. Russell’s account of the main expedition fits in
-very well with the brief entry in Newell’s diary—“up Wind River into
-Jackson’s Hole, on to Pier’s Hole.” Another trapper present was young
-Jim Baker, famous Wyoming pioneer, who was making his first visit to the
-mountains.
-
-An entry in Russell’s journal indicates that a party of trappers from
-Fort Hall reached Yellowstone Lake in 1838. Meek alleges that he went
-alone to Gardner’s Hole after the rendezvous and later to Burnt Hole,
-the neighborhood of Hebgen Lake. Here he left a joking message on a
-buffalo skull.
-
-Some evidence of wintering in Jackson’s Hole is given by Robert Newell:
-
-  Capt. Drips left in December for Wind River with his camp. Capt.
-  Walker remained on Green River with a small party, where we are now.
-  Snow about one foot. January 26, 1839, buffalow scarce. I spent last
-  Christmas in Jackson’s Hole. We spent the balance of the winter down
-  on Green River, over on Ham’s Fork, the spring commencing to open the
-  first of March, 1839.
-
-Kit Carson writes:
-
-  On the return of Spring we commenced our hunt, trapped the tributaries
-  of the Missouri to the head of Lewis Fork, and then started for the
-  rendezvous on Green River, near the mouth of Horse Creek....
-
-In March, Meek, after wintering among the Nez Perces on the Salmon
-River, and acquiring an Indian wife (apparently his third), set out
-trapping again with a comrade named Allen to whom he was much attached.
-
-  They traveled along up and down the Salmon, to Godin’s River, Henry’s
-  Fork of the Snake, to Pierre’s Fork, and Lewis’ Fork, and the Muddy,
-  and finally set their traps on a little stream that runs out of the
-  pass which leads to Pierre’s Hole.
-
-Correlated with other data, the “pass which leads to Pierre’s Hole”
-sounds very much like Teton Pass. Here, according to Victor, a horrible
-event occurred. Ambushed by Blackfeet, Meek managed to escape in a
-thicket, but the hapless Allen was caught, shot, and then gleefully
-dismembered within sight and sound of his companion. Meek is supposed to
-have wriggled away during the night and, “after twenty-six days of
-solitary and cautious travel,” escaped to the place of rendezvous.
-
-         [Illustration: Free trapper under attack by Indians.]
-
-Information on the rendezvous of 1839 has survived through the account
-of F. A. Wislizenus, a German doctor and political refugee, who
-accompanied the St. Louis supply train in the interests of curiosity and
-recreation. In addition to offering a vivid picture of proceedings at
-the rendezvous, he also comments on the decline of the fur trade in the
-Rocky Mountains. Wislizenus, Ermatinger of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the
-Munger-Griffin missionary party, and several hundred Indians left the
-rendezvous for Fort Hall, going by the Bear River route, which was soon
-to become a part of the Oregon Trail. As for the trappers, it appears
-that some of them, yielding to fate, disbanded, but Meek and Newell were
-among those who went to Fort Hall and later trapped around Brown’s Hole
-(a valley made by the Green River along the northern base of the Uinta
-Range). Others were still attracted to Jackson’s Hole, the heart of the
-prime beaver country. An eminent pioneer of Montana, W. T. Hamilton, got
-it from “old-timers” that:
-
-  In the year 1839 a party of forty men started on an expedition up the
-  Snake River. In the party were Ducharme, Louis Anderson, Jim and John
-  Baker, Joe Power, L’Humphrie, and others. They passed Jackson’s Lake,
-  catching many beaver, and crossed the Continental Divide, following
-  down the Upper Yellowstone—Elk—River to the Yellowstone Lake.
-
-           [Illustration: Skinning beaver in Jackson’s Hole.]
-
-This party was attacked by the Blackfeet near the outlet of Yellowstone
-Lake, suffering a loss of five men. The survivors, while trapping the
-Park, witnessed “Sulphur Mountain,” the Mud Volcano, Yellowstone Falls
-at the head of the Canyon, and the pyrotechnic displays of “Fire Hole
-Basin.”
-
-Early in 1839, Russell hunted mountain sheep and trapped beaver along
-the Snake River below Jackson’s Hole, returning to Fort Hall in June.
-Making up a party of four for the purpose of trapping in the Yellowstone
-and Wind River Mountains, he spent the Fourth of July at the outlet of
-Jackson Lake, near present Moran, then followed the Snake River
-northward to Lewis Lake and Shoshone Lake. The Shoshone Geyser Basin is
-described by Russell in meticulous detail, including the rhythmic “Hour
-Spring” which resembles present Union Geyser. From here they crossed
-over to Hayden Valley via the Midway Geyser Basin, there noting a
-“boiling lake” of deep indigo blue, about three hundred feet in
-diameter, probably the present Grand Prismatic Spring. After an extended
-camp at the outlet of Yellowstone Lake they went east to the head of
-Clark’s Fork, thence back to the Yellowstone at the ford near Tower
-Falls, thence to Gardner’s Hole and back to the lake outlet. En route
-they saw disturbing evidence of “a village of 300 or 400 lodges of
-Blackfeet” that had only recently been evacuated. In their camp on
-Pelican Creek, just east of the present Fishing Bridge campground, they
-were suddenly assailed by a horde of “70 or 80” Blackfeet “who rent the
-air with their horrid yells” and inflicted severe arrow wounds on
-Russell and one other. They fought off the Indians with their rifles,
-but suffered great pain and hardship in making their way back to Fort
-Hall via West Thumb, Snake River, Berry Creek and Conant Pass at the
-north end of the Teton Range. This was Russell’s final sorrowful exit
-from Wonderland.
-
-Two slim and shaky clues to other Yellowstone expeditions in the late
-1830’s are available. In his journal of 1839, while sojourning in the
-Utah country, apprentice trapper E. Willard Smith reports: “The country
-around the headwaters of the Yellowstone, a tributary of the Missouri,
-abounds in natural curiosities. There are volcanoes, volcanic
-productions and carbonated springs. Mr. Vasquez told me that he went to
-the top of one of these volcanoes, the crater of which was filled with
-pure water, forming quite a large lake.” In his Life in the Far West
-(1849), a fictionalized account of the mountain men, with whom he had
-personally consorted in 1846, Lieutenant Ruxton tells how, on one
-occasion, Old Bill Williams, “tough as the parfleche soles of his
-moccasins,” led seven of his hardy associates into a little-known
-region, beckoned thence by “a lofty peak” which fits the description of
-the Grand Tetons, entering “the valley lying about the lakes now called
-Eustis and Biddle, in which are many thermal and mineral springs, well
-known to the trappers by the name of Soda, Beer, and Brimstone Springs,
-and regarded by them with no little awe and curiosity, as being the
-breathing places of his Satanic majesty.”
-
-The year 1840 can be said to mark the formal demise of the Rocky
-Mountain fur trade, for in that year was held the fifteenth and last of
-these great conclaves of the wilderness, the trapper’s rendezvous on
-Horse Creek of the Green River. It also marks the end of an epoch in the
-history of Jackson’s Hole. The main chronicler of this fateful year was
-the Belgian, Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Jesuit priest who accompanied the
-American Fur Company’s last expedition to the mountains so that he might
-survey the prospects for a Catholic mission among the Flathead Indians.
-This was the beginning of a series of epic pilgrimages to the Far West
-which were to make him one of the dominant figures in American frontier
-history. Andrew Drips headed the supply train. Also present were several
-Protestant missionaries and “the first avowed Oregon emigrant,” Joel P.
-Walker, and his wife and five children. On April 30, the caravan left
-Westport, Missouri, and, after two months of traveling over the Great
-Plains in the midst of vast buffalo herds, it reached its destination.
-Writes Father De Smet:
-
-  On the 30th [June] I came to the rendezvous, where a band of
-  Flatheads, who had been notified of my coming, were already waiting
-  for me.... On the 4th of July, I resumed my travels, with my
-  Flatheads; ten brave Canadians also chose to accompany me....
-
-  Three days we ascended Green river, and on the 8th we crossed it,
-  heading for an elevated plain which separates the waters of the
-  Colorado from those of the Columbia.... On leaving this plain, we
-  descended several thousand feet by a trail and arrived in Jackson’s
-  Hole [Jackson’s Little Hole].... Thence we passed into a narrow and
-  extremely dangerous defile, which was at the same time picturesque and
-  sublime....
-
-  On the 10th, after crossing the lofty mountain, we arrived upon the
-  banks of Henry’s Fork [Snake River], one of the principal tributaries
-  of Snake [Columbia] river. The mass of snow melted during the July
-  heat had swollen this torrent to a prodigious height. Its roaring
-  waters rushed furiously down and whitened with their foam the great
-  blocks of granite which vainly disputed the passage with them. The
-  sight intimidated neither our Indians nor our Canadians; accustomed to
-  perils of this sort, they rushed into the torrent on horseback and
-  swam it. I dared not venture to do likewise. To get me over, they made
-  a kind of sack of my skin tent; then they put all my things in and set
-  me on top of it. The three Flatheads who had jumped in to guide my
-  frail bark by swimming, told me, laughing, not to be afraid, that I
-  was on an excellent boat. And in fact this machine floated on the
-  water like a majestic swan; and in less than ten minutes I found
-  myself on the other bank, where we encamped for the night.
-
-  The next day we had another high mountain to climb [Teton Pass]
-  through a thick pine forest, and at the top we found snow, which had
-  fallen in the night to the depth of two feet.
-
-Joe Meek relates that,
-
-  about the last of June ... he started for the old rendezvous places of
-  the American Companies, hoping to find some divisions of them at
-  least, on the familiar camping ground. But his journey was in vain.
-  Neither on Green River or Wind River, where for ten years he had been
-  accustomed to meet the leaders and their men, his old comrades in
-  danger, did he find a wandering brigade even. The glory of the
-  American companies was departed, and he found himself solitary among
-  his long familiar haunts.
-
-However, this sad story does not fit in with De Smet’s account nor with
-the testimony of Meek’s own good friend, Robert Newell, who in June 1840
-also left Fort Hall for the rendezvous:
-
-  Mr. Ermatinger arrived 13th of June. I went to the American
-  rendezvous, Mr. Drips, Freab and Bridger from St. Louis with goods,
-  but times were certainly hard, no beaver, and everything dull. Some
-  missionaries came along with them for the Columbia, Messrs. Clark,
-  Smith, Littlejohn. I engaged to pilot them over the mountains, with
-  their wagons and such used in crossing, to Fort Hall. There I bought
-  their wagons....
-
-Unless Meek’s memory was at fault, the discrepancy can only be explained
-on the assumption that Meek, approaching Green River by way of Jackson’s
-Hole, simply did not look hard enough. Be that as it may, Meek avers
-that after his disappointed return to Fort Hall,
-
-  he set out on what proved to be his last trapping expedition, with a
-  Frenchman, named Mattileau. They visited the old trapping grounds on
-  Pierre’s Fork, Lewis’ Lake, Jackson’s [Hoback] River, Jackson’s Hole,
-  Lewis River and Salt River: but beaver were scarce; and it was with a
-  feeling of relief that, on returning by way of Bear River, Meek heard
-  from a Frenchman whom he met there, that he was wanted at Fort Hall,
-  by his friend Newell, who had something to propose to him.
-
-What Newell had to propose to Meek was something revolutionary. On one
-of Newell’s wagons Meek loaded his traps and his Indian family, and
-together they performed the historic feat of taking the first wagons
-through to the Columbia River. Their departure best symbolizes the death
-of the Rocky Mountain fur trade and the birth of the Oregon Trail. After
-Meek’s visit in 1840, Jackson’s Hole relapsed into virgin solitude. For
-twenty years thereafter there is little positive evidence of white men
-in this valley. It was forty-five years before the arrival of the first
-permanent settler. For over a hundred years the historic importance of
-Jackson’s Hole as the continental crossroads of the Western fur trade
-has been all but forgotten.
-
-           [Illustration: Rocky Mountain men setting traps.]
-
- [Illustration: Section of Map accompanying _Report on the Exploration
-     of the Yellowstone River_, by Bvt. Brig. Gen. W. F. Raynolds,
- Washington, 1868. Errors and omissions reflect failure of the Raynolds
-        expedition to reach the Yellowstone Park area in 1860.]
-
-                            [Illustration: ]
-
-
-
-
-                       VIII. Epilogue: 1841-1870
-
-
-After 1840 Yellowstone Park was likewise virtually left in primeval
-solitude. There is tangible evidence of only four visits of white men
-during this period, and one attempted visit which failed. In his
-recently published biography, William Clark Kennerly has it that in 1843
-a grand hunting expedition headed by Sir William Drummond Stewart, and
-including such notables as Sublette and Baptiste Charbonneau, camped one
-evening among the geysers, having particularly great sport in vain
-efforts to throttle “old Steam Boat.” In 1844, according to Chittenden,
-a party of trappers, identity not disclosed, entered Upper Yellowstone
-Valley from the south, and “passed around the west shore of Yellowstone
-Lake to the outlet, where they had a severe battle with the Blackfoot
-Indians, in a broad open tract at that point. The remains of their old
-corral were still visible as late as 1870.” (This might be a variant of
-the same battle of 1939, told by Hamilton.)
-
-The remaining three expeditions were guided by James Bridger, who in
-1843 had set up Fort Bridger on Black’s Fork of Green River, to cater to
-the emigrants who were beginning to follow the Oregon Trail. James
-Gemmell claims to have been among those present in 1846 when Bridger led
-“a trading expedition to the Crows and Sioux,” north up the Green River
-through Jackson’s Hole to West Thumb, making a tour of the “wonderful
-spouting springs” and other scenic features before continuing down the
-Yellowstone. E. S. Topping states that in 1850 Jim Bridger, Kit Carson,
-and twenty-two others on a prospecting trip out of St. Louis “crossed
-the mountains to the Yellowstone and down it to the lake and the falls;
-then across the Divide to the Madison River. They saw the geysers of the
-lower basin and named the river that drains them the Fire Hole.... The
-report of this party made quite a stir in St. Louis.”
-
-The only historically discernible “stir” made by Bridger’s reports
-consisted of the usual incredulity and scoffing, exemplified by the
-timidity of a Kansas City editor who in 1856 let immortality slip
-through his grasp by refusing to publish Bridger’s own version of “the
-place where Hell bubbled up.” By this time, however, one notable Bridger
-story had actually broken through the literary overcast, and two more
-would soon appear to vindicate the famous trapper. In 1852 Lieutenant
-Gunnison, who had been a member of the Howard Stansbury exploring party
-which Bridger guided to Great Salt Lake in 1849, published a romantic
-but essentially accurate description of the principal scenic features.
-Here is a “lake, sixty miles long,” a “perpendicular canyon,” the “Great
-Springs” on successive terraces, and “geysers spouting seventy feet
-high.” In his letter mentioned above, published in 1863, constituting a
-report on his participation in the Fort Laramie treaty council of 1851,
-Father De Smet located what is substantially the present Park “in the
-very heart of the Rocky Mountains, between the 43d and 45th degrees of
-latitude, and the 109th and 111th degrees of longitude; that is between
-the sources of the Madison and the Yellowstone,” regarding it as “the
-most marvellous spot of all the northern half of the continent” because
-of its boiling springs, calcareous hills, escaping vapors, steamboat
-noises, subterranean explosions and, near Gardner River, “a mountain of
-sulphur.” In this case likewise the source of his information was
-Bridger, “who is familiar with every one of these mounds, having passed
-thirty years of his life near them.”
-
-Even more illuminating to the historian than the well-known De Smet
-letter are five unpublished maps traced by that missionary. These maps
-had little contemporary influence and, though noted by his biographers
-in 1905, they have been neglected by subsequent historians. They are
-documents of signal import, which should inspire renewed respect for the
-ubiquitous Bridger and yet increase the stature of the versatile and
-indefatigable De Smet, already one of the giants of western history. Of
-these five maps four are still at St. Louis University, which was his
-headquarters. These are among dozens which were made by him in the
-course of his several western journeys, the information obtained by
-acute personal observation as well as “from trappers and intelligent
-Indians.” The draftsmanship of the first three, while not striking, is
-respectable. One shows “Yellow Stone” River and tributaries as high as
-“Gardner’s F.” A second, embracing the Upper Missouri, Yellowstone, and
-Upper Platte regions, shows a nameless bladder-shaped lake at the head
-of the Yellowstone and a conspicuous “Hot Sulphur Spring” north of the
-lake. A third, embracing the entire West from the Great Basin to the
-Forks of the Platte, shows essentially the same features. The fourth map
-in the St. Louis collection is the most intriguing. This depicts that
-remarkable twisted region of the Rocky Mountains where the headwaters of
-the Yellowstone, the Wind, the Green, the Snake, and the Missouri rivers
-unwind before rolling to their respective oceans. The undated map is
-crude and smeary, and it has all the ear-marks of being sketched in the
-field without benefit of desk or blotter. In view of De Smet’s express
-testimony that the most famous trapper of all supplied him with his
-geographic data, at least for the “Yellowstone Park” section, it is a
-fair guess that this was drawn by De Smet with Bridger at his elbow.
-Here, on a rough chart consigned to the oblivion of a library vault, is
-where “Yellowstone Park” first comes into clear focus. Allowing for
-pardonable distortions, all of the principal scenic features are in
-evidence: the geyser basins of the Firehole (“volcanic country”);
-Mammoth Hot Springs (“Sulphur Mountain” near “Gardener’s Cr.”); a
-shapeless Yellowstone Lake (“60 by 9”) with “Hot Springs” and “Great
-Volcanoes” alongside; the Grand Canyon and “Falls 290 feet”; and Hayden
-Valley (“Volcanic country [?] Steam Springs”). Two Ocean Pass, Jackson
-Lake, and “Colter’s Hell” on Stinking River are other conspicuous
-features near by.
-
-The “Bridger Map” is the obvious source of the Yellowstone data found on
-the fifth De Smet map, embracing the western United States, which is
-more carefully drawn than the others. This large untitled map, with a
-bold floral border, is dated 1851, and contains the following fading
-inscription within curved palm fronds: “respectfully presented to Col.
-David D. [?] Mitchell [by] P. J. De Smet, Soc. Jes.” As to the
-circumstances under which this map was drawn, De Smet explains as
-follows in a letter dated July 1, 1857, to officials of the Department
-of the Interior:
-
-  When I was at the council ground in 1851, on the Platte River, at the
-  mouth of the Horse creek, I was requested by Colonel Mitchell
-  [superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis] to make a map of the
-  whole Indian country, relating particularly to the Upper Missouri, the
-  waters of the upper Platte, east of the Rocky mountains and of the
-  headwaters of the Columbia and its tributaries west of these
-  mountains. In compliance with this request I drew up the map from
-  scraps then in my possession. The map, so prepared, was seemingly
-  approved and made use of by the gentlemen assembled in council, and
-  subsequently sent on to Washington together with the treaty then made
-  with the Indians. In my humble opinion, therefore, it can be of very
-  little service for your purposes, in which accuracy of instrumental
-  measurements and observation seems to be absolutely necessary....
-
-The final gesture of modesty may explain why this revealing map,
-prepared and made available to the government twenty years before the
-first official Park exploration got under way, was duly glanced at by
-the department authorities and then tucked away, a needle in the
-haystack of official files, in Washington, D. C., where it still
-reposes. It contains all the features of the “Bridger Map,” but with
-refinements. Here is a “Great Volcanic Region [?] now in a state of
-eruption,” drained by “Fire Hole Riv.” The lake now appear as
-“Yellowstone or Sublette’s Lake,” still oddly sausage-shaped. There is a
-“Little Falls” at the head of the canyon but the more impressive Lower
-Falls are unexplainably omitted. To the southwest, in the position of
-present Shoshone Lake, is “De Smet Lake.” To the east at the forks of
-“Stinking Fr.” appears the “Sulphur Springs or Colter’s Hell Volcano”
-which, due to the unavailability of this map, has led so many historians
-astray. This map, with its manuscript forebears, ranks with the Ferris
-journal and map and the Potts letter as one of the principal historical
-documents pertaining to early Yellowstone.
-
- [Illustration: Trappers in Pierre’s Hole, west of “Les Trois Tetons”]
-
-It is not evident that information given by Gunnison and De Smet or any
-of their predecessors relative to unusual phenomena on the Upper
-Yellowstone greatly impressed representatives of the Federal Government.
-Certainly no eagerness to verify these reports is betrayed in the
-official instructions dated April 13, 1859, by which Captain Raynolds,
-Corps of Topographical Engineers, was directed “to organize an
-expedition for the exploration of the region of the country through
-which flow the principal tributaries of the Yellowstone river, and of
-the mountains in which they, and the Gallatin and Madison forks of the
-Missouri, have their source.” However, since one of the objects of this
-exploration was to ascertain the principal topographical features and
-since, moreover, the indispensable Bridger was secured as a guide, it
-would seem that the Yellowstone marvels were just about to be officially
-discovered and proclaimed. Not so, however. The expedition left winter
-camp on Platte River in May 1860. While a detachment under Lieutenant
-Henry E. Maynadier went north along the eastern slope of the Absaroka
-Range, the main party ascended Wind River to Union Pass, then turned
-north seeking the headwaters of the Yellowstone. Deep snow and a great
-“basaltic ridge” blocked their efforts before they reached Two Ocean
-Pass, and they had to satisfy themselves with encircling the Park area
-via Jackson’s Hole, Teton Pass, Henry’s Fork, and Raynolds’ Pass. By way
-of the Madison, they rejoined Maynadier at the Three Forks. Raynolds’
-report and map became the first recognition by the Federal Government of
-the possible existence of volcanic activity in the region of the Upper
-Yellowstone. For information regarding the “burning plains, immense
-lakes, and boiling springs” and other unverifiable phenomena mentioned
-he was, of course, indebted to his guide Bridger, with trimmings added
-by Meldrum. On his “Map of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers,” within
-the “enchanted enclosure” which now constitutes Yellowstone National
-Park, the soldier-explorer had the courage to place “Yellowstone Lake,”
-“Falls of the Yellowstone,” “Burnt Hole,” “Sulphur Mountain,” and
-“Elephant’s Back Mt.,” all now recognizable features. This was an
-extraordinary demonstration of faith in Bridger’s veracity. Because of
-the Civil War, publication of the report was delayed until 1868, but the
-map itself was first issued separately a few years earlier.
-
-It was the discovery of gold, first in California and later in Colorado,
-which started the population moving centrally westward in great numbers
-and diverted whatever attention might otherwise have become focussed on
-the Upper Yellowstone region. It was the discovery of gold in western
-Montana which brought about its rediscovery and early creation as the
-world’s first National Park. Although there was desultory prospecting
-previous to 1862, it was in that year that the news of several major
-gold strikes was broadcast and a full scale stampede to the diggings
-began. In the spring of 1863 at least two prospecting parties entered
-the Park. Although they were feverishly preoccupied with the search for
-gold, the unusual character of the country did not escape them entirely,
-and the leader of one party made something akin to the first scientific
-eyewitness report. This was Walter W. DeLacy, a professional surveyor.
-In August 1863 he fell in with an expedition of forty-two men bound for
-Snake River, and was elected captain. Their search being unrewarded,
-fifteen of the party deserted at Jackson Lake, the others deciding to
-push north. From the junction of the Lewis and the Snake they went over
-the Pitchstone Plateau to discover Shoshone Lake and Lewis Lake. From
-there they crossed over the Divide to the geyser basins of the Firehole.
-Although amazed at the “Steamboat Springs” they had little time for
-sight-seeing, and left the Park by way of the Gallatin. DeLacy’s
-discoveries were incorporated in his “Map of the Territory of Montana,”
-which was published “for the use of the First Legislature of Montana” in
-1865. His accurate firsthand knowledge of the western section of the
-Park is reflected in the correct relationship of “Jackson’s Lake” and
-unnamed Lewis Lake and Shoshone Lake, and in the “Hot Spring Valley” or
-geyser basin at the headwaters of the Madison. Identifiable features of
-the unvisited eastern section consist only of a misshapen “Yellow Stone
-Lake” and the “Falls.”
-
-We have recognized the Ferris map of 1836 and the De Smet map of 1851,
-based on the undated “Bridger Map,” as the earliest authentic maps of
-the Yellowstone Park area, but these remained unpublished and
-unheralded. The Raynolds and DeLacy maps, though purporting to reveal
-the scenic wonders, were scanned mainly by single-minded gold seekers
-before they became obsolete. As to other contemporary published maps,
-the persistence of this geographical blind spot in the face of testimony
-offered by such prime witnesses as Potts, Ferris, and Bridger is
-demonstrated by the fact that for over half a century of map making by
-such respected cartographers as John Arrowsmith, Albert Gallatin,
-Bonneville, Fremont, and Gouverneur K. Warren there was no improvement
-in the “Yellowstone Park” section of the Clark map of 1810, with its
-“Lake Eustis” and “Hot Spring Brimstone.” There were only occasional
-meaningless variations of nomenclature. For instance, on the Robert
-Greenhow map of 1840 and on E. F. Beade’s “New Map of the Great West,”
-published in 1856, “Hot Sulphur Springs” is substituted. On Charles
-Wilkes’ “Map of Oregon Territory” which appeared in 1845 and on the J.
-H. Colton map which accompanied Horn’s Overland Guide, published in
-1856, this phenomenon becomes “Steamboat Sp.” and Eustis is transformed
-into “Sublette’s L.” However, on the famed Colton map of 1867, just five
-years before the first boat was launched from its shores, the phantom
-lake—Eustis, Sublette, or Yellowstone—has disappeared entirely!
-
-Contemporary newspaper accounts and later published reminiscences reveal
-several prospecting expeditions which traversed the Park area during the
-period 1864-1869, but the partial and foggy reports of “a lost world”
-given out by these treasure hunters did little to dispel the curtain of
-mystery stubbornly surrounding the area. The cumulative effect of such
-reports and rumors, however, was destined soon to convince intelligent
-listeners that no wild tale could be so persistent, and that there must
-be something at the headwaters of the Yellowstone worth looking into. In
-September 1869, David E. Folsom, Charles W. Cook, and William Peterson
-packed south out of Diamond City, Montana, without distracting thoughts
-of beaver hides or gold, but with the express purpose of exploring that
-neighborhood and reporting their findings without adornment. General
-Henry D. Washburn, Hon. Cornelius Hedges, Hon. Nathaniel Langford, Dr.
-Ferdinand V. Hayden, and Photographer William H. Jackson were standing
-in the wings. The brief era of definitive discovery was dawning.
-
-    [Illustration: First picture ever made of Yellowstone Lake from
-                 watercolor by Henry W. Elliott, 1871.
-                                Picture courtesy of Haynes Studios, Inc.]
-
-
-
-
-                       Selected Bibliography for
-                    COLTER’S HELL AND JACKSON’S HOLE
-
-
-  Allen, Paul, _History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains
-          Lewis and Clark_, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1814).
-  Alter, J. Cecil, _James Bridger_ (Salt Lake City, 1925).
-  Bancroft, H. H., _History of Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming, 1540-1888_
-          (San Francisco, 1890).
-  Barry, J. Neilson (ed.), “Journal of E. Willard Smith,” _Quarterly of
-          the Oregon Historical Society_ (September 1913).
-  Bonneville, Captain B. L. E., undated letter from Fort Smith,
-          Arkansas, _Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana_
-          (Helena), I (1876), 93-97.
-  Brackenridge, Henry M., _Views of Louisiana_ (Pittsburgh, 1814).
-  Bradbury, John, _Travels in the Interior of North America, 1809-1811_
-          (London, 1819), republished in Reuben G. Thwaites (ed.),
-          _Early Western Travels_, 32 vols. (Cleveland, 1904-1907), V.
-  Burpee, Lawrence J. (ed.), _Journal of Larocque from the Assiniboine
-          to the Yellowstone, 1805_ (Ottawa, 1910).
-  Carter, Clarence E. (ed.), _Territorial Papers of the United States_
-          (Washington, 1934), XIII, _Territory of Louisiana-Missouri,
-          1803-1806_ (1948).
-  Chittenden, Hiram M., _The American Fur Trade of the Far West_, 2
-          vols., ed. by Stallo Vinton (New York, 1936).
-  Chittenden, Hiram M. and Richardson, Albert T., _Life, Letters and
-          Travels of Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, S. J., 1801-1873_ (New
-          York, 1905), 4 vols.
-  Chittenden, Hiram M., _The Yellowstone National Park, Historical and
-          Descriptive_ (Cincinnati, 1895).
-  Coues, Elliott (ed.), _Forty Years a Fur Trader ... Charles
-          Larpenteur_, 2 vols. (New York, 1898).
-  Coutant, Charles G., _History of Wyoming_ (Laramie, 1899).
-  Dale, Harrison C., _The Ashley-Smith Explorations_ (Glendale, 1941).
-  DeLacy, Walter W., _Map of the Territory of Montana_, etc. (St. Louis,
-          1865).
-  DeLacy, Walter W., “A Trip Up the South Snake River in 1863,”
-          _Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana_, I
-          (1876).
-  De Smet, Pierre Jean, _Western Missions and Missionaries_ (New York,
-          1863).
-  DeVoto, Bernard, _Across the Wide Missouri_ (Boston, 1947).
-  DeVoto, Bernard (ed.), _Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth_
-          (New York, 1931).
-  Ellison, William H., _Life and Adventures of George Nidever_
-          (Berkeley, 1937).
-  Frost, Donald M., _Notes on General Ashley, the Overland Trail and
-          South Pass_ (Worcester, 1944).
-  Grant, Blanche C. (ed.), _Kit Carson’s Own Life Story_ (Taos, 1926).
-  Gunnison, John W., _The Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints in the Valley of
-          the Great Salt Lake_ (Philadelphia, 1852).
-  Hamilton, William T., _My Sixty Years on the Plains_ (New York, 1905).
-  Harris, Burton, _John Colter, His Years in the Rockies_ (New York,
-          1952).
-  Irving, Washington, _Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the
-          Rocky Mountains_, 3 vols. (Philadelphia, 1836).
-  Irving, Washington, _The Rocky Mountains.... The Journal of Captain B.
-          L. E. Bonneville_, 2 vols. (Philadelphia. 1837).
-  James, Thomas, _Three Years Among the Indians_, ed. by Walter B.
-          Douglas (St. Louis, 1916), reprinted from original edition of
-          1846.
-  Kennerly, William C., _Persimmon Hill: A Narrative of Old St. Louis_
-          (Norman, 1948).
-  Laut, Agnes, _Conquest of the Great Northwest_ (G. H. Doran Co.,
-          1908).
-  Lindsay, Charles, _The Big Horn Basin_ (Lincoln, 1932).
-  Mattes, Merrill J., “Behind the Legend of Colter’s Hell: The Early
-          Exploration of Yellowstone National Park,” _Mississippi Valley
-          Historical Review_ (September 1949).
-  Mattes, Merrill J., “Jackson Hole, Crossroads of the Western Fur
-          Trade, 1807-1840,” _Pacific Northwest Quarterly_ (April 1946
-          and January 1948).
-  Parker, Samuel, _Journal of an Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky
-          Mountains_ (Ithaca, 1944).
-  Phillips, Paul C. (ed.), _Life in the Rocky Mountains; A Diary ... by
-          Warren A. Ferris_ (Denver, 1940).
-  Potts, Daniel T., Letters, _Yellowstone Nature Notes_ (September
-          1947).
-  Raynolds, General William F., “Report on the Explorations of the
-          Yellowstone River” (Washington, 1868), _Senate Executive
-          Documents_, No. 77. 40 Cong. 1 [2] Sess.
-  Rollins, Philip A. (ed.), _The Discovery of the Oregon Trail_ (Hunt
-          and Stuart Journals) (New York, 1935).
-  Ross, Alexander, _The Fur Hunters of the Far West_, 2 vols. (London,
-          1855).
-  Russell, Osborne, _Journal of a Trapper_, edited by Aubrey L. Haines
-          (Portland, 1955).
-  Sabin, Edwin L., _Kit Carson Days_, 2 vols. (New York, 1935).
-  Sullivan, M. S., _Travels of Jedediah Smith_ (Santa Ana, 1934).
-  Thwaites, Reuben G., _Oregon; or, a Short History ... by John B.
-          Wyeth_ (_Early Western Travels_) (Cleveland, 1905), XXI.
-  Thwaites, Reuben G. (ed.), _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark
-          Expedition 1804-1806_, 8 vols. (New York, 1904-1905), V.
-  Topping, E. S., _Chronicles of the Yellowstone_ (St. Paul, 1883).
-  Victor, Frances Fuller, _The River of the West_ (Hartford, 1870).
-  Vinton, Stallo, _John Colter, Discoverer of Yellowstone Park_ (New
-          York, 1926).
-  Wagner, W. F. (ed.), _Leonard’s Narrative; Adventures of Zenas Leonard
-          1831-1836_ (Cleveland, 1904).
-  Webb, J. Watson (ed.), _Altowan_, 2 vols. (New York, 1846).
-  Wislizenus, F. A., _A Journey to the Rocky Mountains in 1839_ (St.
-          Louis, 1912).
-
-         [Illustration: Colter’s Route 1807-1808 (CONJECTURAL)
-                       Trapper Trails 1811-1840]
-
-
-
-
-                          Transcriber’s Notes
-
-
---Retained copyright notice on the original book (this eBook is
-  public-domain in the country of publication.)
-
---Silently corrected a few palpable typos.
-
---Moved illustrations to the nearest paragraph break, adjusting page
-  breaks where necessary.
-
---In the text versions, delimited italicized words with _underscores_
-  (the HTML version uses bold and italic fonts instead.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole, by 
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-Project Gutenberg's Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole, by Merrill J. Mattes
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
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-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole
-       The Fur Trappers' Exploration of the Yellowstone and Grand
-       Teton Park Region
-
-Author: Merrill J. Mattes
-
-Release Date: November 4, 2015 [EBook #50381]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLTER'S HELL AND JACKSON'S HOLE ***
-
-
-
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-Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
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-
-
-                             COLTER'S HELL
-                                  AND
-                             JACKSON'S HOLE
-
-
-                          By Merrill J. Mattes
-
-
-                              Published by
-               YELLOWSTONE LIBRARY AND MUSEUM ASSOCIATION
-                                and the
-                GRAND TETON NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION
-                          in cooperation with
-                         NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
-                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
-
-[Illustration: Yellowstone Library and Museum Association; National Park
-                                Service]
-
-           � 1962 Yellowstone Library and Museum Association
-                              Reprint 1970
-
-
-The Yellowstone Library and Museum Association and the Grand Teton
-Natural History Association are non-profit distributing organizations
-whose purpose is the stimulation of interest in the educational and
-inspirational aspects of Yellowstone and Grand Teton history and natural
-history. The Associations cooperate with and are recognized by the
-United States Department of the Interior and its Bureau, the National
-Park Service, as essential operating organizations.
-
-As one means of accomplishing their aims the Associations publish
-reasonably priced booklets which are available for purchase by mail
-throughout the year or at the museum information desks in the parks
-during the summer.
-
-Photographs used were provided through the courtesy of the National Park
-Service, except where otherwise credited.
-
-
-
-
-                   COLTER'S HELL AND JACKSON'S HOLE:
- The Fur Trappers' Exploration of the Yellowstone and Grand Teton Park
-                                 Region
-
-
-                                   By
-                           Merrill J. Mattes
-
-
-
-
-                           TABLE OF CONTENTS
-
-
-                                                                     Page
-       I. Strange Land of "Volcanoes" and "Shining Mountains"           1
-      II. The Mystery of "La Roche Jaune" or Yellow Rock River          9
-     III. John Colter, The Phantom Explorer--1807-1808                 13
-      IV. "Colter's Hell": A Case of Mistaken Identity                 19
-       V. "Les Trois Tetons": The Golden Age of Discovery, 1810-1824   25
-      VI. "Jackson's Hole": Era of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company,
-                               1825-1832                               35
-     VII. "The Fire Hole": Era of the American Fur Company, 1833-1840  53
-    VIII. Epilogue: 1841-1870                                          77
-          Selected Bibliography                                        86
-          Vicinity Map at rear
-
-                      [Illustration: BEAVER TRAP]
-
-
-
-
-         I. Strange Land of "Volcanoes" and "Shining Mountains"
-
-
-The Yellowstone-Grand Teton region was not officially discovered and its
-scenic marvels were not publicly proclaimed until the 1870's, beginning
-with the Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition. For thirty years before,
-from 1841 to 1869, this region was a Paradise Lost, rarely visited by
-white men. But for thirty years before that, or from 1807 to 1840, this
-region had hundreds of appreciative visitors. These were the Rocky
-Mountain fur trappers. While searching for the golden-brown fur of the
-beaver, destined for the St. Louis market, these adventurers thoroughly
-explored this fabulous region. Although news of their discoveries
-received scant public notice back in the settlements, or was discounted
-as tall tales, to them belongs the honor of being the first actual
-explorers of these twin parks.
-
-Neighboring Yellowstone and Grand Teton, established as National Parks
-in 1872 and 1929, respectively, are separately managed today as units of
-our National Park System. But geographically, now as well as in the
-early nineteenth century, they embrace one unique region, characterized
-by topographic and geologic features that are the crescendo of a great
-scenic symphony. Here, at the heart of the continent, the source of the
-three major river systems of the continent--the Columbia, the Colorado,
-and the Missouri-Mississippi--may be found the greatest geyser basins,
-the largest mountain lake, the most colorful of kaleidoscopic canyons,
-one of the richest arrays of wildlife, and one of the most spectacularly
-beautiful mountain ranges in the world. The Yellowstone-Grand Teton
-region has historical unity, also, particularly during the obscure but
-heroic age of the Rocky Mountain fur trade.
-
-"Colter's Hell"--bearing the name of the legendary discoverer, and
-conjuring up visions of a primitive "Dante's Inferno"--is the term which
-visitors today associate with the early history of Yellowstone National
-Park and its universally famous hydrothermal wonders. Actually, the
-wandering, bearded, buck-skinned beaver trappers never referred to the
-geyser region of the upper Madison as Colter's Hell. As we will see, the
-real Colter's Hell in Jim Bridger's day was another place altogether,
-having nothing to do with anything within Yellowstone Park itself. In
-trapper times the Yellowstone geyser area had no fixed name but was
-variously described by them as a region of "great volcanoes," "boiling
-springs" or "spouting fountains." On the recently discovered Hood and
-Ferris maps (see below) it is labeled "the Burnt Hole" (although this
-name seems to have been restricted by Russell and others to the Hebgen
-Lake Valley). Captain Bonneville tells us that his men knew of this
-region as "the Firehole" and this name, as applied to the river draining
-the geyser basins, survives today.
-
-Yellowstone Park, carved out of territorial Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho,
-is a rough-edged rectangle of 3,500 square miles that straddles the
-twisting course of the Continental Divide. It is a geological circus, a
-unique creation of ancient volcanoes and glaciers, flanked on the
-southeast and east by the Absaroka Range, on the north by the Snowy
-Range, on the northwest by the Gallatin and Madison ranges, on the west
-by the Centennial Range, and on the south by the Teton Mountains.
-
-From the Park flow the headwaters of two continental rivers and their
-major tributaries. From here the Snake River arcs southward toward
-Jackson's Hole and the cathedral-like Tetons, destined to join the
-Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean. Here the Firehole and Gibbon
-rivers, draining the principal geyser basins, unite to become the
-Madison River, and here also arises the Gallatin, these being two of the
-Three Forks of the Missouri. Here arises a branch of the North Fork of
-the Shoshone River, a tributary of the Bighorn. And here, after its
-birth near Two Ocean Pass, begins the mighty Yellowstone River which,
-after passing through its vast mirror-like lake and its prismatic
-canyon, flows out onto the plains to receive the Bighorn and join the
-Missouri on its marathon journey to the Mississippi River and the Gulf
-of Mexico.
-
-                [Illustration: Indians at Jackson Lake.]
-
-This region held a fortune in coveted beaver skins, but it was remote,
-snowbound, haunted by the vindictive Blackfeet, and plagued by weird
-visions, sulphurous fumes, and uncanny noises. Here indeed was fertile
-soil for a legend.
-
-On a clear day Yellowstone Park visitors can see to the south the
-mountain spires which identify Grand Teton National Park of Wyoming, an
-indefinable shape of 500 square miles. (The actual boundaries of these
-neighboring parks are separated by a scant five miles.) The Tetons are
-perhaps the most distinctive of the granite giants which comprise the
-Rocky Mountains. A series of sharp pyramids of naked rock, the peaks
-stand like sharks' teeth against the sky. The most precipitous sides and
-the most needle-like summit belong to the highest of these, the Grand
-Teton, which rises over 7,000 feet from its immediate base, nearly
-14,000 feet above the level of the distant sea.
-
-The Teton Mountains are the most conspicuous landmarks of a region which
-contains the scrambled sources of the three greatest river systems of
-continental United States. As we have seen, Yellowstone Park to the
-north gives birth to the eastward-flowing Missouri and the westward
-flowing Columbia waters. East of the Tetons, in the Wind River
-Mountains, is the head of Green River which rolls southward to merge
-into the mighty Colorado River, tumbling through the arid lands to the
-Gulf of California.
-
-Jackson's Hole is that part of the Upper Snake River Valley which lies
-at the eastern base of the Teton Range. One of the largest enclosed
-valleys in the Rocky Mountains, its glaciated floor extends about sixty
-miles north and south, and varies up to twelve miles in width. It is
-bounded on the west by the Tetons, on the east and south by the less
-pretentious Mount Leidy Highlands and the Gros Ventre and Hoback
-Mountains. The Gros Ventres merge imperceptibly into the Wind River
-Mountains farther east, the crest of which forms the Continental Divide.
-The southern extremity of the Tetons merges with the eastern end of the
-Snake River Range near the canyon where the Snake River escapes from the
-valley.
-
-Historic Jackson's Hole, also known as "Jackson's Big Hole"--but now
-politely refined to just plain Jackson Hole--was named in 1829 for David
-Jackson, one of the partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. To the
-early trapper a "hole" was a sizeable valley abounding in game, and
-usually (with the exception of Yellowstone's "Firehole") associated with
-some distinctive personality--hence Brown's Hole, Pierre's Hole,
-Gardner's Hole, etc. However, Jackson's Hole was more than just a
-pleasant spot for trapping and camping. Research gives substance to the
-view that this was the historic crossroads of the Rocky Mountain fur
-trade.
-
-Jackson's Hole was destined by geography to become a traffic center of
-the Western fur trade. Between South Pass at the head of the Little
-Sandy and the northern passes above the Three Forks of the Missouri it
-offered the most feasible route across the Rocky Mountain barrier. In
-addition, it was the focal point of a region that was highly prized and
-vigorously contested because of its populous beaver streams. Here
-trappers' trails converged like the spokes of a great wheel and, after
-Lewis and Clark, most of the important trapper-explorers crossed
-Jackson's Hole on their journeys.
-
-       [Illustration: Indian "Buffalo Jump"--Yellowstone Valley.]
-
-In historic times there were seven gateways to and from Jackson's Hole:
-northward up Snake River; northeastward up Pacific Creek to Two Ocean
-Pass; eastward up Buffalo Fork to Twogwotee Pass; eastward up the Gros
-Ventre to Union Pass; southward up the Hoback to Green River; westward
-via Teton Pass or Conant Pass (at the south and north extremities of the
-Teton Range) to Pierre's Hole.
-
- [Illustration: "Dawn of Discovery"--Exhibit in Fur Trade Museum, Grand
-                         Teton National Park.]
-
-The Tetons received their name from French-Canadian trappers who
-accompanied the earliest British expeditions into this territory. As
-they approached the range from the west, they beheld three towering
-mountains upon which they bestowed the name of "Trois Tetons" ("Three
-Breasts"). This romantic designation was readily adopted by the lonely
-trapping fraternity to whom the sharp snowy peaks (now known as the
-Grand, Middle and South Tetons) became a beacon to guide them through
-the hostile wilderness. To the Indians the Tetons were variously known
-as "The Three Brothers," "The Hoaryheaded Fathers," and "Tee Win-at,"
-meaning "The Pinnacles." The earliest Americans in the region, being
-more practical than romantic, could find no better name for the silvery
-spires than "The Pilot Knobs," while an official Hudson's Bay Company
-map indicates with equal homeliness, "The Three Paps." The name "Three
-Tetons" survived, however, and was officially recognized by
-cartographers. The name first appeared publicly in the Bonneville Map of
-1837.
-
-The Upper Snake River (i.e., above the mouth of Henry's Fork) was called
-"Mad River" by the Astorians. Others simply referred to it as the
-"Columbia River" or "the headwaters of the Columbia," but to most of the
-fur trappers it was "Lewis River" or "Lewis Fork," so originally named
-in the Clark Map of 1810 for Capt. Meriwether Lewis, as Clark's Fork of
-the Columbia was named after his fellow explorer, Capt. William Clark.
-This name was much more appropriate than its present one, which is
-derived from the Snake or Shoshone Indians, and first appears on the
-Greenhow Map of 1840.
-
-In spite of past efforts by water power advocates to "improve" it by a
-dam, Yellowstone Lake remains just as it was when first discovered by
-John Colter, the original "Lake Eustis" of the Clark Map of 1810.
-Jackson Lake, however, was enlarged by a dam built in 1916 by the Bureau
-of Reclamation. This lake is identifiable with the "Lake Biddle" of the
-Clark Map of 1810, the "Teton Lake" of Warren A. Ferris, and the "Lewis
-Lake" referred to frequently by another trapper, Joseph L. Meek. There
-is today a tributary of the Upper Snake known as Lewis River, heading in
-a Lewis Lake within the confines of Yellowstone National Park, neither
-of which are to be confused with the historic "Lewis River" and "Lewis
-Lake."
-
-            [Illustration: Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.]
-
-                      [Illustration: POWDER HORN]
-
-
-
-
-        II. The Mystery of "La Roche Jaune" or Yellow Rock River
-
-
-For some twenty years before the advent of Lewis and Clark,
-French-Canadian voyageurs of the North West Company were in league with
-the Mandans, and from these Indians learned of the distant "Pierre
-Jaune" or "Roche Jaune" River, a translation from the Indian equivalent
-of "Yellow Rock River." Chittenden theorizes that the ultimate origin of
-the name descends from the brilliant and infinite varieties of yellow
-which dominate the color scheme of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,
-and which probably awed the first aboriginal explorer just as it does
-today's auto-borne tourist.
-
-Although there is room for debate as to whether any of the Canadian
-traders beat Lewis and Clark to the mouth of the Yellowstone, it is
-certain that one of their number preceded the Americans in the approach
-to its headwaters. On September 10, 1805, Francois Antoine Larocque
-reached "Riviere aux Roches Jaunes" just below the mouth of Pryor's
-Fork, near present Billings, Montana, in the course of "a voyage of
-discovery to the Rocky Mountains." After wintering at the Mandan
-villages in 1804-1805 as a neighbor of the hibernating Lewis and Clark,
-and being thwarted in his desire to accompany them upstream, Larocque
-had returned to his post on the Assiniboine for supplies, then hurried
-back to the Mandans, going from there overland via Knife River, the
-Little Missouri, and the Tongue to the Bighorn Mountains, country of the
-Crows.
-
-While wintering with the Mandans, Captain Clark sketched two maps of the
-unexplored country westward, based on "the information of traders,
-indians and my own observation and ideas." One of these shows
-"Rochejhone River" with six tributaries from the south, five with Indian
-names, two translated as "Tongue River" and "Big Horn R." The Bighorns
-and Rocky Mountains beyond are represented only by diagrammatic strokes.
-There is a trail from the mouth of Knife River to the Bighorns, roughly
-the same subsequently taken by Larocque. This was actually a refinement
-of a sketch made for Clark by the Mandan Chief Big White. The second map
-shows "River yellow rock" minus tributaries but with the Crows ("gens de
-Corbeau") located just west of an imaginative "montagne de
-roche--conjecturall." These maps, the first to our knowledge to depict
-the Yellowstone River, were sent to President Jefferson on April 7,
-1805, by Meriwether Lewis, to accompany his eagerly awaited progress
-report.
-
-Upon their return trip in 1806, after wintering at Fort Clatsop at the
-mouth of the Columbia, Lewis and Clark divided in order to explore the
-country more thoroughly, the latter undertaking to determine the source
-of the mysterious Yellowstone. On July 15, with eleven white men, the
-Indian woman Sacajawea and her baby, the cavalcade crossed Bozeman Pass,
-which marks the divide between the Yellowstone and Gallatin Fork, and
-reached the vicinity of present Livingston, Montana. Never suspecting
-what wonders lay concealed behind the snowy mountain wall to the south,
-Clark hurried on down the river to rejoin Lewis, with glory enough for
-one expedition.
-
-There is only one hint of volcanic phenomena which Clark seems to have
-obtained from any source other than the presumed conversation with
-Colter, mentioned below. This was an Indian tale, received after Clark's
-return, but before Colter's return, to the effect that at the head of
-Tongue River, a branch of the Yellowstone, "there is frequently heard a
-loud noise like Thunder, which makes the earth Tremble, they state that
-they seldom go there because their children Cannot sleep--and Conceive
-it possessed of spirits, who were averse that men Should be near them."
-Speculates Vinton, "it can hardly be doubted that the Indians referred
-to the geyser basin in the Park," rather than to the Tongue River
-neighborhood.
-
-It is commonly supposed that, prior to Colter, no white man had
-knowledge of strange phenomena on the Upper Yellowstone, this
-supposition being one of the pillars of the "first-discovery" theory. It
-is fairly evident that Clark knew nothing of geysers when he was within
-seventy-five miles of them in 1806 but, ironically enough, at this time
-some intimation of them had certainly reached others, including Clark's
-sponsor, Thomas Jefferson. On October 22, 1805, James Wilkinson,
-governor of Louisiana Territory, with headquarters in St. Louis, sent to
-the President, in care of Captain Amos Stoddard,
-
-  a Savage delineation on a Buffalo Pelt, of the Missouri & its South
-  Western branches, including the Rivers plate & Lycorne or Pierre
-  jaune; This Rude Sketch without Scale or Compass 'et remplie de
-  Fantaisies ridicules' is not destitute of Interests, as it exposes the
-  location of several important Objects, & may point the way to useful
-  enquiry--among other things a little incredible, a volcano is
-  distinctly described on Yellow Stone River.
-
-Wilkinson apparently obtained this primitive map from unidentified
-traders. It could not have been a copy of Clark's map sent from Fort
-Mandan the April previous, for it obviously contained new data. In an
-advice to Henry Dearborn, Secretary of War, dated September 18, 1805,
-Wilkinson revealed that his interest in Yellowstone curiosities was
-sufficiently aroused to dispatch an expedition of his own upriver!
-
-  I have equipt a Perogue out of my Small private means, not with any
-  view to Self interest, to ascend the missouri and enter the River
-  Piere jaune, or yellow Stone, called by the natives, Unicorn River,
-  the same by which Capt. Lewis I find since expects to return and which
-  my informants tell me is filled with wonders. This Party will not get
-  back before the Summer 1807--they are natives of this town....
-
-Who were Wilkinson's explorers, and what became of them? Who were the
-"informants"? Was their information firsthand or derived from Indians
-who, unlike the Mandans, were acquainted with details of the Upper
-Yellowstone? These questions may be unanswerable, but they arise to
-shadow the giant figure of John Colter.
-
-   [Illustration: Fur Trade Museum, Moose Visitor Center--Grand Teton
-                      National Park Headquarters.]
-
-                      [Illustration: HAWKEN RIFLE]
-
-
-
-
-           III. John Colter, the Phantom Explorer--1807-1808
-
-
-The epic journey of discovery known as "The Lewis and Clark Expedition"
-was organized in the autumn of 1803 at Maysville, Kentucky. Here, on
-October 15, John Colter enlisted as a private with the stipulated pay of
-$5 a month, apparently answering the requirement for "good hunters,
-stout, healthy, unmarried men, accustomed to the woods and capable of
-bearing bodily fatigue in a pretty considerable degree."
-
-Colter shared all the hardships and triumphs of the expedition, as well
-as routine adventure in hunting, starving, Indian diplomacy, and getting
-chased by grizzly bears. In August 1806 the returning party reached the
-Mandan villages. Here Colter was granted permission by the explorers to
-take his leave and join two trappers from Illinois, Forrest Hancock and
-Joseph Dickson, bound for Yellowstone River.
-
-The extent of the wanderings of this trio is not known. In the spring of
-1807 Colter alone paddled a canoe down the Missouri to the mouth of the
-Platte where he found keelboats of the Missouri Fur Company of St.
-Louis, led by Manuel Lisa. He was promptly recruited and went with this
-expedition up the Missouri and the Yellowstone to the mouth of the
-Bighorn River, where Lisa built a log fort known as Fort Raymond or
-Manuel's Fort.
-
-It was from this point that Colter made his famous journey of discovery
-during the autumn and winter of 1807-1808. Colter left no written record
-of his own. The only thing resembling written evidence is the following
-by Henry Brackenridge, who heard it from Manuel Lisa:
-
-  He [Lisa] continued his voyage to the Yellowstone River, where he
-  built a trading fort. He shortly after dispatched Coulter, the hunter
-  before mentioned, to bring some of the Indian nations to trade. This
-  man, with a pack of thirty pounds weight, his gun and some ammunition,
-  went upwards of five hundred miles to the Crow nation; gave them
-  information, and proceeded from them to several other tribes. On his
-  return, a party of Indians in whose company he happened to be was
-  attacked, and he was lamed by a severe wound in the leg;
-  notwithstanding which, he returned to the establishment, entirely
-  alone and without assistance, several hundred miles.
-
-Aside from this slim clue, his course can be determined solely on the
-basis of "Colter's Route in 1807" and other data which appear on William
-Clark's "Map of the West," published in 1814, presumably based on a
-conversation of 1810 at St. Louis, whither the trapper-explorer returned
-after hair-raising adventures with the Blackfeet in the Three Forks
-country. Inevitably, in view of the topographical errors and distortions
-of the Clark map, Colter's precise route is subject to wide differences
-of opinion.
-
-A composite of theories offered by Hiram M. Chittenden, Stallo Vinton,
-Charles Lindsay, and Burton Harris, to mention only four qualified
-scholars who have undertaken to hypothecate Colter's route, is that
-Colter ascended the Bighorn, followed up the Shoshone River to near
-present Cody, went south along the foot of the Absaroka Mountains, up
-Wind River to Union Pass, into Jackson's Hole, thence probably across
-Teton Pass into Pierre's Hole, thence north via Conant Pass to the west
-shore of Yellowstone Lake and northeast to the crossing of the
-Yellowstone near Tower Falls, thence up the Lamar River and Soda Butte
-Creek, back across the Absarokas, thence south to the Shoshone River,
-and back to Lisa's Fort by way of Clark's Fork and Pryor's Fork.
-
-The key to Colter's route is the identification of Lakes Jackson and
-Yellowstone, respectively, as Clark's Lake Biddle (named for the patron
-of his publication) and Lake Eustis (named for the Secretary of War), no
-longer questioned by historians. The "Hot Spring Brimstone" at the
-sulphur beds crossing of the Yellowstone River near Tower Falls and the
-"Boiling Spring" near the forks of the Stinkingwater or Shoshone (see
-Chapter IV) are other checkpoints which now seem quite firm. In
-addition, there are two interesting claims of physical evidence. While
-these are both necessarily debatable and subject to challenge as hoaxes,
-they deserve consideration. According to Philip A. Rollins, quoted by
-Vinton:
-
-  In September of 1889, Tazewell Woody (Theodore Roosevelt's hunting
-  guide), John H. Dewing (also a hunting guide) and I, found on the left
-  side of Coulter Creek, some fifty feet from the water and about three
-  quarters of a mile above the creek's mouth, a large pine tree on which
-  was a deeply indented blaze, which after being cleared of sap and
-  loose bark was found to consist of a cross thus 'X' (some five inches
-  in height), and, under it, the initials 'J C' (each some four inches
-  in height).
-
-  The blaze appeared to these trained hunting guides, so they stated to
-  me, to be approximately eighty years old.
-
-  They refused to fell the tree and so obtain the exact age of the blaze
-  because they said they guessed the blaze had been made by Colter
-  himself.
-
-  The find was reported to the Government authorities, and the tree was
-  cut down by them in 1889 or 1890, in order that the blazed section
-  might be installed in a museum, but as I was told in the autumn of
-  1890 by the then superintendent of the Yellowstone Park, the blazed
-  section had been lost in transit.
-
-The second reputed Colter relic, which has survived, is the so-called
-"Colter Stone" which is now exhibited by the National Park Service in
-its new Fur Trade Museum at the Moose Visitor Center, Grand Teton
-National Park. This is a piece of rhyolite hand-carved roughly in the
-shape of a human head, with the inscribed lettering "John Colter 1808."
-This specimen was dug up in 1931 by William Beard and son while clearing
-timber on their farm about five miles east of Tetonia, Idaho, just
-within the Wyoming state line. In 1933 Aubrey Lyon, a neighbor, obtained
-the "stone head" in trade for a pair of riding boots, and presented it
-to park officials.
-
-[Illustration: Colter's Hell today (with Superintendent Lon Garrison and
-                                 wife).
-                                                         Photo by Author]
-
-Although the natural tendency to view such finds with skepticism may be
-respected here, several factors lend plausibility. Members of the Beard
-family had no knowledge of John Colter. In 1931 the Colter story had not
-been well researched, and the version then was largely confined to the
-year 1807; yet if Colter made winter camp in the Teton Basin, and left a
-record to help while away the time, this would logically occur early in
-1808. The stone itself yields no conclusive evidence on the basis of
-wear or patination; but some geologists agree that 125 years of
-weathering and soil acidity could have elapsed between the initial
-carving and time of discovery. At least the Colter Stone is a great
-historical conversation piece!
-
-According to Thomas James, an associate of Colter's, the fight with the
-Blackfeet, mentioned by Brackenridge as occurring on Colter's
-Yellowstone journey, did not actually occur until the summer of 1808,
-near the Three Forks of the Missouri. On this occasion Colter was
-wounded in the furious battle between the Blackfeet and Flatheads.
-
-Still later in 1808 Colter and John Potts (another Lewis and Clark
-veteran) were captured by Blackfeet on Jefferson River. Potts was killed
-and dismembered. Colter was stripped naked and told to run for his life.
-The Indians, who were to have great sport with Colter in this way, were
-enraged when he managed to escape his tormentors and kill one of them.
-He finally made his way back to Manuel's Fort, greatly emaciated.
-
-After this fabulous feat of endurance, Colter remained in the wilderness
-until 1810, when he guided Colonel Menard to Three Forks, where a new
-fort was built, which was subject to constant Blackfeet harassment.
-Vowing never to return to the mountains, Colter returned downriver to
-St. Louis, arriving in May 1810 after six years of perils which well
-entitle him to claim as "The American Ulysses."
-
-Colter settled at the village of Charette, a few miles above the mouth
-of the Missouri River, and married a girl named Sally. According to
-Washington Irving, in 1811 Wilson Price Hunt of the Astorian expedition
-attempted to persuade Colter to join him but this Colter declined to do
-after "balancing the charms of his bride against those of the Rocky
-Mountains." In 1813 he died, ingloriously, of "jaundice." Thus passed
-the phantom discoverer of the Teton-Yellowstone region, to whom James
-pays this tribute:
-
-  [Colter was] five feet ten inches in height and wore an open,
-  ingenious, and pleasing countenance of the Daniel Boone stamp. Nature
-  had formed him, like Boone, for hardy indurance of fatigue, privation
-  and perils.... His veracity was never questioned among us and his
-  character was that of a true American backwoodsman.
-
-    [Illustration: Upper Geyser Basin from the cone of Old Faithful.
-                                               W. H. Jackson photo. 1871]
-
-                      [Illustration: WHISKEY KEGS]
-
-
-
-
-            IV. "Colter's Hell": A Case of Mistaken Identity
-
-
-One of the most venerable old axioms of fur trade history is that of
-Colter's Hell, which may be formulated thus: "After John Colter
-discovered what is now Yellowstone National Park, he told others of the
-scenic wonders there. No one believed him, and his listeners derisively
-dubbed the imaginary place Colter's Hell." No item of Yellowstone
-history is more widely believed, more universally beloved, and more
-transparently incorrect.
-
-There was a Colter's Hell in the fur trappers lexicon, which referred
-specifically to an ancient thermal area bordering the Shoshone River
-just west of present Cody, Wyoming. The term was never applied
-historically to the thermal zone within Yellowstone Park itself. It was
-Hiram M. Chittenden, the esteemed engineer and historian who first
-suggested this usage in 1895 with the original edition of his book,
-Yellowstone National Park.
-
-The earliest published reference to "Colter's Hell" is in Washington
-Irving's version of Capt. Benjamin L. E. Bonneville's journal narrating
-events from 1832 to 1835. However, note here that this "volcanic tract"
-with its "gloomy terrors, its hidden fires, smoking pits, noxious
-streams and the all-pervading 'smell of brimstone'" was located,
-according to Irving, not on the headwaters of the Yellowstone but on the
-Shoshone or "the Stinking River" or "the Stinkingwater," originally
-named on the Clark Map. It was Chittenden in 1895 and not Irving in 1837
-who started the legend by asserting vaguely that "the region of ...
-[Colter's] adventures was long derisively known as 'Colter's Hell,'"
-implying that by "region" he meant Yellowstone Park, the subject of his
-book. He does not accuse Bonneville or Irving of error, perforce
-conceding that "this name early came to be restricted to the locality
-where Colter discovered the tar spring on the Stinkingwater," but he
-hopefully guesses that "Colter's description, so well summed up by
-Irving ... undoubtedly referred in large part to what he saw in the
-Yellowstone and Snake River Valleys." This is where the misconception
-got started.
-
-It is significant that no historian prior to Chittenden entertained this
-misconception. For example, in 1890 Hubert H. Bancroft wrote: "Far east
-of ... [the volcanic basins on the Upper Madison], on the Stinkingwater
-Fork ... is Colter's Hell, where similar phenomenon is exhibited on a
-lesser scale." It is further significant that in his monumental American
-Fur Trade of the Far West, the first edition of which appeared in 1902,
-seven years after the first edition of Yellowstone, Chittenden wrote
-that Colter was "the first to pass through the singular region which has
-since become known throughout the world as the Yellowstone Wonderland.
-He also saw the immense tar spring at the forks of Stinkingwater River,
-a spot which came to bear the name of Colter's Hell." This is his only
-reference here to the term, which is a clear if tacit admission that he
-was in error in the first instance to create the impression that it ever
-applied contemporaneously to Yellowstone Park. But the impression once
-created would not down. Like Aladdin's wonderful lamp, the jinni was out
-of the bottle, and the poetic version of "Colter's Hell" has become a
-stock item in Western literature.
-
-Defenders of the Colter's Hell mythology are eager to challenge
-Washington Irving as an authority. True, Irving's Captain Bonneville by
-his own admission never personally saw the Yellowstone Park area. Also,
-it is true that geysers are not to be seen today along the Shoshone
-River. Hence it might be reasoned that the only noteworthy thermal
-activity in 1807 was likewise confined to the Yellowstone (more
-particularly, to the upper Madison), and that Bonneville was merely
-reporting a twisted rumor. But a cold examination of the facts shows
-that Irving and Bonneville were correct.
-
-                    [Illustration: Colter Monument.
-                                                         Photo by Author]
-
-First, there is no good reason to question Bonneville's geographical
-knowledge. While he never saw it himself, Bonneville had quite a crew
-circulating through the future park as early as 1833 and, in fact, there
-is reason to believe that the great geyser basin of Firehole River,
-climaxed by Old Faithful, was discovered that year by one of his own
-lieutenants (see Chapter VII).
-
-Secondly, although there are no phenomena readily apparent to passing
-motorists at the bona fide and unmarked Colter's Hell site just west of
-Cody, the evidence of thermal activity, not entirely extinct now, is
-abundantly evident to anyone who cares to pause enroute to or from
-Yellowstone's East Gate. On the Canyon rim downstream from the rocky
-defile enclosing the Buffalo Bill Dam, there are extinct geyser cones up
-to thirty feet in height and an extensive crust of fragile sinter. In
-the canyon floor itself there are bubbling fountains in the river bed,
-and the same pervasive smell of rotten eggs, (or more scientifically,
-sulphur dioxide) which assails one's nostrils on the Upper Firehole.
-(Other related hot springs once existed at the forks of the Shoshone,
-now drowned beneath the reservoir).
-
-            [Illustration: Colter Stone Find Site (Wyoming).
-                                                         Photo by Author]
-
-How very strange that this spot, quite evidently the "Boiling Spring" of
-Colter's famous route on the William Clark Map of 1810, has been largely
-ignored since 1895. Campfire writers and lecturers have been so
-enchanted by the Yellowstone "Wonderland," they never gave thought to
-this historical-geological feature 50 miles outside of the Park
-boundary.
-
-Thirdly, Bonneville wasn't the only one who knew about the phenomena on
-the Stinkingwater. The true identity of Colter's Hell was well
-understood by other mountain men. In 1829 Joe Meek knew all about steam
-vents "on the Yellowstone Plains," but he also was familiar with a
-volcanic tract on "Stinking Fork," previously "seen by one of Lewis and
-Clarke's men, named Colter, while on a solitary hunt, and by him also
-denominated 'hell.'" In 1852 the famed missionary-explorer, Father De
-Smet, cited "Captain Bridger" as the source of his information that,
-"Near the source of the River Puante, which empties into the Big Horn
-... is a place called Colter's Hell--from a beaver-hunter of that name.
-This locality is often agitated with subterranean fires...."
-
-Stallo Vinton, early Colter biographer and editor of the 1935 edition of
-Chittenden's American Fur Trade, paid no attention to Chittenden's
-footnoted correction of 1902. Rather, he did more than anyone, perhaps,
-to exterminate the true Colter's Hell and pin the name on the National
-Park. He accuses Irving of a substantial error in locating "Hell" on the
-Stinking River. Similarly, he ignores Joe Meek's careful distinction
-between the Yellowstone and Shoshone volcanic tracts.
-
-In 1863 Walter Washington DeLacy accompanied a party of Montana
-gold-seekers through the Yellowstone Park area. Although his companions
-were too absorbed in the search for the precious metal to pay any
-attention to the scenic wonders, DeLacy, a surveyor by trade, did pay
-attention and subsequently published a crude but illuminating map of the
-Park region. Here the principal geyser basin on Firehole River is called
-"Hot Springs Valley." And far to the east, near the forks of the
-Shoshone is a "Hot Spring, Colter's Hill." [sic] In 1867 the official
-map of the Interior Department, by Keeler, apparently reproducing
-DeLacy's data, also indicates a "Hot Spring, Coulter's Hill." [sic] So
-the Federal Government, at this early date, gave this official
-recognition to the clear distinction between the two thermal areas.
-
-Vinton refers to the DeLacy and Keeler maps but he dismisses this
-further evidence as a mistake. Perhaps his stubborn version of Colter's
-Hell would have collapsed if he had seen the recently discovered
-Bridger-De Smet Map of 1851, in the Office of Indian Affairs. Here
-Bridger also clearly distinguishes between "Sulphur Spring or Colter's
-Hell Volcano" on Stinking Fork and an entirely different "Great Volcanic
-Region in state of eruption" drained by Firehole River. (See Chapter
-VIII.) Can we invoke any higher authority than Jim Bridger?
-
-                      [Illustration: Jim Bridger.]
-
-                   [Illustration: GREEN RIVER KNIFE]
-
-
-
-
-     V. "Les Trois Tetons": The Golden Age of Discovery, 1810-1824
-
-
-In the spring of 1810, after Colter had departed, the Missouri Fur
-Company fort at Three Forks was so besieged by the Blackfeet that Andrew
-Henry was forced to flee with his trappers southwestward. They crossed
-the Continental Divide to the north fork of Snake River, since known as
-Henry's Fork. A few log shelters built here near present St. Anthony,
-Idaho, called "Henry's Fort," became the first American establishment on
-the Pacific slope. During the rigorous winter of 1810-1811 it may be
-reasoned that these men explored the country within a wide radius of the
-Teton Mountains. Any belief that they touched Yellowstone Park must be
-conjectural, but that they were acquainted with Jackson's Hole is quite
-evident from the testimony of the Astorians. In the spring of 1811 the
-starving company disbanded. Henry and others returned down the Missouri
-via Three Forks, while John Hoback, John Robinson and Jacob Reznor went
-eastward via Teton Pass, Jackson's Hole, Twogwotee Pass, and overland to
-the Arikara villages on the Missouri, where they shaped a dugout and
-proceeded downstream.
-
-In 1808 John Jacob Astor secured a charter from the state of New York
-creating the American Fur Company. The most ambitious of his schemes was
-the establishment of a trading post at the mouth of the Columbia River,
-to exploit the wealth of the Northwestern wilderness. To promote this
-enterprise, Astor organized the subsidiary Pacific Fur Company and sent
-out two expeditions, one of which went by sea around Cape Horn, while
-the other was to proceed overland along the route of Lewis and Clark.
-The overland Astorians achieved fame as the first transcontinental
-expedition after Lewis and Clark, but fate decreed that they should
-blaze their own trail--through Jackson's Hole.
-
-Early in 1811 the overland party, under the command of Wilson Price Hunt
-of New Jersey, left St. Louis and sailed by keelboat up the Missouri
-River. On May 26, near the mouth of the Niobrara River, they met Hoback,
-Robinson, and Reznor. This trio was persuaded to join the outfit as
-guides and hunters, and it appears that it was their reports of hostile
-Indians on the Upper Missouri that prompted Hunt to abandon his boats on
-July 18 at the Arikara villages and proceed on dry land. From this point
-on the expedition consisted of 82 horses, 62 men, and the squaw and two
-children belonging to the interpreter Pierre Dorion.
-
-                     [Illustration: Fort Astoria.]
-
-The hopeful caravan retraced the route that Hoback and his companions
-had followed across the trackless plains and the Bighorn Mountains, then
-started up Wind River. Here, on September 14, according to Irving's
-Astoria, the guides
-
-  assured Mr. Hunt that, by following up Wind River, and crossing a
-  single mountain ridge, he would come upon the head waters of the
-  Columbia. The scarcity of game, however, which already had been felt
-  to a pinching degree, and which threatened them with famine among the
-  sterile heights which lay before them, admonished them to change their
-  course. It was determined, therefore, to make for a stream [Green
-  River] which, they were informed, passed the neighboring mountains to
-  the south and west, on the grassy banks of which it was probable they
-  would meet with buffalo. Accordingly about three o'clock on the
-  following day, meeting with a beaten Indian road which led in the
-  proper direction, they struck into it, turning their backs upon Wind
-  River.
-
-  In the course of the day they came to a height that commanded an
-  almost boundless prospect. Here one of the guides paused, and, after
-  considering the vast landscape attentively, pointed to three mountain
-  peaks glistening with snow [the Tetons], which rose, he said, above a
-  fork of Columbia River. They were hailed by the travellers with that
-  joy with which a beacon on a sea-shore is hailed by mariners after a
-  long and dangerous voyage....
-
-After a buffalo hunt on the "Spanish" or Green River, the Astorians
-crossed the dividing ridge to the head of the Hoback River (presumably
-then named in honor of their guide), which they followed into Jackson's
-Hole.
-
-The Hunt cavalcade paused at the confluence of the Hoback and the Snake
-rivers, and debated. "Should they abandon their horses, cast themselves
-loose in fragile barks upon this wild, doubtful, and unknown river; or
-should they continue their more toilsome and tedious, but perhaps more
-certain wayfaring by land?" After some tentative exploring of the Snake
-River Canyon, and upon the advice of the three hunters, they wisely
-decided in favor of the latter course. They forded the Snake, and on
-October 5 as they crossed "the mountain [Teton Pass] ... by an easy and
-well-beaten trail, snow whitened the summit...." On the 8th they arrived
-at Andrew Henry's abandoned post. Here Hoback, Robinson, Reznor, and two
-others left the party on a separate exploring trip; and here it was that
-Hunt yielded to the demands of his followers, which he previously had
-resisted, and abandoned his horses in favor of passage by canoe flotilla
-down the Snake, a tragic mistake which brought great suffering to the
-Astorians before they reached their goal.
-
-While the main body passed on, four men remained in Jackson's Hole to
-"catch beaver." This was the first known actual trapping of that area.
-Even more important, it was the first actual step in the great
-commercial project of Astoria. Irving recognized the significance of
-this move:
-
-  [The expedition] had now arrived at the head waters of the Columbia,
-  which were among the main points embraced by the enterprise of Mr.
-  Astor. These upper streams were reputed to abound in beaver, and had
-  as yet been unmolested by the white trapper. The numerous signs of
-  beaver met with during the recent search for timber gave evidence that
-  the neighborhood was a good 'trapping ground.' Here then it was proper
-  to begin to cast loose those leashes of hardy trappers, that are
-  detached from trading parties, in the very heart of the wilderness.
-  The men detached in the present instance were Alexander Carson, Louis
-  St. Michel, Pierre Detaye, and Pierre Delaunay.
-
-                  [Illustration: Snake River crossing.
-                                                         Photo by Author]
-
-These men were instructed to "trap upon the upper part of Mad (Snake)
-River, and upon the neighboring streams." Whether they entered
-Yellowstone Park at this time is entirely conjectural. In the spring of
-1812 they were attacked by Crow Indians near the Three Forks, and Detaye
-was killed.
-
-On June 29, 1812, seven men led by Robert Stuart left Astoria carrying
-dispatches overland to Astor. The party arrived at St. Louis on April
-30, 1813. They were the first organized transcontinental expedition
-eastbound after the return of Lewis and Clark, and the first to discover
-South Pass and the great Platte or Central route which was destined to
-become the main highway of the covered-wagon migrations. This journey
-again took them through Jackson's Hole.
-
-Stuart had gone out to Astoria by sea, but his fellow travelers had all
-been members of the Hunt expedition. These were John Day, Benjamin
-Jones, Francois Leclerc, Andre Valle, Ramsay Crooks, and Robert
-McClellan. Soon after setting out up the Columbia River John Day became
-violently deranged because of his sufferings from the previous winter
-and had to be sent back to Astoria. To the six remaining travelers,
-however, was eventually added Joseph Miller, who had been with Hoback,
-Robinson, and Reznor after they left Hunt in October 1811. The Stuart
-party reached Bear River intending to go due east; but there Crow
-Indians got on their trail. To elude them Stuart went north to the Snake
-and thus struck Hunt's route of the preceding year. At Snake or "Mad
-River" near the present Idaho-Wyoming boundary, Crows stampeded their
-horses. They built a raft and descended the Snake for over a hundred
-miles, then crossed over the Snake River Range to Pierre's Hole at the
-foot of the "Pilot Knobs," where they reached familiar territory.
-
-Here, in order to avoid a chance encounter with a Blackfoot war party,
-Stuart kept to the foothills, but the cantankerous McClellan,
-complaining of sore feet, refused to detour and went his own way. He was
-not to be seen again for thirteen days. Crooks, who had been ailing for
-some time, fell desperately ill, and despite recourse to castor oil and
-"an Indian sweat," tied up the expedition in Pierre's Hole for four
-days. On October 5 they set out again and on the 7th crossed "the summit
-of Pilot Knob Mountain [Teton Pass]" and reached the east bank of "Mad
-River." Their stock of venison was by this time depleted. On the 9th
-they started up the precipitous Hoback Canyon and on the 12th reached
-Green River drainage, where they found McClellan. Warding off starvation
-by slaughtering an "old rundown buffalo bull," the travelers journeyed
-from here to South Pass and down the Platte, wintering in the vicinity
-of Scotts Bluff.
-
-For a few years after Stuart's party disappeared up Hoback Canyon, the
-Tetons and Jackson's Hole were left in solitude. Due to the hostility of
-the Blackfeet, the loss of Astoria in the War of 1812, and the
-indifference of the Federal Government, American interest in the Western
-Fur trade suffered a relapse. British interests now took the initiative.
-In 1816 the Northwest Company, licensed by the Crown to trade in Oregon,
-put Donald McKenzie in charge of the Snake River division. From Fort Nez
-Perce at the mouth of the Walla Walla, he set forth in September of 1818
-at the head of an expedition "composed of fifty-five men, of all
-denominations, 195 horses and 300 beaver traps, besides a considerable
-stock of merchandise." He reported his course to Alexander Ross:
-
-  From this place [the "Skamnaugh" or Boise] we advanced, suffering
-  occasionally from alarms for twenty-five days, and then found
-  ourselves in a rich field of beaver, in the country lying between the
-  great south branch and the Spanish waters [Bear River?].... I left my
-  people at the end of four months. Then taking a circuitous route along
-  the foot of the Rocky Mountains, a country extremely dreary during a
-  winter voyage, I reached the head water of the great south branch
-  regretting every step I made that we had been so long deprived of the
-  riches of such a country....
-
-In a description of the Snake River country, presumably furnished him by
-McKenzie, Ross continues:
-
-[Illustration: "The British Threat"--Exhibit in Fur Trade Museum, Grand
-                         Teton National Park.]
-
-      For twelve years after the returning Astorians disappeared up the
-      Hoback, no Americans entered Jackson Hole. The British North West
-      Company, and then the Hudson's Bay Company, with which it merged,
-      trapped unchallenged west of the Rockies.
-
-  The Rocky Mountains skirting this country on the East, dwindle from
-  stupendous heights into sloping ridges, which divide the country into
-  a thousand luxurious vales, watered by streams which abound in fish.
-  The most remarkable heights in any part of the great backbone of
-  America are three elevated insular mountains, or peaks, which are seen
-  at the distance of one hundred and fifty miles: the hunters very aptly
-  designate them the Pilot Knobs they are now generally known as the
-  Three Paps or 'Tetons'; and the source of the Great Snake River is in
-  their neighborhood....
-
-  Boiling fountains, having different degrees of temperatures, were very
-  numerous; one or two were so very hot as to boil meat. In other parts,
-  among the rocks, hot and cold springs might alternately be seen within
-  a hundred yards of each other, differing in their temperature.
-
-McKenzie's exact route can only be conjectural, but the context suggests
-passage through Jackson's Hole into a corner, at least, of Yellowstone
-Park. It was apparently on this occasion that the "Trois Tetons" and
-"Pierre's Hole" were given their names by Iroquois or French-Canadians
-who accompanied McKenzie.
-
-Chittenden reports the discovery in 1880 by Colonel P. W. Norris of a
-tree near the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone with the inscription "JOR
-Aug 19 1819." Although of course the initials prove nothing as to
-identity, Chittenden accepts this as proof of white men in the Park at
-that time.
-
-Stimulated by McKenzie's success in acquiring peltries, the Northwest
-Company followed up with other Snake River expeditions. The threat of
-British domination of Oregon was aggravated when, in 1821, the Northwest
-Company was absorbed by the powerful Hudson's Bay Company.
-
-Shortly after the consolidation of the British companies, the prospects
-for a revival of American interest in the mountain fur trade were
-awakened in the frontier town of St. Louis by the formation of a
-partnership that would evolve into the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. In
-1822 General William H. Ashley and the veteran Major Andrew Henry
-enlisted the aid of "one hundred young men to ascend the Missouri River
-to its source" on a trapping expedition. Among those who joined the
-enterprise, then or subsequently, were men destined to make history in
-the West--James Bridger, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Jedediah Smith, William
-Sublette and David E. Jackson. They were green boys, hardly fit material
-for an epic invasion of the uncharted Rocky Mountains; yet they were
-destined to become continental explorers.
-
-Henry took his young men in keelboats up the Missouri to the mouth of
-the Yellowstone, where they spent the winter. In the spring of 1823 he
-set out for the Blackfoot country to the west. Again, as in 1810, these
-Indians proved to be most inhospitable, scalping four of his recruits
-and driving him back to his fort. Meanwhile General Ashley organized
-another expedition and proceeded upriver without incident until he
-arrived at the villages of the Arikara. There his plans were upset by a
-treacherous attack in which thirteen of his men were killed and many
-others were wounded. Colonel Leavenworth hastened to the rescue, but his
-campaign against the Indians was something of a fiasco. Soon afterward
-Ashley returned to St. Louis, Henry returned to his post on the
-Yellowstone, and a third contingent started overland under the command
-of Jedediah Smith. In February 1824 this last group made the first
-crossing of South Pass from east to west, their discovery of rich beaver
-fields in Green River Basin opening a new era in fur trade history. In
-June they split into four parties. Fitzpatrick, heading east for Fort
-Atkinson to report the situation to Ashley, rediscovered the Platte
-route of the returning Astorians; Sublette, Bridger, and others went
-southwest to explore the Bear River country and lay claim to the
-discovery of Great Salt Lake; and Smith, with six unidentified
-companions, went north. The details of their course are given in
-Washington Hood's Original draft of a report of a practicable route for
-wheeled vehicles across the mountains, written at Independence, August
-12, 1839.
-
-  After striking the Colorado, or Green river, make up the stream toward
-  its headwaters, as far as Horse creek, one of its tributaries, follow
-  out this last mentioned stream to its source by a westerly course,
-  across the main ridge in order to attain Jackson's Little Hole, at the
-  headwaters of Jackson's fork [Hoback River]. Follow down Jackson's
-  fork to its mouth and decline to the northward along Lewis's fork
-  [Snake River], passing through Jackson's Big Hole to about twelve
-  miles beyond the Yellowstone pass [sic], crossing on the route a
-  nameless beaver stream. Here the route passes due west over another
-  prong of the ridge [Conant Pass], a fraction worse than the former,
-  followed until it has attained the headwaters of Pierre's Hole,
-  crossing the Big Teton, the battleground of the Blacksmith's fork;
-  ford Pierre's fork eastward of the butte at its mouth and Lewis fork
-  also, thence pass to the mouth of Lewis fork.
-
-Subsequently the Smith party encountered a Hudson's Bay Company brigade
-under Alexander Ross, giving first notice that Americans would actively
-contest British claims to Oregon. This expedition to the Jackson's Hole
-country was also significant as the first in an amazing series which has
-established Jedediah Smith as perhaps the foremost explorer of Western
-America.
-
-We have noted the visit of McKenzie's brigade of British-Canadians to
-the Upper Snake and a region of boiling fountains, in 1818-1819, as
-reported by Ross. Now, in 1824, Ross himself conducted the second
-British invasion of Yellowstone Park, while crossing from Okanagon to
-the headwaters of the Missouri. In the foolscap folios which make up his
-official report, the entry for April 24 reads: "We crossed beyond the
-Boiling Fountains. The snow is knee-deep half the people are snow-blind
-from sun glare." So British traders have supplied the first clear record
-of Yellowstone thermal wonders to follow the hazy notations along
-Colter's route on The Clark Map of 1810.
-
-               [Illustration: TRADE BEADS AND HAWK BELLS]
-
-
-
-
- VI. "Jackson's Hole": Era of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, 1825-1832
-
-
-Late in 1824 General Ashley, journeying west to reap the winter's
-harvest of furs, approached the mountains by way of the little-known
-South Platte route and the Colorado Rockies and explored the lower Green
-River. In the summer of 1825 on Henry's Fork of the Green (near the
-Wyoming-Utah line) he inaugurated the annual rendezvous of the mountain
-trappers, which provided a more flexible system of fur trading than the
-"fixed fort system" which had hitherto prevailed in the Western fur
-trade. The beaver catch brought in this first year was of such magnitude
-that Ashley was assured of a substantial profit. With Smith and a strong
-guard he took his prize by pack train to the Bighorn, by bullboats to
-the mouth of the Yellowstone, and by keelboats down the Missouri River
-to St. Louis.
-
-Jedediah Smith left Flathead House in 1825 with Peter Skene Ogden of the
-Hudson's Bay Company, but left him in time to rejoin his comrades at the
-rendezvous. When the reunited Americans exchanged tales of their
-adventures, it is possible that Smith offered a glowing account of the
-Jackson's Hole region. Whatever the inspiration, Bridger and Fitzpatrick
-are reported to have headed there to resume trapping operations, after
-seeing Smith and Ashley safely down the Bighorn. This may have been the
-first large-scale trapping venture in which Jackson's Hole was a primary
-objective.
-
-The rendezvous of 1826 took place near Great Salt Lake. The turnover of
-furs was immense and, having made his fortune, General Ashley sold his
-interests to three of his most able employees, Jedediah Smith, David E.
-Jackson, and William Sublette. Smith left the rendezvous to lead a band
-southwest across the desert to the Spanish settlements of California,
-being the first to make this perilous passage. Jackson and Sublette
-headed for the Snake River country to trade with the Flatheads, taking a
-large force of trappers.
-
-Daniel T. Potts of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, one of Sublette's
-men on this expedition, is now identified as the long-mysterious author
-of the letter which first appeared in the Philadelphia Gazette and Daily
-Advertiser, September 27, 1827, reprinted in Niles' Register of October
-6, which contains the earliest known description of any portion of
-present Yellowstone National Park by an American. The original document
-came to light in 1947 when Mrs. Kate Nixon and Miss Anne G. Rittenhouse
-of Washington, D. C., collateral descendants of Potts, made themselves
-known to officials of the National Park Service. It has been fittingly
-acquired for posterity by the Yellowstone Library and Museum Association
-at Mammoth Hot Springs. The cover is addressed to "Mr. Robert T. Potts,
-High Street, Philadelphia" and stamped "St. Louis, Missouri." Dated July
-8, 1827, at the "Sweet Lake" or Bear Lake (Utah) rendezvous, it
-describes how the Potts party, no members of which are identified, went
-north after the Salt Lake rendezvous of 1826:
-
-  A few dass sinci our trader arived by whom I received two letters one
-  from Dr. Lukens the other from yourself under date of January 1827
-  which gives me great congratulation to hear that you are both happy
-  wilst I am unhappy also to hear from my friends shortly after writing
-  to you last year I took my departuri for the Black-foot Country much
-  against my will as I could not maki a party for any other rout. We
-  took a northerly direction about fifty miles where we cross Snake
-  River or the South fork of columbia at the forks of Henrys & Lewis's
-  forks at this place we was dayly harrased by the Black-feet from
-  thence up Henrys or North fork which bears North of East thirty miles
-  and crossed a large ruged Mountain which sepparates the two forks from
-  thence East up the other fork to its source which heads on the top of
-  the great chain of Rocky Mountains which sepparates the water of the
-  Atlantic from that of the Pacific. At or near this place heads the
-  Luchkadee or Calliforn Stinking fork Yellow-stone South fork of
-  Massuri and Henrys fork all those head at an angular point that of the
-  Yellow-stone has a large fresh water lake near its head on the verry
-  top of the Mountain which is about one hundrid by fourty miles in
-  diameter and as clear as crystal on the south borders of this lake is
-  a number of hot and boiling springs some of water and others of most
-  beautiful fine clay and resembles that of a mush pot and throws its
-  particles to the immense height of from twenty to thirty feet in
-  height The clay is white and of a pink and water appear fathomless as
-  it appears to be entirely hollow under neath. There is also a number
-  of places where the pure suphor is sent forth in abundance one of our
-  men Visited one of those wilst taking his recreation there at an
-  instan the earth began a tremendious trembling and he with dificulty
-  made his escape when an explosion took place resembling that of
-  thunder. During our stay in that quarter I head it every day.
-
-From here, probably the West Thumb thermal area, "by a circutous rout to
-the Nourth west" and after some more bloody encounters with the
-Blackfeet, the trappers moved toward the Bear Lake rendezvous. In 1828
-Potts left the hostile mountains and embarked from New Orleans on a
-cattle ship, which sank with all hands in the Gulf of Mexico.
-
-  [Illustration: Daniel T. Potts at the Bear Lake rendezvous of 1827.]
-
-At the 1827 rendezvous at Bear Lake Jedediah Smith appeared like a ghost
-out of the Great Salt desert, reporting that the Spanish Governor of
-California had expelled him from that province. He arranged with his
-partners, Jackson and Sublette, to meet two years hence "at the head of
-Snake River." Then, after a rest of only ten days, he summoned
-volunteers and again set his face toward the Pacific Ocean. In the
-winter of 1827-28, while Sublette attended to the business of getting
-supplies from St. Louis, Jackson sent fur brigades north from Bear Lake
-to the Snake River and its tributaries, where they came in frequent
-contact with the Hudson's Bay Company trappers under Ogden. In 1828 the
-rendezvous was again Great Salt Lake, and again the trappers dispersed
-to hunting grounds on the Bear, the Snake, and the Green.
-
-               [Illustration: Keelboat up the Missouri.]
-
-In March 1829 William Sublette left St. Louis for the mountains with a
-heavily laden pack train and 60 men, including a novice of 19 named
-Joseph L. Meek, whose life story, as told to Mrs. F. F. Victor, is a
-prime source of information. After the general rendezvous, which that
-year was held in July on the Popo Agie River northeast of South Pass,
-Captain Sublette sent a brigade under his brother, Milton Sublette, to
-the Bighorn Basin, then set out with the main party, including Meek,
-Bridger, and Fitzpatrick, for the upper Snake River Valley at the foot
-of the Tetons, the point of reunion with his partners which had been
-agreed upon two years previously. The episode which followed, one of the
-treasured traditions of the Western fur trade, is described in Mrs.
-Victor's River of the West:
-
-  Sublette led his company up the valley of the Wind River, across the
-  mountains, and on to the very headwaters of the Lewis or Snake River.
-  Here he fell in with Jackson, in the valley of Lewis Lake, called
-  Jackson's Hole, and remained on the borders of this lake for some
-  time, waiting for Smith, whose non-appearance began to create a good
-  deal of uneasiness. At length runners were dispatched in all
-  directions looking for the lost Booshway.
-
-  The detachment to which Meek was assigned had the pleasure and honor
-  of discovering the hiding place of the missing partner, which was in
-  Pierre's Hole, a mountain valley about thirty miles long and of half
-  that width, which subsequently was much frequented by the camps of the
-  various fur companies.
-
-         [Illustration: Arikara attack on Ashley Party, 1823.]
-
-This is the core of the tradition. From this it has generally been
-inferred that it was on this occasion that the lake and the valley were
-named in honor of David E. Jackson, and that this was Captain Sublette's
-idea. David E. Jackson, sometimes referred to as "Davey," is the mystery
-man of the Smith-Jackson-Sublette trio. How old he was, what he looked
-like, where he came from prior to 1823 is not known. He was one of the
-"enterprising young men" who responded to Ashley's call in that year.
-That his "rating" with trappers was high and that he was one of the
-acknowledged leaders of the Rocky Mountain fur trade is clear from the
-fact of the partnership formed in 1826. He was not illiterate, for his
-signature appears on documents, but like most of his associates he kept
-no diary, so that our knowledge of his exact wanderings is indistinct.
-It is part of the tradition that he spent the winter of 1828-29 in the
-vicinity of Jackson's Hole, and his known interest in the region prompts
-us to believe that he had spent several previous years there as well. He
-might well have been one of the six men who accompanied Smith on his
-"discovery" of Jackson Hole in 1824. He left the mountains in 1830, went
-to Santa Fe and then on to California on a trading venture in 1831, and
-apparently returned to St. Louis in 1832, where he disappears, so to
-speak, under a cloud. One rumor has it that he "ran off with property
-belonging to the firm of Jackson, Waldo and Young," another that "he
-dissipated his large and hard-earned fortune in a few years."
-
-After the reunion in Pierre's Hole, according to Meek, the entire
-company moved up Henry's Fork of the Snake, and across the Divide to the
-valleys of the Madison and Gallatin. Crossing the Gallatin Range in
-early winter, the trappers reached the vicinity of Cinnabar Mountain,
-three miles below Yellowstone Park's present North Entrance. Here two
-men were killed and the party was scattered by the Blackfeet. Meek
-alleges that he wandered into the future Park, where he ascended a high
-peak. Crossing Yellowstone River, he ran into an incredible region
-smoking "like Pittsburgh on a winter morning" with the vapor from
-boiling springs, haunted by the sound of whistling steam vents, dotted
-with cone-shaped mounds surmounted by craters from which issued "blue
-flames and molten brimstone," and devoid of living creatures. From here,
-apparently the seldom visited Mirror Plateau, Meek crossed the Absaroka
-Range to the winter camp on Powder River.
-
-About the first of April 1830, according to Meek, "Jackson, or 'Davey,'
-as he was called by his men, with about half the company, left for the
-Snake country." At the Wind River rendezvous in July, "Jackson arrived
-from the Snake country with plenty of beaver...."
-
-At Wind River, on August 4, 1830, Smith, Jackson, and Sublette, having
-earned a deserved fortune from their labors, decided to retire from the
-mountain trade, and sold their interest to a group of their employees
-who had already distinguished themselves in the service--James Bridger,
-Thomas Fitzpatrick, Milton Sublette, Henry Fraeb, and Baptiste Gervais.
-The main trapper band, numbering over two hundred and including Meek,
-followed Bridger and Fitzpatrick northward to the Three Forks of the
-Missouri, thence south to Ogden's Hole, a small valley in the Bear River
-Mountains. In the fall of 1830, John Work, heading the annual Snake
-River expedition of the Hudson's Bay Company, got wind of the American
-invasion of his domain. Among other rumors was one that Fontenelle and
-his men "have been hunting on the Upper Snake. They were set upon by the
-Blackfeet on the Yellowstone River and 18 men killed."
-
-In the spring of 1831, after wintering again at Powder River, Meek
-reports on the spring hunt: "Having once more visited the Yellowstone,
-they turned to the south again, crossing the mountains into Pierre's
-Hole, on to Snake river; thence to Salt river; thence to Bear river; and
-thence to Green river to rendezvous." Confirmation of this comes from
-Joseph Meek's brother Stephen, who says that this year he trapped on the
-Yellowstone, Wind, and Musselshell Rivers, "going through Jackson's Hole
-to the rendezvous on Popyoisa River."
-
-From the Powder River encampment Fitzpatrick headed for St. Louis to
-round up a supply caravan. Running into his old companions Smith,
-Jackson, and Sublette en route to Santa Fe, he was persuaded to join
-them, being promised an outfit when they arrived. Thus he shared the
-delays and perils of that expedition in which Jedediah Smith was slain
-by a Comanche spear, and when he left Santa Fe, he was far behind
-schedule. Picking up young Kit Carson and other volunteers at Taos, he
-followed the east slope of the Rockies into eastern Wyoming country,
-sometime during September reaching the North Platte River at Laramie's
-Fork. Here he met Fraeb, who had been sent to look for him while the
-others waited impatiently with parched tongues at Green River.
-Fitzpatrick returned to St. Louis for supplies, while Fraeb led the
-recruits westward, traveling via Green River and Jackson's Hole to
-"winter quarters on the head of Salmon River." Thus there was no real
-summer rendezvous in 1831.
-
-At this time the shadow of the American Fur Company, the great monopoly
-of the Upper Missouri region, fell across the Rocky Mountains. In
-February 1830 the newly organized "Western Department" of this company,
-determined to capture the lucrative mountain trade, sent out an
-expedition from St. Louis under Andrew Drips, Lucien Fontenelle and one
-Robidoux. Our chief source of information about this company during the
-early 1830's is the journal of Warren A. Ferris. From an encampment near
-the Big Hole country of Montana, Ferris writes: "On the 8th [of October,
-1831] two of our men accompanied by three or four Indians departed for
-the Trois Tetons, to meet Mr. Dripps who was expected this fall from the
-Council Bluffs, with an equipment of men, horses, and merchandise."
-
-From spring camping grounds on the Bear and Snake River tributaries, the
-brigades of the rival companies converged on Pierre's Hole, where the
-Rocky Mountain Fur Company partners had scheduled their rendezvous for
-1832. Although they welcomed peaceful Indians and "free" trappers, they
-expressly did not invite their competitors of the American Fur Company
-who, nevertheless decided to attend. Rumors of the impending conclave of
-the "mountain men" also reached the scattered bands of independent
-trappers, among whom was George Nidever. In the spring Nidever's band
-trapped up the Green River until May, intending to continue on to "the
-head waters of the Columbia," but turned back when they learned that
-"the place we intended going was already being trapped by other
-companies." (This strongly suggests that somebody, probably Rocky
-Mountain men, were trapping in Jackson's Hole prior to the rendezvous.)
-Returning to the Platte River, they met "O'Felon" and Moses "Black"
-Harris, two other independent traders, with whom they proceeded by way
-of Teton Pass to the rendezvous, where they arrived on July 4.
-
-The experienced William Sublette, one-time partner, had contracted with
-the Rocky Mountain Fur Company to supply trade goods, and to take out
-the beaver hides. With Robert Campbell he set out for St. Louis in May
-1832 with over 100 men. At Independence he picked up a band of eighteen
-green New Englanders under Nathaniel J. Wyeth, an ambitious young man
-who had hopes of succeeding, where John Jacob Astor had failed, in
-establishing a fur-trading empire in Oregon. At Laramie's Fork he
-recruited some twenty trappers under Alfred K. Stephens, and other
-trappers were picked up farther on. Not the least remarkable feature of
-this expedition was that at least five of its members kept
-notes--William Sublette, the methodical Nathaniel Wyeth, his brother
-John B. Wyeth, another of his followers named John Ball, and Zenas
-Leonard, one of the "free" trappers with Stephens.
-
-Sublette's account is contained in a letter to General Ashley, dated
-Lexington, Missouri, September 21, 1832. He indicates that he arrived at
-the head of the "Colorado of the West" (Green River) on July 2, being
-attacked that night by Blackfoot Indians; arrived "on the waters of the
-Columbia" July 4 "and at the rendezvous of the Rocky Mountain Hunters,
-on the Columbia river, west of the Three Teton Mountains," on July 8.
-Nathaniel Wyeth's diary agrees substantially with Sublette on
-chronology, but is much more illuminating. He clearly depicts the
-dangerous descent of the Hoback, the fording of "Lewis River" on July 6,
-and the climb up Teton Pass, "a gap of the mountains due south of the
-Trois Tetons." The disillusioned brother, John Wyeth, gives us a
-dramatic picture:
-
-  On the 4th [6th?] of July, 1832, we arrived at Lewis's fork [Snake
-  River], one of the largest rivers in these rocky mountains. It took us
-  all day to cross it. It is half a mile wide, deep and rapid. The way
-  we managed was this: one man unloaded his horse, and swam across with
-  him, leading two loaded ones, and unloading the two, brought them
-  back, for two more, and as Sublet's company and our own made over a
-  hundred and fifty, we were all day in passing the river. In returning,
-  my mule, by treading on a round stone, stumbled and threw me off, and
-  the current was so strong, that a bush which I caught hold of only
-  saved me from drowning.
-
-"Broken Hand" Fitzpatrick became "White Hair" Fitzpatrick as a result of
-events which befell him in 1832. Zenas Leonard states that in June 1832
-while he was encamped at Laramie's Fork:
-
-  Mr. Fitzpatrick and a company of 115 men came to our camp. He was on
-  his way [from St. Louis] to join his company on the west side of the
-  mountains, on the Columbia River, and to supply them with merchandise,
-  ammunition, horses, etc....
-
-  Having made this arrangement with Mr. F., our camp [on the Laramie]
-  was all confusion at an early hour this morning, preparing to depart
-  for the Columbia river. Mr. F. took one of the fleetest and most hardy
-  horses in his train, and set out in advance of the main body, in order
-  to discover the disposition of the various Indian tribes through whose
-  dominions we were to travel, and to meet us at a designated point on
-  the head of the Columbia river.
-
-While en route to Pierre's Hole, probably in the valley of Green River,
-Fitzpatrick was ambushed by or stumbled upon the hostile Gros Ventres,
-probably the same who later raided Sublette's camp. By sacrificing his
-horse and secreting himself in a hole in the rocks, he managed to elude
-these savages, but nearly starved while wandering through the
-wilderness. Fitzpatrick's whereabouts during his ordeal are not
-recorded, and in most accounts he merely turns up (on July 8, according
-to Ferris) in Pierre's Hole in a pitiful state. Meek relates that "he
-made his appearance in camp in company with two Iroquois half-breeds,
-belonging to the camp, who had been out on a hunt," which is also the
-way that Irving got it from Bonneville. George Nidever claims to have
-been one of these hunters, and, if his story is straight, Fitzpatrick
-was found in Jackson's Hole: "A week or so after the arrival of the
-company a trapper by the name of Poe and I went out for a short hunt,
-and met Fitzpatrick crossing the Lewis Fork.... We piloted him back to
-camp."
-
-By the 17th of July the whiskey kegs were all empty, and the wild
-celebration which invariably climaxed every rendezvous of the fur
-traders perforce came to an end in Pierre's Hole. On this day the
-combined companies of Nathaniel Wyeth and Milton Sublette set out for
-the lower Snake River. On the morning of the 18th they described a
-column of Gros Ventre tribesmen descending a hillside, "fantastically
-painted and arrayed, with scarlet blankets fluttering in the wind." The
-ensuing conflict was a victory for the trappers. Some of the Indians
-escaped from their improvised fort into Jackson's Hole, leaving perhaps
-twenty-six of their number dead, while their trail of blood suggested
-other heavy casualties. This battle upset the general time-table and
-delayed the various departures from the rendezvous. On the 24th of July,
-Wyeth and Milton Sublette resumed their journey which had before been so
-rudely interrupted, Wyeth eventually continuing on to visit the British
-establishments on the Pacific Coast. Captain Sublette was compelled to
-linger because of his injuries, and, on the 25th, seven who planned to
-accompany him to St. Louis became impatient and started out by
-themselves. These were Joseph More of Boston, one of Wyeth's deserters,
-a Mr. Foy of Mississippi, Alfred K. Stephens, "two grandsons of the
-celebrated Daniel Boone," and two others unidentified. In Jackson's
-Hole, apparently near the mouth of the Hoback, they were ambushed by a
-band of Gros Ventres. More and Foy were killed instantly, while Stephens
-died from his wounds after he and the four survivors retreated with
-tiding of disaster to Sublette's camp.
-
-On July 30 Bridger and Fitzpatrick led the Rocky Mountain Fur Company
-brigades northward from Pierre's Hole toward the headwaters of the
-Missouri, while William Sublette found himself sufficiently recovered to
-assist Campbell in organizing the homeward-bound caravan, composed of
-sixty men and a beaver-laden packtrain. According to Irving, "they chose
-a different route through the mountains, out of the way, as they hoped,
-of the lurking bands of Blackfeet. They succeeded in making the frontier
-in safety." It seems evident that the Sublette caravan turned north
-after crossing the Snake and then ascended the Gros Ventre River and
-crossed over to Wind River by way of Union Pass. While the Sublette
-caravan was leaving the valley, they were shadowed by a "large body of
-the Blackfoot tribe," doubtless the murderers of More and Foy, who
-showed a healthy respect for the heavily armed trappers. Thus it would
-seem that, while he did not entirely elude the Blackfeet, Sublette
-managed to bluff his way past them and avoid what might well have become
-the "Battle of Jackson's Hole."
-
-At the Pierre's Hole rendezvous, Drips and Vanderburgh, the American Fur
-Company partisans, were frustrated in their competitive effort by the
-fact that their supply train under Fontenelle had failed to arrive. It
-was now too late to bid for the furs taken out by Sublette, but they
-might follow Bridger and Fitzpatrick with profit if they only had trade
-goods. Accordingly, they resolved to hasten to Green River to see if
-they could find the belated caravan. The clerk, Warren A. Ferris, gives
-a detailed account of the passage through "Jackson's Big Hole," in early
-August:
-
-  In the evening we halted on a spring, four miles east of Lewis River,
-  after marching twenty-two miles. On the 5th we passed six or eight
-  miles southeast, and halted on the margin of the stream [Hoback],
-  flowing from that direction. During our march, some of the hunters saw
-  the bones of two men, supposed to be those killed from a party of
-  seven, in the latter part of July....
-
-After losing one horse in precipitous Hoback Canyon, the party reached
-Jackson's Little Hole, where they killed several buffalo, and
-successfully by-passed a large village of Indians. They crossed over to
-Green River, and on the 8th fell in with Fontenelle, "who had passed
-from St. Louis to the mouth of the Yellowstone in a steamboat, and
-thence with pack horses to this place." Ferris accompanied Vanderburgh
-and Drips on the return trip in pursuit of Bridger. He writes:
-
-  On the 14th we passed through the Narrows, between Jackson's Holes;
-  and avoided some of the difficulties we met on our previous passage,
-  by crossing the river, several times. In the evening we halted for the
-  night near the remains of two men, who were killed in July last. These
-  we collected, and deposited in a small stream, that discharged itself
-  into a fork of the Lewis river; that flows from Jackson's Little Hole.
-
-                   [Illustration: Rendezvous scene.]
-
-Captain Benjamin L. E. Bonneville, a Frenchman of distinguished
-antecedents, applied in 1831 for a leave of absence from the U.S. Army
-for the joint purpose of exploration and trade. With funds provided by
-hopeful New York capitalists he organized an impressive company,
-including 110 men and twenty ox-drawn wagons, and on May 1, 1832, he set
-out from Fort Osage. Bonneville's wagon train was the second to ascend
-the traditional overland route along the Platte and the Sweetwater, and
-the first to cross South Pass. In the Green River Valley on July 26 the
-Captain was overtaken by Fontenelle's company. On the west side of the
-Green, five miles above Horse Creek, he started the erection of Fort
-Bonneville, while his rival encamped farther upstream, for his jaded
-horses and mules would budge no further. After Fontenelle's departure,
-above noted, the Captain decided upon the advice of "free trappers," to
-head for Salmon River for the winter. Leaving his cumbersome wagons at
-the fort, he cached most of his baggage and then packed the rest on
-mules and horses. The expedition set forth on August 22, reaching Teton
-Pass on September 3. Instead of taking the standard route via the
-Hoback, where hostile Indians waited in ambush, Captain Bonneville
-elected to take a long circuitous route to the headwaters of Green
-River, entering Jackson's Hole via the Gros Ventre River.
-
-  [Illustration: "Weapons of the Pierre's Hole Fight"--Exhibit in Fur
-               Trade Museum, Grand Teton National Park.]
-
-Following the rendezvous in Pierre's Hole, the Rocky Mountain men
-conducted their fall hunt in the dangerous Blackfoot country around the
-Three Forks of the Missouri. In attempting to follow them, Vanderburgh
-of the American Fur Company was slain by the Blackfeet. During the
-winter of 1832-33 the various rival bands holed up along tributaries of
-the Snake and Salmon rivers; and at the first melting of the snow they
-resumed their feverish scramble for the prime hunting grounds.
-
-Most of the other trapping bands remained west of the Continental Divide
-to make their spring hunt, and approached the Green River rendezvous
-through Jackson's Hole. The first to stir in this direction was the
-American Fur Company partisan Drips, who led the bulk of his forces,
-probably about sixty men, up Snake River, hunting and trapping as they
-went. At the junction of Salt River, they were compelled to leave the
-Snake to make the toilsome detour over the Snake River Range and Teton
-Pass, which they reached on May 31. Ferris vividly describes their
-journey through the "immense banks of snow on the mountain," the fording
-of "Lewis River," and the ascent of "Gros Vent's Fork" to the head of
-Green River. He notes, "We found a large herd of buffalo in the valley,
-and killed several; also a large bear, which paid with his life the
-temerity of awaiting our approach."
-
-Wyeth's enterprise on the Columbia River was balked by the shipwreck of
-the vessel which was to supply him, and, after a fruitless winter at
-Fort Vancouver, he set out eastward with Francis Ermatinger of the
-Hudson's Bay Company. Below the forks of the Snake they came up with
-Captain Bonneville. The Wyeth journal tells the story of their Jackson's
-Hole passage via Teton Pass and the Hoback. He found "horse flies on the
-mountains ... buffalo in the bottom also mosquitoes." Evidence of the
-recent trail of the "men of Dripps and Fontenelle" was observed, also
-the place where More and Foy were killed the year before. Of this
-passage Irving reports,
-
-  No accident of a disastrous kind occurred, excepting the loss of a
-  horse, which, in passing along the giddy edge of a precipice, called
-  the Cornice, a dangerous pass between Jackson's and Pierre's Hole,
-  fell over the brink, and was dashed to pieces.
-
-  On the 13th of July [1833], Captain Bonneville arrived at Green
-  River....
-
- [Illustration: Fort Bonneville site, on Horse Creek near its junction
-                           with Green River.
-                                                         Photo by Author]
-
-  [Illustration: Section of "Map of the Rocky Mountains" by Washington
- Hood, Corps of Topographical Engineers, 1839. Data by William Sublette
-     and others. Records of the War Department, National Archives.]
-
-                [Illustration: Trapper type--American.]
-
-                      [Illustration: BULLET MOLD]
-
-
-
-
-    VII. "The Fire Hole": Era of the American Fur Company, 1833-1840
-
-
-By 1832 only fragments of the Yellowstone Park area had apparently been
-explored, notably the Lake region. According to Warren A. Ferris, one of
-the great geyser basins was visited in the spring hunt of 1833 by a
-party of forty men under a Spaniard named Alvaris (or Alvarez). They
-reached the area by going up Henry's Fork, later returning to Green
-River for the rendezvous. This is the first concrete evidence of white
-men in the Firehole Basin. The discoverer may have been Manuel Alvarez,
-United States consul at Santa Fe from 1839 to 1846, who figures
-prominently in Josiah Gregg's journal.
-
-The rendezvous of 1833 was held at Bonneville's fort on Horse Creek,
-tributary of Green River, near Daniel, Wyoming. The St. Louis supply
-caravan of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, led by Robert Campbell,
-included young Charles Larpenteur, who wrote in his journal of a side
-trip through Jackson's Hole:
-
-  The day after we reached the rendezvous Mr. Campbell, with ten men,
-  started to raise a beaver cache at a place called by the French Trou a
-  Pierre, which means Peter's Hole. As I was sick Mr. Campbell left me
-  in camp, and placed Mr. Fitzpatrick in charge during his absence,
-  telling the latter to take good care of me ... after seven or eight
-  days Mr. Campbell returned with ten packs of beaver.
-
-An epidemic of hydrophobia brought on by "mad wolves" seems to have
-contributed to the early break-up of the 1833 meeting. Campbell, Wyeth,
-and the partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company with fifty-five packs
-of beaver and a strong guard circled down through South Pass and up to
-the junction of the Shoshone and the Bighorn rivers, where they embarked
-on bullboats for the mouth of the Yellowstone. Here Wyeth was
-entertained at the palatial Fort Union by the famous Kenneth McKenzie,
-and observed a powder flask which had belonged to the unfortunate More,
-and which had found its way here from Jackson's Hole by the devious
-channels of the fur trade.
-
-While Bonneville outfitted an expedition under Joseph R. Walker to
-explore California (and discover Yosemite Valley), the American Fur
-Company brigades headed for the Snake River country. On July 20 Warren
-A. Ferris and Robert Newell departed at the head of an outfit destined
-for the Flathead trade. The little party consisted of six "engages" with
-pack horses, and five armed Indians, amounting in all to thirteen armed
-men. Their route was the usual one via Hoback Canyon and Teton Pass. The
-ecstatic description of Jackson's Hole from the summit of the pass,
-given by Ferris on this occasion, is one which can be appreciated by the
-modern tourist:
-
-  ... Gazing down in the direction of Jackson's Hole, from our elevated
-  position, one of the most beautiful scenes imaginable, was presented
-  to our view. It seemed quite filled with large bright clouds,
-  resembling immense banks of snow, piled on each other in massy
-  numbers, of the purest white; wreathing their ample folds in various
-  forms and devious convolutions, and mingling in one vast embrace their
-  shadowy substance.--Sublime creations! emblems apt of the first
-  glittering imaginings of human life!...
-
-  Turning with reluctance to things of a more terrestrial nature we
-  pursued our way down to Pierre's Hole, where we fortunately discovered
-  and killed a solitary bull....
-
-The rendezvous of 1834 was scheduled for June on Ham's Fork of the Green
-near present Granger, Wyoming; and here converged all the scattered
-trapper bands, with the exception of those in the pay of Bonneville, who
-had his own private rendezvous on Bear River. Drips hunted up the Snake
-River to Jackson's Hole, and apparently crossed into the valley of the
-Green from there. Behind him came Ferris. On his southward journey from
-Montana country, Ferris decided to make a side trip from Henry's Fork to
-investigate strange rumors concerning the upper Madison, a trip which
-resulted in the second known published description of the Yellowstone
-Park wonders.
-
-                       [Illustration: Fort Hall.]
-
-Ferris, a native of New York who later resided in Texas, made his first
-western journey with the American Fur Company in 1830. Hardly a typical
-mountain man, he kept a journal of his travels entitled "Life in the
-Rocky Mountains," which appeared serially in 1842 and 1843 in the
-Western Literary Messenger, an obscure weekly published in Buffalo, New
-York. The piece containing an account of his visit to the geyser region
-in 1834 appeared on July 13, 1842, attracted no special attention at the
-time except that of the editors of the Nauvoo, Illinois, Wasp, who ran
-it without credit in their edition of August 13, 1842. Olin D. Wheeler
-discovered it and republished it in 1901. Its historical importance as
-the first adequate description of the geysers by an eyewitness (and the
-second published description of any portion of Yellowstone Park) was
-appreciated by Chittenden, but his identity and the magnificent scope of
-his journal was not fully understood until its republication with
-extensive editorial notes by Dr. Paul C. Phillips in 1940. It was in May
-1834, while his brigade was traveling through Idaho country en route to
-the rendezvous on Ham's Fork of the Green, that Ferris and two Indian
-companions made a hurried side trip, going almost due east forty miles.
-His object was to verify the rumors concerning "remarkable boiling
-spring on the sources of the Madison" which he had heard at the
-rendezvous of 1833. He soon realized that "the half was not told me." A
-fragment of his vivid description follows:
-
-  From the surface of a rocky plain or table, burst forth columns of
-  water, of various dimensions, projected high in the air, accompanied
-  by loud explosions, and sulphurous vapors, which were highly
-  disagreeable to the smell. The rock from which these springs burst
-  forth, was calcareous, and probably extends some distance from them,
-  beneath the soil. The largest of these wonderful fountains, projects a
-  column of boiling water several feet in diameter, to the height of
-  more than one hundred and fifty feet--in my opinion; but the party of
-  Alvarez, who discovered it, persist in declaring that it could not be
-  less than four times that distance in height--accompanied with a
-  tremendous noise. These explosions and discharges occur at intervals
-  of about two hours.
-
-          [Illustration: Baling beaver hides inside stockade.]
-
- [Illustration: Section of "Map of the Northwest Fur Country," 1836, by
-     Warren A. Ferris. From _Life in the Rocky Mountains_, Old West
-                   Publishing Company, Denver, 1940.]
-
-After this adventure, he returned to Henry's Fork and thence to Pierre's
-Hole, crossing Teton Pass on May 24. In the Hoback Canyon he found
-evidence that a party under Drips had preceded him.
-
-Less well known than the vivid description by Ferris but even more
-remarkable is his "Map of the Northwest Fur Country," drawn in 1836.
-Lying in the family trunk for over a century, unknown to geographers and
-historians, it was made available in 1940 for publication with the
-journals. This is, to quote Dr. Phillips, "the most detailed and
-accurate of all the early maps of the region," far superior in accuracy
-to the famous maps by Bonneville, Parker, John C. Fremont, and others
-which were published contemporaneously. In addition to mountain chains,
-valleys, and trails, it locates such fascinating details as "Yellow
-stone L.," "Boiling water," and "Volcanoes" near the south shore of the
-lake and "spouting fountains" within the "Burnt Hole" at the head of
-Madison River, indicating the present West Thumb thermal area and the
-Upper Geyser Basin on Firehole River, respectively. The context of the
-journal, together with the evidence of the map, suggests that Ferris
-beheld and described Old Faithful, the geyser which has become the
-symbol of Yellowstone National Park.
-
-In August of 1834 a party of fifty-five men in Bonneville's employ led
-by Joseph H. Walker ascended Pacific Creek from Jackson's Hole and after
-some debate "agreed to move down onto Wind River," instead of descending
-the Yellowstone. Thus Walker, who had previously discovered Yosemite
-Valley, and Zenas Leonard, the journalist of the expedition, missed the
-big exploring opportunity which Ferris had grasped.
-
-The quaint nomenclature bestowed on certain locales and landmarks by the
-mountain trappers offer more than one clue to their shadowy passage. The
-Gardner River Valley at Swan Lake Flats, between Mammoth Hot Springs and
-Obsidian Cliff, seems to be the most likely locale of the beaver-rich
-"Gardner's Hole" frequented by the mountain men, probably named for
-Johnson Gardner, a freelance trapper who must have frequented those
-parts at least as early as 1834, possibly as early as 1830 as Chittenden
-suggests. His name appears in the Fort Union account books of 1832,
-which include an agreement to purchase his stock of beaver skins then
-cached on Yellowstone River. In 1834 he fell in with Prince Maximilian
-of Wied on the Lower Missouri, revealing to that distinguished traveler
-that "he was on his return from hunting beavers on the Upper
-Yelowstone."
-
-Three significant events occurred in connection with the rendezvous of
-1834. (1) En route from St. Louis, Sublette and Campbell began the
-building of Fort Laramie (originally Fort William) on the North Platte.
-(2) Nathaniel Wyeth, embarking on a second venture, brought in trade
-goods which were not accepted, and so resorted to the establishment of
-Fort Hall near the junction of the Snake and Portneuf. The advent of
-these two fixed trading posts prophesied an end to the traditional
-rendezvous system. Also (3), at the rendezvous the partnership of the
-Rocky Mountain Fur Company was dissolved, Fraeb and Gervais selling out
-their interests. The remaining partners--Fitzpatrick, Bridger, and
-Milton Sublette--formed a new firm, but they made an agreement with
-Fontenelle which gave the American Fur Company a virtual monopoly of the
-Rocky Mountain fur trade.
-
-Among those whom Nathaniel Wyeth had left at Fort Hall in 1834 was a
-young man named Osborne Russell, whose subsequent career as a trapper
-was hardly typical, for among his trapping accessories were copies of
-Shakespeare and the Bible! Although later a prominent pioneer of Oregon
-and California, his claim to fame rests on his Journal of a Trapper,
-which "as a precise and intimate firsthand account of the daily life of
-the trapper explorer ... has no equal," except that of Warren A. Ferris,
-who left the mountain scene just as Russell arrived. On the 15th of June
-1835 a party of fourteen trappers and ten camp keepers was made up.
-Writes Russell:
-
-  Here we again fell on to Lewis' Fork, which runs in a southerly
-  direction through a valley about eighty miles long, there turning to
-  the mountains through a narrow cut in the mountain to the mouth of
-  Salt River, about thirty miles. This valley was called 'Jackson Hole.'
-  It is generally from five to fifteen miles wide. The southern part
-  where the river enters the mountains is hilly and uneven, but the
-  northern portion is wide, smooth and comparatively even, the whole
-  being covered with wild sage and surrounded by high and rugged
-  mountains upon whose summit the snow remains during the hottest months
-  in summer. The alluvial bottoms along the river and streams
-  intersecting it through the valley produced a luxuriant growth of
-  vegetation, among which wild flax and a species of onion were
-  abundant. The great altitude of this place, however, connected with
-  the cold descending from the mountains at night, I think would be a
-  serious obstruction to the growth of most kinds of cultivated grains.
-  This valley, like all other parts of the country, abounded with game.
-
-After a nearly disastrous attempt to cross "Lewis Fork" by bullboat and
-raft, the party discovered a ford, and then ascended Gros Ventre Fork.
-The party became lost in the mountains for several weeks, missing out on
-the Green River rendezvous. After extricating themselves from the craggy
-wilderness of the Absarokas, the party reached the Lamar River or East
-Fork of the Yellowstone, where they encountered some woebegone
-Sheepeater Indians, and lost a hunter. They apparently forded the
-Yellowstone at the lower end of the Grand Canyon near the mouth of
-Antelope Creek, at a point just above the spectacular Tower Falls and
-the Basaltic Cliffs where the river "rushes down a chasm with a dreadful
-roar echoing among the mountains." From "Gardner's Hole" the party then
-crossed the mountains to Gallatin and Madison forks, where they fell in
-with a trapping brigade under Bridger. Just below the Madison Canyon the
-combined forces were attacked by eighty Blackfeet and narrowly escaped
-massacre.
-
-The supply caravan under Fitzpatrick arrived at the Green River
-rendezvous on August 12, 1835. Accompanying him were two famous
-missionaries--Marcus Whitman, who distinguished himself among the
-trappers by extracting an Indian arrow from the back of Captain Bridger,
-and Reverend Samuel Parker, who alienated them by his overzealous
-moralizing. However, Parker made quite a hit with the assembled
-Flatheads and was so enthusiastic over their eagerness for Christian
-knowledge that it was decided that he would accompany them to their
-homes, while Whitman would return to the states to recruit help for a
-permanent mission in Oregon. Parker tells of his journey westward:
-
-  August 21st, commenced our journey in company with Capt. Bridger, who
-  goes with about fifty men, six or eight days' journey on our route.
-  Instead of going down on the southwest side of Lewis' river, we
-  concluded to take our course northerly for the Trois Tetons, which are
-  three very high mountains, covered with perpetual snow, separated from
-  the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, and are seen at a very great
-  distance; and from thence to Salmon river....
-
-  On the 22d ... we ... arrived at what is called Jackson's Hole
-  [Jackson's Little Hole]....
-
-  Sabbath, 23d. Had an opportunity for rest and devotional exercises. In
-  the afternoon we had public worship with those of the company who
-  understood English. The men conducted with great propriety, and
-  listened with attention....
-
-  Arose very early on the 24th, and commenced our way through the narrow
-  defile, frequently crossing and recrossing a large stream of water
-  [Hoback] which flows into the Snake river....
-
-  ... on the 25th, [we] encamped in a large pleasant valley, commonly
-  called Jackson's large hole. It is fertile and well watered with a
-  branch of Lewis' river coming from the southeast [Hoback], and another
-  of some magnitude coming from the northeast [Snake River itself],
-  which is the outlet of Jackson's lake, a body of water situated just
-  south of the Trois Tetons....
-
-  We continued in this encampment three days, to give our animals an
-  opportunity to recruit, and for Captain Bridger to fit and send out
-  several of his men into the mountains to hunt and trap....
-
-  On the 28th, we pursued our journey and passed over a mountain [Teton
-  Pass] so high, that banks of snow were but a short distance from our
-  trail. When we had ascended two-thirds of the way, a number of
-  buffalo, which were pursued by our Indians, came rushing down the side
-  of the mountain through the midst of our company....
-
-  In [Pierre's Hole] ... I parted with Captain Bridger and his party,
-  who went northeast into the mountains to their hunting ground, which
-  the Blackfeet claim, and for which they will contend.
-
-According to the impious Joseph L. Meek, the sermon on Sunday the 23rd
-in Jackson's Little Hole (the site of which has been memorialized by the
-State of Wyoming as that of "the first Protestant sermon in the Rocky
-Mountains") was not such a great success as Parker makes out, for, "in
-the midst of the discourse, a band of buffalo appeared in the valley,
-when the congregation broke up, without staying for a benediction," and
-every man excitedly joined in the hunt.
-
-    [Illustration: Marcus Whitman removing arrow from Jim Bridger.]
-
-Another who accompanied this expedition was Kit Carson. Parker gave
-Carson his initial shove into immortality by relating the story of his
-victory at the rendezvous over a "great bully" named Shunar:
-
-               [Illustration: Trappers at Old Faithful.]
-
-  ... I will relate an occurrence which took place near evening, as a
-  specimen of mountain life. A hunter, who goes technically by the name
-  of the great bully of the mountains, mounted his horse with a loaded
-  rifle, and challenged any Frenchman, American, Spaniard, or Dutchman,
-  to fight him in single combat. Kit Carson, an American, told him if he
-  wished to die, he would accept the challenge. Shunar defied him. C.
-  mounted his horse, and with a loaded pistol, rushed into close
-  contact, and both almost at the same instant fired. C's ball entered
-  S's hand, came out at the wrist, and passed through the arm above the
-  elbow. Shunar's ball passed over the head of Carson; and while he went
-  for another pistol, Shunar begged that his life might be spared. Such
-  scenes, sometimes from passion, and sometimes for amusement, make the
-  pastime of their wild and wandering life.
-
-Another rendezvous was held for the summer of 1836, again on Horse Creek
-tributary of Green River. Fitzpatrick and Fontenelle arrived with the
-supply caravan on July 3. With them were the missionaries Marcus Whitman
-and H. H. Spalding, accompanied by their wives, the first white women
-ever to attend a rendezvous of the mountain men and doubtless the first
-to come within 100 miles of the future Grand Teton and Yellowstone
-Parks. At this meeting Major Joshua Pilcher, as agent for the American
-Fur Company, formally and legally took over the interests of Bridger,
-Fitzpatrick, and Fontenelle, thus consolidating the monopoly. The
-missionaries, accompanied by Hudson's Bay Company agents, followed the
-Bear River route westward. The fur trappers were left in the mountains
-with Drips, Fontenelle, and Bridger. Says Osborne Russell:
-
-  Mr. Bridger's party, as usual, was destined for the Blackfoot country.
-  It contained most of the American trappers and amounted to sixty men.
-  I started with a party of fifteen trappers and two camp keepers,
-  ordered by Mr. Bridger to proceed to the Yellowstone Lake and there
-  await his arrival with the rest of the party.
-
-Russell entered Jackson's Hole by way of the upper Green and Gros Ventre
-rivers, followed the Snake River north to Jackson Lake, and on August 7
-started up Buffalo Fork, to reach Two Ocean Pass. On August 13, he
-camped at the inlet of Yellowstone Lake, and on the 16th "Mr. Bridger
-came up with the remainder of the party." They followed along the
-eastern shore of the lake to its outlet at present Fishing Bridge, and
-camped again "in a beautiful plain which extended along the northern
-extremity of the lake." Russell describes the lake as "about 100 miles
-in circumference ... lying in an oblong form south to north, or rather
-in the shape of a crescent." His further description of the boiling
-springs, hot steam vents, and the hollow limestone crustation "of
-dazzling whiteness," apparently in Hayden Valley, ranks him with Potts
-and Ferris as a pioneer journalist of the Park phenomena.
-
-[Illustration: Section of Father De Smet "map of the Indian country" of
-   1851, reflecting data given by Jim Bridger. From the Cartographic
-                      Section, National Archives.]
-
-In 1837 Thomas Fitzpatrick again led the supply train across the plains,
-picking up Fontenelle at Fort Laramie, and arriving at the rendezvous on
-July 18. After the business of that year was transacted, Drips returned
-east with Fitzpatrick's caravan, and Fontenelle and Bridger made up a
-strong company of 110 men to invade the hostile Blackfoot country.
-Osborne Russell and five others started off separately "to hunt the
-headwaters of the Yellowstone, Missouri and Bighorn Rivers." Going due
-north up Green River, they were attacked by "sixty or seventy"
-Blackfeet, but managed to escape to the rendezvous. Here they wisely
-decided to throw in with Fontenelle's party, as Russell explains,
-"intending to keep in their company five or six days and then branch off
-to our first intended route." After descending the Hoback, Russell and
-three others left the main party at the ford of "Lewis Fork" in
-"Jackson's Big Hole" and took the same route to Yellowstone Lake used
-the preceding year, then went northeast over the mountains to gain the
-"Stinking Water."
-
-In the spring of 1838 the company moved westward from Powder River,
-trapping the Bighorn and other tributaries of the Yellowstone. Russell
-and Meek report another fight with the Blackfeet on the Madison,
-followed by a gathering of the brigade on the north fork of the
-Yellowstone, near the lake. Afterward, Meek reports:
-
-  Bridger's brigade of trappers met with no other serious interruptions
-  on their summer's march. They proceeded to Henry's Lake, and crossing
-  the Rocky Mountains, traveled through the Pine Woods, always a
-  favorite region, to Lewis' Lake on Lewis' Fork of the Snake River
-  [Jackson Lake]; and finally up the Grovant Fork, recrossing the
-  mountains to Wind River, where the rendezvous was appointed.
-
-  Osborne Russell describes this rendezvous of 1838:
-
-  ... [July] 4th--We encamped at the Oil Spring on Popo-azia, and the
-  next day we arrived at the camp. There we found Mr. Dripps from St.
-  Louis, with twenty horse carts loaded with supplies, and again met
-  Captain Stewart, likewise several missionaries with their families on
-  their way to the Columbia River. On the 8th Mr. F. Ermatinger arrived
-  with a small party from the Columbia, accompanied by the Rev. John
-  Lee, who was on his way to the United States. On the 20th of July the
-  meeting broke up and the parties again dispersed for the fall hunt.
-
-The Captain Stewart referred to by Russell was an English veteran of
-Waterloo, Sir William Drummond Stewart, ostensibly a wealthy sportsman,
-who became a perennial visitor to the annual conclaves of the "mountain
-men," beginning in 1833. He probably entered Jackson's Hole on more than
-one occasion, in company with the trapper bands, but of this there is no
-proof, except the following passage to be found in Altowan, a romantic
-novel based on his experiences:
-
-  On the banks of a small stream, which ultimately finds its way into
-  the upper waters of Snake River, a rugged path, made by the bison
-  descending from a pass above, winds its way through the dwarf willows
-  and quaking asp that line its side ... on a sudden turn of the road
-  round a projecting cliff, Altowan stopped to contemplate the scene
-  below, which, though not new to him, is one of undying wonder and
-  magnificence. Far over an extensive vale rise 'the three Tetons,' high
-  above surrounding mountains; their peaked heads shine white against
-  the azure sky, while other ranges succeed each other like waves beyond
-  and beyond, until they merge into the purple haze of the Western
-  Horizon.
-
-By 1838, competition for beaver pelts was beginning to exhaust the
-streams, and the law of diminishing returns was making itself felt in
-the Rocky Mountain fur trade. Nevertheless, after the rendezvous of that
-year, the field commanders of the company assembled their trappers for
-another invasion of the Jackson's Hole country. Again Osborne Russell
-illuminates the scene:
-
-  I started, with about thirty trappers, up Wind River, expecting the
-  camp to follow in a few days. During our stay at the rendezvous it was
-  rumored among the men that the company intended to bring no more
-  supplies to the Rocky Mountains, and discontinue all further
-  operations. This caused a great deal of discontent among the trappers
-  and numbers left the party. 21st--We traveled up Wind River about
-  thirty miles and encamped. 22nd--Continued up the river till noon,
-  then left it to our right, traveled over a high ridge covered with
-  pines, in a westerly direction about fifteen miles, and fell on to the
-  Grosvent Fork. Next day we traveled about twenty miles down Grosvent
-  Fork. 24th--Myself and another crossed the mountain in a northwest
-  direction, fell on to a stream running into Lewis Fork, about ten
-  miles below Jackson's Lake. Here we staid and trapped until the 29th.
-  Then we started back to the Grosvent Fork, where we found the camp,
-  consisting of about sixty men, under the direction of Mr. Dripps, with
-  James Bridger pilot.
-
-  The next day the camp followed down the Grosvent Fork to Jackson's
-  Hole. In the meantime myself and comrade returned to our traps, which
-  we raised, and took over the mountain in a southwest direction and
-  overtook the camp on Lewis Fork. The whole company was starving.
-  Fortunately I had killed a deer in crossing the mountain, which made
-  supper for the whole camp. Aug. 1st--We crossed Lewis Fork and
-  encamped and staid the next day. 3d.--Camp crossed the mountain to
-  Pierre's Hole and the day following I started with my former comrade
-  to hunt beaver on the streams which ran from the Yellowstone....
-
-              [Illustration: Trapper train in Teton Pass.]
-
-Russell's side trip appears to have been made cross country from near
-the Cottonwood Creek tributary of the Gros Ventre over the foothills of
-Mt. Leidy to Spread Creek, where he set traps, then back along this same
-route to Bridger's camp on the Gros Ventre, then back to Spread Creek,
-and later down the Snake River, rejoining the main camp near the mouth
-of the Gros Ventre. Russell's account of the main expedition fits in
-very well with the brief entry in Newell's diary--"up Wind River into
-Jackson's Hole, on to Pier's Hole." Another trapper present was young
-Jim Baker, famous Wyoming pioneer, who was making his first visit to the
-mountains.
-
-An entry in Russell's journal indicates that a party of trappers from
-Fort Hall reached Yellowstone Lake in 1838. Meek alleges that he went
-alone to Gardner's Hole after the rendezvous and later to Burnt Hole,
-the neighborhood of Hebgen Lake. Here he left a joking message on a
-buffalo skull.
-
-Some evidence of wintering in Jackson's Hole is given by Robert Newell:
-
-  Capt. Drips left in December for Wind River with his camp. Capt.
-  Walker remained on Green River with a small party, where we are now.
-  Snow about one foot. January 26, 1839, buffalow scarce. I spent last
-  Christmas in Jackson's Hole. We spent the balance of the winter down
-  on Green River, over on Ham's Fork, the spring commencing to open the
-  first of March, 1839.
-
-Kit Carson writes:
-
-  On the return of Spring we commenced our hunt, trapped the tributaries
-  of the Missouri to the head of Lewis Fork, and then started for the
-  rendezvous on Green River, near the mouth of Horse Creek....
-
-In March, Meek, after wintering among the Nez Perces on the Salmon
-River, and acquiring an Indian wife (apparently his third), set out
-trapping again with a comrade named Allen to whom he was much attached.
-
-  They traveled along up and down the Salmon, to Godin's River, Henry's
-  Fork of the Snake, to Pierre's Fork, and Lewis' Fork, and the Muddy,
-  and finally set their traps on a little stream that runs out of the
-  pass which leads to Pierre's Hole.
-
-Correlated with other data, the "pass which leads to Pierre's Hole"
-sounds very much like Teton Pass. Here, according to Victor, a horrible
-event occurred. Ambushed by Blackfeet, Meek managed to escape in a
-thicket, but the hapless Allen was caught, shot, and then gleefully
-dismembered within sight and sound of his companion. Meek is supposed to
-have wriggled away during the night and, "after twenty-six days of
-solitary and cautious travel," escaped to the place of rendezvous.
-
-         [Illustration: Free trapper under attack by Indians.]
-
-Information on the rendezvous of 1839 has survived through the account
-of F. A. Wislizenus, a German doctor and political refugee, who
-accompanied the St. Louis supply train in the interests of curiosity and
-recreation. In addition to offering a vivid picture of proceedings at
-the rendezvous, he also comments on the decline of the fur trade in the
-Rocky Mountains. Wislizenus, Ermatinger of the Hudson's Bay Company, the
-Munger-Griffin missionary party, and several hundred Indians left the
-rendezvous for Fort Hall, going by the Bear River route, which was soon
-to become a part of the Oregon Trail. As for the trappers, it appears
-that some of them, yielding to fate, disbanded, but Meek and Newell were
-among those who went to Fort Hall and later trapped around Brown's Hole
-(a valley made by the Green River along the northern base of the Uinta
-Range). Others were still attracted to Jackson's Hole, the heart of the
-prime beaver country. An eminent pioneer of Montana, W. T. Hamilton, got
-it from "old-timers" that:
-
-  In the year 1839 a party of forty men started on an expedition up the
-  Snake River. In the party were Ducharme, Louis Anderson, Jim and John
-  Baker, Joe Power, L'Humphrie, and others. They passed Jackson's Lake,
-  catching many beaver, and crossed the Continental Divide, following
-  down the Upper Yellowstone--Elk--River to the Yellowstone Lake.
-
-           [Illustration: Skinning beaver in Jackson's Hole.]
-
-This party was attacked by the Blackfeet near the outlet of Yellowstone
-Lake, suffering a loss of five men. The survivors, while trapping the
-Park, witnessed "Sulphur Mountain," the Mud Volcano, Yellowstone Falls
-at the head of the Canyon, and the pyrotechnic displays of "Fire Hole
-Basin."
-
-Early in 1839, Russell hunted mountain sheep and trapped beaver along
-the Snake River below Jackson's Hole, returning to Fort Hall in June.
-Making up a party of four for the purpose of trapping in the Yellowstone
-and Wind River Mountains, he spent the Fourth of July at the outlet of
-Jackson Lake, near present Moran, then followed the Snake River
-northward to Lewis Lake and Shoshone Lake. The Shoshone Geyser Basin is
-described by Russell in meticulous detail, including the rhythmic "Hour
-Spring" which resembles present Union Geyser. From here they crossed
-over to Hayden Valley via the Midway Geyser Basin, there noting a
-"boiling lake" of deep indigo blue, about three hundred feet in
-diameter, probably the present Grand Prismatic Spring. After an extended
-camp at the outlet of Yellowstone Lake they went east to the head of
-Clark's Fork, thence back to the Yellowstone at the ford near Tower
-Falls, thence to Gardner's Hole and back to the lake outlet. En route
-they saw disturbing evidence of "a village of 300 or 400 lodges of
-Blackfeet" that had only recently been evacuated. In their camp on
-Pelican Creek, just east of the present Fishing Bridge campground, they
-were suddenly assailed by a horde of "70 or 80" Blackfeet "who rent the
-air with their horrid yells" and inflicted severe arrow wounds on
-Russell and one other. They fought off the Indians with their rifles,
-but suffered great pain and hardship in making their way back to Fort
-Hall via West Thumb, Snake River, Berry Creek and Conant Pass at the
-north end of the Teton Range. This was Russell's final sorrowful exit
-from Wonderland.
-
-Two slim and shaky clues to other Yellowstone expeditions in the late
-1830's are available. In his journal of 1839, while sojourning in the
-Utah country, apprentice trapper E. Willard Smith reports: "The country
-around the headwaters of the Yellowstone, a tributary of the Missouri,
-abounds in natural curiosities. There are volcanoes, volcanic
-productions and carbonated springs. Mr. Vasquez told me that he went to
-the top of one of these volcanoes, the crater of which was filled with
-pure water, forming quite a large lake." In his Life in the Far West
-(1849), a fictionalized account of the mountain men, with whom he had
-personally consorted in 1846, Lieutenant Ruxton tells how, on one
-occasion, Old Bill Williams, "tough as the parfleche soles of his
-moccasins," led seven of his hardy associates into a little-known
-region, beckoned thence by "a lofty peak" which fits the description of
-the Grand Tetons, entering "the valley lying about the lakes now called
-Eustis and Biddle, in which are many thermal and mineral springs, well
-known to the trappers by the name of Soda, Beer, and Brimstone Springs,
-and regarded by them with no little awe and curiosity, as being the
-breathing places of his Satanic majesty."
-
-The year 1840 can be said to mark the formal demise of the Rocky
-Mountain fur trade, for in that year was held the fifteenth and last of
-these great conclaves of the wilderness, the trapper's rendezvous on
-Horse Creek of the Green River. It also marks the end of an epoch in the
-history of Jackson's Hole. The main chronicler of this fateful year was
-the Belgian, Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Jesuit priest who accompanied the
-American Fur Company's last expedition to the mountains so that he might
-survey the prospects for a Catholic mission among the Flathead Indians.
-This was the beginning of a series of epic pilgrimages to the Far West
-which were to make him one of the dominant figures in American frontier
-history. Andrew Drips headed the supply train. Also present were several
-Protestant missionaries and "the first avowed Oregon emigrant," Joel P.
-Walker, and his wife and five children. On April 30, the caravan left
-Westport, Missouri, and, after two months of traveling over the Great
-Plains in the midst of vast buffalo herds, it reached its destination.
-Writes Father De Smet:
-
-  On the 30th [June] I came to the rendezvous, where a band of
-  Flatheads, who had been notified of my coming, were already waiting
-  for me.... On the 4th of July, I resumed my travels, with my
-  Flatheads; ten brave Canadians also chose to accompany me....
-
-  Three days we ascended Green river, and on the 8th we crossed it,
-  heading for an elevated plain which separates the waters of the
-  Colorado from those of the Columbia.... On leaving this plain, we
-  descended several thousand feet by a trail and arrived in Jackson's
-  Hole [Jackson's Little Hole].... Thence we passed into a narrow and
-  extremely dangerous defile, which was at the same time picturesque and
-  sublime....
-
-  On the 10th, after crossing the lofty mountain, we arrived upon the
-  banks of Henry's Fork [Snake River], one of the principal tributaries
-  of Snake [Columbia] river. The mass of snow melted during the July
-  heat had swollen this torrent to a prodigious height. Its roaring
-  waters rushed furiously down and whitened with their foam the great
-  blocks of granite which vainly disputed the passage with them. The
-  sight intimidated neither our Indians nor our Canadians; accustomed to
-  perils of this sort, they rushed into the torrent on horseback and
-  swam it. I dared not venture to do likewise. To get me over, they made
-  a kind of sack of my skin tent; then they put all my things in and set
-  me on top of it. The three Flatheads who had jumped in to guide my
-  frail bark by swimming, told me, laughing, not to be afraid, that I
-  was on an excellent boat. And in fact this machine floated on the
-  water like a majestic swan; and in less than ten minutes I found
-  myself on the other bank, where we encamped for the night.
-
-  The next day we had another high mountain to climb [Teton Pass]
-  through a thick pine forest, and at the top we found snow, which had
-  fallen in the night to the depth of two feet.
-
-Joe Meek relates that,
-
-  about the last of June ... he started for the old rendezvous places of
-  the American Companies, hoping to find some divisions of them at
-  least, on the familiar camping ground. But his journey was in vain.
-  Neither on Green River or Wind River, where for ten years he had been
-  accustomed to meet the leaders and their men, his old comrades in
-  danger, did he find a wandering brigade even. The glory of the
-  American companies was departed, and he found himself solitary among
-  his long familiar haunts.
-
-However, this sad story does not fit in with De Smet's account nor with
-the testimony of Meek's own good friend, Robert Newell, who in June 1840
-also left Fort Hall for the rendezvous:
-
-  Mr. Ermatinger arrived 13th of June. I went to the American
-  rendezvous, Mr. Drips, Freab and Bridger from St. Louis with goods,
-  but times were certainly hard, no beaver, and everything dull. Some
-  missionaries came along with them for the Columbia, Messrs. Clark,
-  Smith, Littlejohn. I engaged to pilot them over the mountains, with
-  their wagons and such used in crossing, to Fort Hall. There I bought
-  their wagons....
-
-Unless Meek's memory was at fault, the discrepancy can only be explained
-on the assumption that Meek, approaching Green River by way of Jackson's
-Hole, simply did not look hard enough. Be that as it may, Meek avers
-that after his disappointed return to Fort Hall,
-
-  he set out on what proved to be his last trapping expedition, with a
-  Frenchman, named Mattileau. They visited the old trapping grounds on
-  Pierre's Fork, Lewis' Lake, Jackson's [Hoback] River, Jackson's Hole,
-  Lewis River and Salt River: but beaver were scarce; and it was with a
-  feeling of relief that, on returning by way of Bear River, Meek heard
-  from a Frenchman whom he met there, that he was wanted at Fort Hall,
-  by his friend Newell, who had something to propose to him.
-
-What Newell had to propose to Meek was something revolutionary. On one
-of Newell's wagons Meek loaded his traps and his Indian family, and
-together they performed the historic feat of taking the first wagons
-through to the Columbia River. Their departure best symbolizes the death
-of the Rocky Mountain fur trade and the birth of the Oregon Trail. After
-Meek's visit in 1840, Jackson's Hole relapsed into virgin solitude. For
-twenty years thereafter there is little positive evidence of white men
-in this valley. It was forty-five years before the arrival of the first
-permanent settler. For over a hundred years the historic importance of
-Jackson's Hole as the continental crossroads of the Western fur trade
-has been all but forgotten.
-
-           [Illustration: Rocky Mountain men setting traps.]
-
- [Illustration: Section of Map accompanying _Report on the Exploration
-     of the Yellowstone River_, by Bvt. Brig. Gen. W. F. Raynolds,
- Washington, 1868. Errors and omissions reflect failure of the Raynolds
-        expedition to reach the Yellowstone Park area in 1860.]
-
-                            [Illustration: ]
-
-
-
-
-                       VIII. Epilogue: 1841-1870
-
-
-After 1840 Yellowstone Park was likewise virtually left in primeval
-solitude. There is tangible evidence of only four visits of white men
-during this period, and one attempted visit which failed. In his
-recently published biography, William Clark Kennerly has it that in 1843
-a grand hunting expedition headed by Sir William Drummond Stewart, and
-including such notables as Sublette and Baptiste Charbonneau, camped one
-evening among the geysers, having particularly great sport in vain
-efforts to throttle "old Steam Boat." In 1844, according to Chittenden,
-a party of trappers, identity not disclosed, entered Upper Yellowstone
-Valley from the south, and "passed around the west shore of Yellowstone
-Lake to the outlet, where they had a severe battle with the Blackfoot
-Indians, in a broad open tract at that point. The remains of their old
-corral were still visible as late as 1870." (This might be a variant of
-the same battle of 1939, told by Hamilton.)
-
-The remaining three expeditions were guided by James Bridger, who in
-1843 had set up Fort Bridger on Black's Fork of Green River, to cater to
-the emigrants who were beginning to follow the Oregon Trail. James
-Gemmell claims to have been among those present in 1846 when Bridger led
-"a trading expedition to the Crows and Sioux," north up the Green River
-through Jackson's Hole to West Thumb, making a tour of the "wonderful
-spouting springs" and other scenic features before continuing down the
-Yellowstone. E. S. Topping states that in 1850 Jim Bridger, Kit Carson,
-and twenty-two others on a prospecting trip out of St. Louis "crossed
-the mountains to the Yellowstone and down it to the lake and the falls;
-then across the Divide to the Madison River. They saw the geysers of the
-lower basin and named the river that drains them the Fire Hole.... The
-report of this party made quite a stir in St. Louis."
-
-The only historically discernible "stir" made by Bridger's reports
-consisted of the usual incredulity and scoffing, exemplified by the
-timidity of a Kansas City editor who in 1856 let immortality slip
-through his grasp by refusing to publish Bridger's own version of "the
-place where Hell bubbled up." By this time, however, one notable Bridger
-story had actually broken through the literary overcast, and two more
-would soon appear to vindicate the famous trapper. In 1852 Lieutenant
-Gunnison, who had been a member of the Howard Stansbury exploring party
-which Bridger guided to Great Salt Lake in 1849, published a romantic
-but essentially accurate description of the principal scenic features.
-Here is a "lake, sixty miles long," a "perpendicular canyon," the "Great
-Springs" on successive terraces, and "geysers spouting seventy feet
-high." In his letter mentioned above, published in 1863, constituting a
-report on his participation in the Fort Laramie treaty council of 1851,
-Father De Smet located what is substantially the present Park "in the
-very heart of the Rocky Mountains, between the 43d and 45th degrees of
-latitude, and the 109th and 111th degrees of longitude; that is between
-the sources of the Madison and the Yellowstone," regarding it as "the
-most marvellous spot of all the northern half of the continent" because
-of its boiling springs, calcareous hills, escaping vapors, steamboat
-noises, subterranean explosions and, near Gardner River, "a mountain of
-sulphur." In this case likewise the source of his information was
-Bridger, "who is familiar with every one of these mounds, having passed
-thirty years of his life near them."
-
-Even more illuminating to the historian than the well-known De Smet
-letter are five unpublished maps traced by that missionary. These maps
-had little contemporary influence and, though noted by his biographers
-in 1905, they have been neglected by subsequent historians. They are
-documents of signal import, which should inspire renewed respect for the
-ubiquitous Bridger and yet increase the stature of the versatile and
-indefatigable De Smet, already one of the giants of western history. Of
-these five maps four are still at St. Louis University, which was his
-headquarters. These are among dozens which were made by him in the
-course of his several western journeys, the information obtained by
-acute personal observation as well as "from trappers and intelligent
-Indians." The draftsmanship of the first three, while not striking, is
-respectable. One shows "Yellow Stone" River and tributaries as high as
-"Gardner's F." A second, embracing the Upper Missouri, Yellowstone, and
-Upper Platte regions, shows a nameless bladder-shaped lake at the head
-of the Yellowstone and a conspicuous "Hot Sulphur Spring" north of the
-lake. A third, embracing the entire West from the Great Basin to the
-Forks of the Platte, shows essentially the same features. The fourth map
-in the St. Louis collection is the most intriguing. This depicts that
-remarkable twisted region of the Rocky Mountains where the headwaters of
-the Yellowstone, the Wind, the Green, the Snake, and the Missouri rivers
-unwind before rolling to their respective oceans. The undated map is
-crude and smeary, and it has all the ear-marks of being sketched in the
-field without benefit of desk or blotter. In view of De Smet's express
-testimony that the most famous trapper of all supplied him with his
-geographic data, at least for the "Yellowstone Park" section, it is a
-fair guess that this was drawn by De Smet with Bridger at his elbow.
-Here, on a rough chart consigned to the oblivion of a library vault, is
-where "Yellowstone Park" first comes into clear focus. Allowing for
-pardonable distortions, all of the principal scenic features are in
-evidence: the geyser basins of the Firehole ("volcanic country");
-Mammoth Hot Springs ("Sulphur Mountain" near "Gardener's Cr."); a
-shapeless Yellowstone Lake ("60 by 9") with "Hot Springs" and "Great
-Volcanoes" alongside; the Grand Canyon and "Falls 290 feet"; and Hayden
-Valley ("Volcanic country [?] Steam Springs"). Two Ocean Pass, Jackson
-Lake, and "Colter's Hell" on Stinking River are other conspicuous
-features near by.
-
-The "Bridger Map" is the obvious source of the Yellowstone data found on
-the fifth De Smet map, embracing the western United States, which is
-more carefully drawn than the others. This large untitled map, with a
-bold floral border, is dated 1851, and contains the following fading
-inscription within curved palm fronds: "respectfully presented to Col.
-David D. [?] Mitchell [by] P. J. De Smet, Soc. Jes." As to the
-circumstances under which this map was drawn, De Smet explains as
-follows in a letter dated July 1, 1857, to officials of the Department
-of the Interior:
-
-  When I was at the council ground in 1851, on the Platte River, at the
-  mouth of the Horse creek, I was requested by Colonel Mitchell
-  [superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis] to make a map of the
-  whole Indian country, relating particularly to the Upper Missouri, the
-  waters of the upper Platte, east of the Rocky mountains and of the
-  headwaters of the Columbia and its tributaries west of these
-  mountains. In compliance with this request I drew up the map from
-  scraps then in my possession. The map, so prepared, was seemingly
-  approved and made use of by the gentlemen assembled in council, and
-  subsequently sent on to Washington together with the treaty then made
-  with the Indians. In my humble opinion, therefore, it can be of very
-  little service for your purposes, in which accuracy of instrumental
-  measurements and observation seems to be absolutely necessary....
-
-The final gesture of modesty may explain why this revealing map,
-prepared and made available to the government twenty years before the
-first official Park exploration got under way, was duly glanced at by
-the department authorities and then tucked away, a needle in the
-haystack of official files, in Washington, D. C., where it still
-reposes. It contains all the features of the "Bridger Map," but with
-refinements. Here is a "Great Volcanic Region [?] now in a state of
-eruption," drained by "Fire Hole Riv." The lake now appear as
-"Yellowstone or Sublette's Lake," still oddly sausage-shaped. There is a
-"Little Falls" at the head of the canyon but the more impressive Lower
-Falls are unexplainably omitted. To the southwest, in the position of
-present Shoshone Lake, is "De Smet Lake." To the east at the forks of
-"Stinking Fr." appears the "Sulphur Springs or Colter's Hell Volcano"
-which, due to the unavailability of this map, has led so many historians
-astray. This map, with its manuscript forebears, ranks with the Ferris
-journal and map and the Potts letter as one of the principal historical
-documents pertaining to early Yellowstone.
-
- [Illustration: Trappers in Pierre's Hole, west of "Les Trois Tetons"]
-
-It is not evident that information given by Gunnison and De Smet or any
-of their predecessors relative to unusual phenomena on the Upper
-Yellowstone greatly impressed representatives of the Federal Government.
-Certainly no eagerness to verify these reports is betrayed in the
-official instructions dated April 13, 1859, by which Captain Raynolds,
-Corps of Topographical Engineers, was directed "to organize an
-expedition for the exploration of the region of the country through
-which flow the principal tributaries of the Yellowstone river, and of
-the mountains in which they, and the Gallatin and Madison forks of the
-Missouri, have their source." However, since one of the objects of this
-exploration was to ascertain the principal topographical features and
-since, moreover, the indispensable Bridger was secured as a guide, it
-would seem that the Yellowstone marvels were just about to be officially
-discovered and proclaimed. Not so, however. The expedition left winter
-camp on Platte River in May 1860. While a detachment under Lieutenant
-Henry E. Maynadier went north along the eastern slope of the Absaroka
-Range, the main party ascended Wind River to Union Pass, then turned
-north seeking the headwaters of the Yellowstone. Deep snow and a great
-"basaltic ridge" blocked their efforts before they reached Two Ocean
-Pass, and they had to satisfy themselves with encircling the Park area
-via Jackson's Hole, Teton Pass, Henry's Fork, and Raynolds' Pass. By way
-of the Madison, they rejoined Maynadier at the Three Forks. Raynolds'
-report and map became the first recognition by the Federal Government of
-the possible existence of volcanic activity in the region of the Upper
-Yellowstone. For information regarding the "burning plains, immense
-lakes, and boiling springs" and other unverifiable phenomena mentioned
-he was, of course, indebted to his guide Bridger, with trimmings added
-by Meldrum. On his "Map of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers," within
-the "enchanted enclosure" which now constitutes Yellowstone National
-Park, the soldier-explorer had the courage to place "Yellowstone Lake,"
-"Falls of the Yellowstone," "Burnt Hole," "Sulphur Mountain," and
-"Elephant's Back Mt.," all now recognizable features. This was an
-extraordinary demonstration of faith in Bridger's veracity. Because of
-the Civil War, publication of the report was delayed until 1868, but the
-map itself was first issued separately a few years earlier.
-
-It was the discovery of gold, first in California and later in Colorado,
-which started the population moving centrally westward in great numbers
-and diverted whatever attention might otherwise have become focussed on
-the Upper Yellowstone region. It was the discovery of gold in western
-Montana which brought about its rediscovery and early creation as the
-world's first National Park. Although there was desultory prospecting
-previous to 1862, it was in that year that the news of several major
-gold strikes was broadcast and a full scale stampede to the diggings
-began. In the spring of 1863 at least two prospecting parties entered
-the Park. Although they were feverishly preoccupied with the search for
-gold, the unusual character of the country did not escape them entirely,
-and the leader of one party made something akin to the first scientific
-eyewitness report. This was Walter W. DeLacy, a professional surveyor.
-In August 1863 he fell in with an expedition of forty-two men bound for
-Snake River, and was elected captain. Their search being unrewarded,
-fifteen of the party deserted at Jackson Lake, the others deciding to
-push north. From the junction of the Lewis and the Snake they went over
-the Pitchstone Plateau to discover Shoshone Lake and Lewis Lake. From
-there they crossed over the Divide to the geyser basins of the Firehole.
-Although amazed at the "Steamboat Springs" they had little time for
-sight-seeing, and left the Park by way of the Gallatin. DeLacy's
-discoveries were incorporated in his "Map of the Territory of Montana,"
-which was published "for the use of the First Legislature of Montana" in
-1865. His accurate firsthand knowledge of the western section of the
-Park is reflected in the correct relationship of "Jackson's Lake" and
-unnamed Lewis Lake and Shoshone Lake, and in the "Hot Spring Valley" or
-geyser basin at the headwaters of the Madison. Identifiable features of
-the unvisited eastern section consist only of a misshapen "Yellow Stone
-Lake" and the "Falls."
-
-We have recognized the Ferris map of 1836 and the De Smet map of 1851,
-based on the undated "Bridger Map," as the earliest authentic maps of
-the Yellowstone Park area, but these remained unpublished and
-unheralded. The Raynolds and DeLacy maps, though purporting to reveal
-the scenic wonders, were scanned mainly by single-minded gold seekers
-before they became obsolete. As to other contemporary published maps,
-the persistence of this geographical blind spot in the face of testimony
-offered by such prime witnesses as Potts, Ferris, and Bridger is
-demonstrated by the fact that for over half a century of map making by
-such respected cartographers as John Arrowsmith, Albert Gallatin,
-Bonneville, Fremont, and Gouverneur K. Warren there was no improvement
-in the "Yellowstone Park" section of the Clark map of 1810, with its
-"Lake Eustis" and "Hot Spring Brimstone." There were only occasional
-meaningless variations of nomenclature. For instance, on the Robert
-Greenhow map of 1840 and on E. F. Beade's "New Map of the Great West,"
-published in 1856, "Hot Sulphur Springs" is substituted. On Charles
-Wilkes' "Map of Oregon Territory" which appeared in 1845 and on the J.
-H. Colton map which accompanied Horn's Overland Guide, published in
-1856, this phenomenon becomes "Steamboat Sp." and Eustis is transformed
-into "Sublette's L." However, on the famed Colton map of 1867, just five
-years before the first boat was launched from its shores, the phantom
-lake--Eustis, Sublette, or Yellowstone--has disappeared entirely!
-
-Contemporary newspaper accounts and later published reminiscences reveal
-several prospecting expeditions which traversed the Park area during the
-period 1864-1869, but the partial and foggy reports of "a lost world"
-given out by these treasure hunters did little to dispel the curtain of
-mystery stubbornly surrounding the area. The cumulative effect of such
-reports and rumors, however, was destined soon to convince intelligent
-listeners that no wild tale could be so persistent, and that there must
-be something at the headwaters of the Yellowstone worth looking into. In
-September 1869, David E. Folsom, Charles W. Cook, and William Peterson
-packed south out of Diamond City, Montana, without distracting thoughts
-of beaver hides or gold, but with the express purpose of exploring that
-neighborhood and reporting their findings without adornment. General
-Henry D. Washburn, Hon. Cornelius Hedges, Hon. Nathaniel Langford, Dr.
-Ferdinand V. Hayden, and Photographer William H. Jackson were standing
-in the wings. The brief era of definitive discovery was dawning.
-
-    [Illustration: First picture ever made of Yellowstone Lake from
-                 watercolor by Henry W. Elliott, 1871.
-                                Picture courtesy of Haynes Studios, Inc.]
-
-
-
-
-                       Selected Bibliography for
-                    COLTER'S HELL AND JACKSON'S HOLE
-
-
-  Allen, Paul, _History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains
-          Lewis and Clark_, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1814).
-  Alter, J. Cecil, _James Bridger_ (Salt Lake City, 1925).
-  Bancroft, H. H., _History of Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming, 1540-1888_
-          (San Francisco, 1890).
-  Barry, J. Neilson (ed.), "Journal of E. Willard Smith," _Quarterly of
-          the Oregon Historical Society_ (September 1913).
-  Bonneville, Captain B. L. E., undated letter from Fort Smith,
-          Arkansas, _Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana_
-          (Helena), I (1876), 93-97.
-  Brackenridge, Henry M., _Views of Louisiana_ (Pittsburgh, 1814).
-  Bradbury, John, _Travels in the Interior of North America, 1809-1811_
-          (London, 1819), republished in Reuben G. Thwaites (ed.),
-          _Early Western Travels_, 32 vols. (Cleveland, 1904-1907), V.
-  Burpee, Lawrence J. (ed.), _Journal of Larocque from the Assiniboine
-          to the Yellowstone, 1805_ (Ottawa, 1910).
-  Carter, Clarence E. (ed.), _Territorial Papers of the United States_
-          (Washington, 1934), XIII, _Territory of Louisiana-Missouri,
-          1803-1806_ (1948).
-  Chittenden, Hiram M., _The American Fur Trade of the Far West_, 2
-          vols., ed. by Stallo Vinton (New York, 1936).
-  Chittenden, Hiram M. and Richardson, Albert T., _Life, Letters and
-          Travels of Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, S. J., 1801-1873_ (New
-          York, 1905), 4 vols.
-  Chittenden, Hiram M., _The Yellowstone National Park, Historical and
-          Descriptive_ (Cincinnati, 1895).
-  Coues, Elliott (ed.), _Forty Years a Fur Trader ... Charles
-          Larpenteur_, 2 vols. (New York, 1898).
-  Coutant, Charles G., _History of Wyoming_ (Laramie, 1899).
-  Dale, Harrison C., _The Ashley-Smith Explorations_ (Glendale, 1941).
-  DeLacy, Walter W., _Map of the Territory of Montana_, etc. (St. Louis,
-          1865).
-  DeLacy, Walter W., "A Trip Up the South Snake River in 1863,"
-          _Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana_, I
-          (1876).
-  De Smet, Pierre Jean, _Western Missions and Missionaries_ (New York,
-          1863).
-  DeVoto, Bernard, _Across the Wide Missouri_ (Boston, 1947).
-  DeVoto, Bernard (ed.), _Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth_
-          (New York, 1931).
-  Ellison, William H., _Life and Adventures of George Nidever_
-          (Berkeley, 1937).
-  Frost, Donald M., _Notes on General Ashley, the Overland Trail and
-          South Pass_ (Worcester, 1944).
-  Grant, Blanche C. (ed.), _Kit Carson's Own Life Story_ (Taos, 1926).
-  Gunnison, John W., _The Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints in the Valley of
-          the Great Salt Lake_ (Philadelphia, 1852).
-  Hamilton, William T., _My Sixty Years on the Plains_ (New York, 1905).
-  Harris, Burton, _John Colter, His Years in the Rockies_ (New York,
-          1952).
-  Irving, Washington, _Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the
-          Rocky Mountains_, 3 vols. (Philadelphia, 1836).
-  Irving, Washington, _The Rocky Mountains.... The Journal of Captain B.
-          L. E. Bonneville_, 2 vols. (Philadelphia. 1837).
-  James, Thomas, _Three Years Among the Indians_, ed. by Walter B.
-          Douglas (St. Louis, 1916), reprinted from original edition of
-          1846.
-  Kennerly, William C., _Persimmon Hill: A Narrative of Old St. Louis_
-          (Norman, 1948).
-  Laut, Agnes, _Conquest of the Great Northwest_ (G. H. Doran Co.,
-          1908).
-  Lindsay, Charles, _The Big Horn Basin_ (Lincoln, 1932).
-  Mattes, Merrill J., "Behind the Legend of Colter's Hell: The Early
-          Exploration of Yellowstone National Park," _Mississippi Valley
-          Historical Review_ (September 1949).
-  Mattes, Merrill J., "Jackson Hole, Crossroads of the Western Fur
-          Trade, 1807-1840," _Pacific Northwest Quarterly_ (April 1946
-          and January 1948).
-  Parker, Samuel, _Journal of an Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky
-          Mountains_ (Ithaca, 1944).
-  Phillips, Paul C. (ed.), _Life in the Rocky Mountains; A Diary ... by
-          Warren A. Ferris_ (Denver, 1940).
-  Potts, Daniel T., Letters, _Yellowstone Nature Notes_ (September
-          1947).
-  Raynolds, General William F., "Report on the Explorations of the
-          Yellowstone River" (Washington, 1868), _Senate Executive
-          Documents_, No. 77. 40 Cong. 1 [2] Sess.
-  Rollins, Philip A. (ed.), _The Discovery of the Oregon Trail_ (Hunt
-          and Stuart Journals) (New York, 1935).
-  Ross, Alexander, _The Fur Hunters of the Far West_, 2 vols. (London,
-          1855).
-  Russell, Osborne, _Journal of a Trapper_, edited by Aubrey L. Haines
-          (Portland, 1955).
-  Sabin, Edwin L., _Kit Carson Days_, 2 vols. (New York, 1935).
-  Sullivan, M. S., _Travels of Jedediah Smith_ (Santa Ana, 1934).
-  Thwaites, Reuben G., _Oregon; or, a Short History ... by John B.
-          Wyeth_ (_Early Western Travels_) (Cleveland, 1905), XXI.
-  Thwaites, Reuben G. (ed.), _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark
-          Expedition 1804-1806_, 8 vols. (New York, 1904-1905), V.
-  Topping, E. S., _Chronicles of the Yellowstone_ (St. Paul, 1883).
-  Victor, Frances Fuller, _The River of the West_ (Hartford, 1870).
-  Vinton, Stallo, _John Colter, Discoverer of Yellowstone Park_ (New
-          York, 1926).
-  Wagner, W. F. (ed.), _Leonard's Narrative; Adventures of Zenas Leonard
-          1831-1836_ (Cleveland, 1904).
-  Webb, J. Watson (ed.), _Altowan_, 2 vols. (New York, 1846).
-  Wislizenus, F. A., _A Journey to the Rocky Mountains in 1839_ (St.
-          Louis, 1912).
-
-         [Illustration: Colter's Route 1807-1808 (CONJECTURAL)
-                       Trapper Trails 1811-1840]
-
-
-
-
-                          Transcriber's Notes
-
-
---Retained copyright notice on the original book (this eBook is
-  public-domain in the country of publication.)
-
---Silently corrected a few palpable typos.
-
---Moved illustrations to the nearest paragraph break, adjusting page
-  breaks where necessary.
-
---In the text versions, delimited italicized words with _underscores_
-  (the HTML version uses bold and italic fonts instead.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole, by 
-Merrill J. Mattes
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-<pre>
-
-Project Gutenberg's Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole, by Merrill J. Mattes
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole
-       The Fur Trappers' Exploration of the Yellowstone and Grand
-              Teton Park Region
-
-Author: Merrill J. Mattes
-
-Release Date: November 4, 2015 [EBook #50381]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLTER'S HELL AND JACKSON'S HOLE ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
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-</pre>
-
-<div id="cover" class="img">
-<img id="coverpage" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Colter&rsquo;s Hell and Jackson&rsquo;s Hole" width="500" height="782" />
-</div>
-<h1>COLTER&rsquo;S HELL
-<br /><span class="smaller">AND</span>
-<br />JACKSON&rsquo;S HOLE</h1>
-<p class="tbcenter">By Merrill J. Mattes</p>
-<p class="tbcenter">Published by
-<br />YELLOWSTONE LIBRARY AND MUSEUM ASSOCIATION
-<br />and the
-<br />GRAND TETON NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION
-<br />in cooperation with
-<br />NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
-<br />U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig1">
-<img src="images/img001.jpg" alt="Yellowstone Library and Museum Association; National Park Service" width="600" height="316" />
-</div>
-<p class="center smaller">&copy; 1962 Yellowstone Library and Museum Association
-<br />Reprint 1970</p>
-<p class="tb">The Yellowstone Library and Museum Association and
-the Grand Teton Natural History Association are non-profit
-distributing organizations whose purpose is the stimulation of
-interest in the educational and inspirational aspects of Yellowstone
-and Grand Teton history and natural history. The Associations
-cooperate with and are recognized by the United States
-Department of the Interior and its Bureau, the National Park
-Service, as essential operating organizations.</p>
-<p>As one means of accomplishing their aims the Associations
-publish reasonably priced booklets which are available for purchase
-by mail throughout the year or at the museum information
-desks in the parks during the summer.</p>
-<p>Photographs used were provided through the courtesy of
-the National Park Service, except where otherwise credited.</p>
-<h1 title="">COLTER&rsquo;S HELL AND JACKSON&rsquo;S HOLE:
-<br />The Fur Trappers&rsquo; Exploration of the Yellowstone and Grand Teton Park Region</h1>
-<p class="tbcenter"><span class="large"><b>By
-<br />Merrill J. Mattes</b></span></p>
-<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2>
-<dl class="toc">
-<dt class="jr small">Page</dt>
-<dt><span class="cn">I. </span><a href="#c1">Strange Land of &ldquo;Volcanoes&rdquo; and &ldquo;Shining Mountains&rdquo;</a> 1</dt>
-<dt><span class="cn">II. </span><a href="#c2">The Mystery of &ldquo;La Roche Jaune&rdquo; or Yellow Rock River</a> 9</dt>
-<dt><span class="cn">III. </span><a href="#c3">John Colter, The Phantom Explorer&mdash;1807-1808</a> 13</dt>
-<dt><span class="cn">IV. </span><a href="#c4">&ldquo;Colter&rsquo;s Hell&rdquo;: A Case of Mistaken Identity</a> 19</dt>
-<dt><span class="cn">V. </span><a href="#c5">&ldquo;Les Trois Tetons&rdquo;: The Golden Age of Discovery, 1810-1824</a> 25</dt>
-<dt><span class="cn">VI. </span><a href="#c6">&ldquo;Jackson&rsquo;s Hole&rdquo;: Era of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, 1825-1832</a> 35</dt>
-<dt><span class="cn">VII. </span><a href="#c7">&ldquo;The Fire Hole&rdquo;: Era of the American Fur Company, 1833-1840</a> 53</dt>
-<dt><span class="cn">VIII. </span><a href="#c8">Epilogue: 1841-1870</a> 77</dt>
-<dt><span class="cn">&nbsp; </span><a href="#c9">Selected Bibliography</a> 86</dt>
-<dt><span class="cn">&nbsp; </span><a href="#map5">Vicinity Map at rear</a></dt>
-</dl>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_1">1</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig2">
-<img src="images/img002.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="251" />
-<p class="caption">BEAVER TRAP</p>
-</div>
-<h2 id="c1">I. Strange Land of &ldquo;Volcanoes&rdquo; and &ldquo;Shining Mountains&rdquo;</h2>
-<p>The Yellowstone-Grand Teton region was not officially
-discovered and its scenic marvels were not publicly proclaimed
-until the 1870&rsquo;s, beginning with the Washburn-Langford-Doane
-expedition. For thirty years before, from
-1841 to 1869, this region was a Paradise Lost, rarely visited
-by white men. But for thirty years before <b>that</b>, or from 1807
-to 1840, this region had hundreds of appreciative visitors.
-These were the Rocky Mountain fur trappers. While searching
-for the golden-brown fur of the beaver, destined for the
-St. Louis market, these adventurers thoroughly explored
-this fabulous region. Although news of their discoveries
-received scant public notice back in the settlements, or was
-discounted as tall tales, to them belongs the honor of being
-the first actual explorers of these twin parks.</p>
-<p>Neighboring Yellowstone and Grand Teton, established
-as National Parks in 1872 and 1929, respectively, are separately
-managed today as units of our National Park System.
-But geographically, now as well as in the early nineteenth
-century, they embrace one unique region, characterized by
-topographic and geologic features that are the crescendo of
-a great scenic symphony. Here, at the heart of the continent,
-the source of the three major river systems of the
-continent&mdash;the Columbia, the Colorado, and the Missouri-Mississippi&mdash;may
-<span class="pb" id="Page_2">2</span>
-be found the greatest geyser basins, the
-largest mountain lake, the most colorful of kaleidoscopic
-canyons, one of the richest arrays of wildlife, and one of
-the most spectacularly beautiful mountain ranges in the
-world. The Yellowstone-Grand Teton region has historical
-unity, also, particularly during the obscure but heroic age
-of the Rocky Mountain fur trade.</p>
-<p>&ldquo;Colter&rsquo;s Hell&rdquo;&mdash;bearing the name of the legendary
-discoverer, and conjuring up visions of a primitive &ldquo;Dante&rsquo;s
-Inferno&rdquo;&mdash;is the term which visitors today associate with
-the early history of Yellowstone National Park and its universally
-famous hydrothermal wonders. Actually, the wandering,
-bearded, buck-skinned beaver trappers never referred
-to the geyser region of the upper Madison as Colter&rsquo;s
-Hell. As we will see, the real Colter&rsquo;s Hell in Jim Bridger&rsquo;s
-day was another place altogether, having nothing to do with
-anything within Yellowstone Park itself. In trapper times
-the Yellowstone geyser area had no fixed name but was
-variously described by them as a region of &ldquo;great volcanoes,&rdquo;
-&ldquo;boiling springs&rdquo; or &ldquo;spouting fountains.&rdquo; On the recently
-discovered Hood and Ferris maps (see below) it is labeled
-&ldquo;the Burnt Hole&rdquo; (although this name seems to have been
-restricted by Russell and others to the Hebgen Lake Valley).
-Captain Bonneville tells us that his men knew of this region
-as &ldquo;the Firehole&rdquo; and this name, as applied to the river
-draining the geyser basins, survives today.</p>
-<p>Yellowstone Park, carved out of territorial Wyoming,
-Montana, and Idaho, is a rough-edged rectangle of 3,500
-square miles that straddles the twisting course of the Continental
-Divide. It is a geological circus, a unique creation
-of ancient volcanoes and glaciers, flanked on the southeast
-and east by the Absaroka Range, on the north by the Snowy
-Range, on the northwest by the Gallatin and Madison ranges,
-on the west by the Centennial Range, and on the south by
-the Teton Mountains.</p>
-<p>From the Park flow the headwaters of two continental
-rivers and their major tributaries. From here the Snake
-<span class="pb" id="Page_3">3</span>
-River arcs southward toward Jackson&rsquo;s Hole and the cathedral-like
-Tetons, destined to join the Columbia River and the
-Pacific Ocean. Here the Firehole and Gibbon rivers, draining
-the principal geyser basins, unite to become the Madison
-River, and here also arises the Gallatin, these being two
-of the Three Forks of the Missouri. Here arises a branch
-of the North Fork of the Shoshone River, a tributary of the
-Bighorn. And here, after its birth near Two Ocean Pass,
-begins the mighty Yellowstone River which, after passing
-through its vast mirror-like lake and its prismatic canyon,
-flows out onto the plains to receive the Bighorn and join
-the Missouri on its marathon journey to the Mississippi
-River and the Gulf of Mexico.</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig3">
-<img src="images/img003.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="482" />
-<p class="caption">Indians at Jackson Lake.</p>
-</div>
-<p>This region held a fortune in coveted beaver skins, but
-it was remote, snowbound, haunted by the vindictive Blackfeet,
-and plagued by weird visions, sulphurous fumes, and
-uncanny noises. Here indeed was fertile soil for a legend.</p>
-<p>On a clear day Yellowstone Park visitors can see to
-the south the mountain spires which identify Grand Teton
-National Park of Wyoming, an indefinable shape of 500
-square miles. (The actual boundaries of these neighboring
-parks are separated by a scant five miles.) The Tetons are
-<span class="pb" id="Page_4">4</span>
-perhaps the most distinctive of the granite giants which
-comprise the Rocky Mountains. A series of sharp pyramids
-of naked rock, the peaks stand like sharks&rsquo; teeth against the
-sky. The most precipitous sides and the most needle-like
-summit belong to the highest of these, the Grand Teton,
-which rises over 7,000 feet from its immediate base, nearly
-14,000 feet above the level of the distant sea.</p>
-<p>The Teton Mountains are the most conspicuous landmarks
-of a region which contains the scrambled sources of
-the three greatest river systems of continental United States.
-As we have seen, Yellowstone Park to the north gives birth
-to the eastward-flowing Missouri and the westward flowing
-Columbia waters. East of the Tetons, in the Wind River
-Mountains, is the head of Green River which rolls southward
-to merge into the mighty Colorado River, tumbling
-through the arid lands to the Gulf of California.</p>
-<p>Jackson&rsquo;s Hole is that part of the Upper Snake River
-Valley which lies at the eastern base of the Teton Range.
-One of the largest enclosed valleys in the Rocky Mountains,
-its glaciated floor extends about sixty miles north and
-south, and varies up to twelve miles in width. It is bounded
-on the west by the Tetons, on the east and south by the
-less pretentious Mount Leidy Highlands and the Gros Ventre
-and Hoback Mountains. The Gros Ventres merge imperceptibly
-into the Wind River Mountains farther east, the
-crest of which forms the Continental Divide. The southern
-extremity of the Tetons merges with the eastern end of the
-Snake River Range near the canyon where the Snake River
-escapes from the valley.</p>
-<p>Historic Jackson&rsquo;s Hole, also known as &ldquo;Jackson&rsquo;s Big
-Hole&rdquo;&mdash;but now politely refined to just plain Jackson Hole&mdash;was
-named in 1829 for David Jackson, one of the partners
-of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. To the early trapper
-a &ldquo;hole&rdquo; was a sizeable valley abounding in game, and
-usually (with the exception of Yellowstone&rsquo;s &ldquo;Firehole&rdquo;)
-associated with some distinctive personality&mdash;hence Brown&rsquo;s
-Hole, Pierre&rsquo;s Hole, Gardner&rsquo;s Hole, etc. However, Jackson&rsquo;s
-<span class="pb" id="Page_5">5</span>
-Hole was more than just a pleasant spot for trapping
-and camping. Research gives substance to the view that
-this was the historic crossroads of the Rocky Mountain fur
-trade.</p>
-<p>Jackson&rsquo;s Hole was destined by geography to become
-a traffic center of the Western fur trade. Between South
-Pass at the head of the Little Sandy and the northern passes
-above the Three Forks of the Missouri it offered the most
-feasible route across the Rocky Mountain barrier. In addition,
-it was the focal point of a region that was highly prized
-and vigorously contested because of its populous beaver
-streams. Here trappers&rsquo; trails converged like the spokes of
-a great wheel and, after Lewis and Clark, most of the important
-trapper-explorers crossed Jackson&rsquo;s Hole on their
-journeys.</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig4">
-<img src="images/img004.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="446" />
-<p class="caption">Indian &ldquo;Buffalo Jump&rdquo;&mdash;Yellowstone Valley.</p>
-</div>
-<p>In historic times there were seven gateways to and
-from Jackson&rsquo;s Hole: northward up Snake River; northeastward
-up Pacific Creek to Two Ocean Pass; eastward up
-Buffalo Fork to Twogwotee Pass; eastward up the Gros
-Ventre to Union Pass; southward up the Hoback to Green
-River; westward via Teton Pass or Conant Pass (at the south
-and north extremities of the Teton Range) to Pierre&rsquo;s Hole.</p>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_6">6</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig5">
-<img src="images/img005.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="428" />
-<p class="caption">&ldquo;Dawn of Discovery&rdquo;&mdash;Exhibit in Fur Trade Museum, Grand Teton National Park.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_7">7</div>
-<p>The Tetons received their name from French-Canadian
-trappers who accompanied the earliest British expeditions
-into this territory. As they approached the range from the
-west, they beheld three towering mountains upon which
-they bestowed the name of &ldquo;Trois Tetons&rdquo; (&ldquo;Three Breasts&rdquo;).
-This romantic designation was readily adopted by the lonely
-trapping fraternity to whom the sharp snowy peaks (now
-known as the Grand, Middle and South Tetons) became a
-beacon to guide them through the hostile wilderness. To
-the Indians the Tetons were variously known as &ldquo;The Three
-Brothers,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Hoaryheaded Fathers,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Tee Win-at,&rdquo;
-meaning &ldquo;The Pinnacles.&rdquo; The earliest Americans in the
-region, being more practical than romantic, could find no
-better name for the silvery spires than &ldquo;The Pilot Knobs,&rdquo;
-while an official Hudson&rsquo;s Bay Company map indicates with
-equal homeliness, &ldquo;The Three Paps.&rdquo; The name &ldquo;Three
-Tetons&rdquo; survived, however, and was officially recognized by
-cartographers. The name first appeared publicly in the
-Bonneville Map of 1837.</p>
-<p>The Upper Snake River (i.e., above the mouth of Henry&rsquo;s
-Fork) was called &ldquo;Mad River&rdquo; by the Astorians. Others
-simply referred to it as the &ldquo;Columbia River&rdquo; or &ldquo;the headwaters
-of the Columbia,&rdquo; but to most of the fur trappers
-it was &ldquo;Lewis River&rdquo; or &ldquo;Lewis Fork,&rdquo; so originally named
-in the Clark Map of 1810 for Capt. Meriwether Lewis, as
-Clark&rsquo;s Fork of the Columbia was named after his fellow
-explorer, Capt. William Clark. This name was much more
-appropriate than its present one, which is derived from the
-Snake or Shoshone Indians, and first appears on the Greenhow
-Map of 1840.</p>
-<p>In spite of past efforts by water power advocates to
-&ldquo;improve&rdquo; it by a dam, Yellowstone Lake remains just as
-it was when first discovered by John Colter, the original
-&ldquo;Lake Eustis&rdquo; of the Clark Map of 1810. Jackson Lake,
-<span class="pb" id="Page_8">8</span>
-however, was enlarged by a dam built in 1916 by the Bureau
-of Reclamation. This lake is identifiable with the &ldquo;Lake
-Biddle&rdquo; of the Clark Map of 1810, the &ldquo;Teton Lake&rdquo; of
-Warren A. Ferris, and the &ldquo;Lewis Lake&rdquo; referred to frequently
-by another trapper, Joseph L. Meek. There is
-today a tributary of the Upper Snake known as Lewis River,
-heading in a Lewis Lake within the confines of Yellowstone
-National Park, neither of which are to be confused with the
-historic &ldquo;Lewis River&rdquo; and &ldquo;Lewis Lake.&rdquo;</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig6">
-<img src="images/img006.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="700" />
-<p class="caption">Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_9">9</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig7">
-<img src="images/img007.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="249" />
-<p class="caption">POWDER HORN</p>
-</div>
-<h2 id="c2">II. The Mystery of &ldquo;La Roche Jaune&rdquo; or Yellow Rock River</h2>
-<p>For some twenty years before the advent of Lewis and
-Clark, French-Canadian voyageurs of the North West Company
-were in league with the Mandans, and from these
-Indians learned of the distant &ldquo;Pierre Jaune&rdquo; or &ldquo;Roche
-Jaune&rdquo; River, a translation from the Indian equivalent of
-&ldquo;Yellow Rock River.&rdquo; Chittenden theorizes that the ultimate
-origin of the name descends from the brilliant and
-infinite varieties of yellow which dominate the color scheme
-of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and which probably
-awed the first aboriginal explorer just as it does today&rsquo;s
-auto-borne tourist.</p>
-<p>Although there is room for debate as to whether any
-of the Canadian traders beat Lewis and Clark to the mouth
-of the Yellowstone, it is certain that one of their number
-preceded the Americans in the approach to its headwaters.
-On September 10, 1805, Francois Antoine Larocque reached
-&ldquo;Riviere aux Roches Jaunes&rdquo; just below the mouth of
-Pryor&rsquo;s Fork, near present Billings, Montana, in the course
-of &ldquo;a voyage of discovery to the Rocky Mountains.&rdquo; After
-wintering at the Mandan villages in 1804-1805 as a neighbor
-of the hibernating Lewis and Clark, and being thwarted in
-his desire to accompany them upstream, Larocque had returned
-to his post on the Assiniboine for supplies, then
-<span class="pb" id="Page_10">10</span>
-hurried back to the Mandans, going from there overland
-via Knife River, the Little Missouri, and the Tongue to the
-Bighorn Mountains, country of the Crows.</p>
-<p>While wintering with the Mandans, Captain Clark
-sketched two maps of the unexplored country westward,
-based on &ldquo;the information of traders, indians and my own
-observation and ideas.&rdquo; One of these shows &ldquo;Rochejhone
-River&rdquo; with six tributaries from the south, five with Indian
-names, two translated as &ldquo;Tongue River&rdquo; and &ldquo;Big Horn R.&rdquo;
-The Bighorns and Rocky Mountains beyond are represented
-only by diagrammatic strokes. There is a trail from the
-mouth of Knife River to the Bighorns, roughly the same
-subsequently taken by Larocque. This was actually a refinement
-of a sketch made for Clark by the Mandan Chief
-Big White. The second map shows &ldquo;River yellow rock&rdquo;
-minus tributaries but with the Crows (&ldquo;gens de Corbeau&rdquo;)
-located just west of an imaginative &ldquo;montagne de roche&mdash;conjecturall.&rdquo;
-These maps, the first to our knowledge to
-depict the Yellowstone River, were sent to President Jefferson
-on April 7, 1805, by Meriwether Lewis, to accompany
-his eagerly awaited progress report.</p>
-<p>Upon their return trip in 1806, after wintering at Fort
-Clatsop at the mouth of the Columbia, Lewis and Clark
-divided in order to explore the country more thoroughly,
-the latter undertaking to determine the source of the mysterious
-Yellowstone. On July 15, with eleven white men,
-the Indian woman Sacajawea and her baby, the cavalcade
-crossed Bozeman Pass, which marks the divide between
-the Yellowstone and Gallatin Fork, and reached the vicinity
-of present Livingston, Montana. Never suspecting what
-wonders lay concealed behind the snowy mountain wall to
-the south, Clark hurried on down the river to rejoin Lewis,
-with glory enough for one expedition.</p>
-<p>There is only one hint of volcanic phenomena which
-Clark seems to have obtained from any source other than
-the presumed conversation with Colter, mentioned below.
-This was an Indian tale, received after Clark&rsquo;s return, but
-<span class="pb" id="Page_11">11</span>
-before Colter&rsquo;s return, to the effect that at the head of
-Tongue River, a branch of the Yellowstone, &ldquo;there is frequently
-heard a loud noise like Thunder, which makes the
-earth Tremble, they state that they seldom go there because
-their children Cannot sleep&mdash;and Conceive it possessed of
-spirits, who were averse that men Should be near them.&rdquo;
-Speculates Vinton, &ldquo;it can hardly be doubted that the Indians
-referred to the geyser basin in the Park,&rdquo; rather than
-to the Tongue River neighborhood.</p>
-<p>It is commonly supposed that, prior to Colter, no white
-man had knowledge of strange phenomena on the Upper
-Yellowstone, this supposition being one of the pillars of the
-&ldquo;first-discovery&rdquo; theory. It is fairly evident that Clark
-knew nothing of geysers when he was within seventy-five
-miles of them in 1806 but, ironically enough, at this time
-some intimation of them had certainly reached others, including
-Clark&rsquo;s sponsor, Thomas Jefferson. On October 22,
-1805, James Wilkinson, governor of Louisiana Territory,
-with headquarters in St. Louis, sent to the President, in
-care of Captain Amos Stoddard,</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>a Savage delineation on a Buffalo Pelt, of the Missouri &amp;
-its South Western branches, including the Rivers plate &amp;
-Lycorne or Pierre jaune; This Rude Sketch without Scale
-or Compass &lsquo;et remplie de Fantaisies ridicules&rsquo; is not destitute
-of Interests, as it exposes the location of several important
-Objects, &amp; may point the way to useful enquiry&mdash;among
-other things a little incredible, <b>a volcano is distinctly
-described on Yellow Stone River</b>.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>Wilkinson apparently obtained this primitive map from unidentified
-traders. It could not have been a copy of Clark&rsquo;s
-map sent from Fort Mandan the April previous, for it obviously
-contained new data. In an advice to Henry Dearborn,
-Secretary of War, dated September 18, 1805, Wilkinson revealed
-that his interest in Yellowstone curiosities was sufficiently
-aroused to dispatch an expedition of his own
-upriver!</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>I have equipt a Perogue out of my Small private
-means, not with any view to Self interest, to ascend the
-missouri and enter the River Piere jaune, or yellow Stone,
-called by the natives, Unicorn River, the same by which
-<span class="pb" id="Page_12">12</span>
-Capt. Lewis I find since expects to return <b>and which my
-informants tell me is filled with wonders</b>. This Party will
-not get back before the Summer 1807&mdash;they are natives of
-this town....</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>Who were Wilkinson&rsquo;s explorers, and what became of them?
-Who were the &ldquo;informants&rdquo;? Was their information firsthand
-or derived from Indians who, unlike the Mandans,
-were acquainted with details of the Upper Yellowstone?
-These questions may be unanswerable, but they arise to
-shadow the giant figure of John Colter.</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig8">
-<img src="images/img008.jpg" alt="" width="765" height="600" />
-<p class="caption">Fur Trade Museum, Moose Visitor Center&mdash;Grand Teton National Park Headquarters.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_13">13</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig9">
-<img src="images/img009.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="260" />
-<p class="caption">HAWKEN RIFLE</p>
-</div>
-<h2 id="c3">III. John Colter, the Phantom Explorer&mdash;1807-1808</h2>
-<p>The epic journey of discovery known as &ldquo;The Lewis
-and Clark Expedition&rdquo; was organized in the autumn of 1803
-at Maysville, Kentucky. Here, on October 15, John Colter
-enlisted as a private with the stipulated pay of $5 a month,
-apparently answering the requirement for &ldquo;good hunters,
-stout, healthy, unmarried men, accustomed to the woods and
-capable of bearing bodily fatigue in a pretty considerable
-degree.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>Colter shared all the hardships and triumphs of the
-expedition, as well as routine adventure in hunting, starving,
-Indian diplomacy, and getting chased by grizzly bears. In
-August 1806 the returning party reached the Mandan villages.
-Here Colter was granted permission by the explorers
-to take his leave and join two trappers from Illinois, Forrest
-Hancock and Joseph Dickson, bound for Yellowstone River.</p>
-<p>The extent of the wanderings of this trio is not known.
-In the spring of 1807 Colter alone paddled a canoe down the
-Missouri to the mouth of the Platte where he found keelboats
-of the Missouri Fur Company of St. Louis, led by
-Manuel Lisa. He was promptly recruited and went with
-this expedition up the Missouri and the Yellowstone to the
-<span class="pb" id="Page_14">14</span>
-mouth of the Bighorn River, where Lisa built a log fort
-known as Fort Raymond or Manuel&rsquo;s Fort.</p>
-<p>It was from this point that Colter made his famous
-journey of discovery during the autumn and winter of 1807-1808.
-Colter left no written record of his own. The only
-thing resembling written evidence is the following by Henry
-Brackenridge, who heard it from Manuel Lisa:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>He [Lisa] continued his voyage to the Yellowstone River,
-where he built a trading fort. He shortly after dispatched
-Coulter, the hunter before mentioned, to bring some of the
-Indian nations to trade. This man, with a pack of thirty
-pounds weight, his gun and some ammunition, went upwards
-of five hundred miles to the Crow nation; gave them
-information, and proceeded from them to several other
-tribes. On his return, a party of Indians in whose company
-he happened to be was attacked, and he was lamed
-by a severe wound in the leg; notwithstanding which, he
-returned to the establishment, entirely alone and without
-assistance, several hundred miles.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>Aside from this slim clue, his course can be determined
-solely on the basis of &ldquo;Colter&rsquo;s Route in 1807&rdquo; and other
-data which appear on William Clark&rsquo;s &ldquo;Map of the West,&rdquo;
-published in 1814, presumably based on a conversation of
-1810 at St. Louis, whither the trapper-explorer returned
-after hair-raising adventures with the Blackfeet in the Three
-Forks country. Inevitably, in view of the topographical
-errors and distortions of the Clark map, Colter&rsquo;s precise
-route is subject to wide differences of opinion.</p>
-<p>A composite of theories offered by Hiram M. Chittenden,
-Stallo Vinton, Charles Lindsay, and Burton Harris, to mention
-only four qualified scholars who have undertaken to
-hypothecate Colter&rsquo;s route, is that Colter ascended the Bighorn,
-followed up the Shoshone River to near present Cody,
-went south along the foot of the Absaroka Mountains, up
-Wind River to Union Pass, into Jackson&rsquo;s Hole, thence probably
-across Teton Pass into Pierre&rsquo;s Hole, thence north via
-Conant Pass to the west shore of Yellowstone Lake and
-northeast to the crossing of the Yellowstone near Tower
-Falls, thence up the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek,
-<span class="pb" id="Page_15">15</span>
-back across the Absarokas, thence south to the Shoshone
-River, and back to Lisa&rsquo;s Fort by way of Clark&rsquo;s Fork and
-Pryor&rsquo;s Fork.</p>
-<p>The key to Colter&rsquo;s route is the identification of Lakes
-Jackson and Yellowstone, respectively, as Clark&rsquo;s Lake Biddle
-(named for the patron of his publication) and Lake Eustis
-(named for the Secretary of War), no longer questioned by
-historians. The &ldquo;Hot Spring Brimstone&rdquo; at the sulphur
-beds crossing of the Yellowstone River near Tower Falls and
-the &ldquo;Boiling Spring&rdquo; near the forks of the Stinkingwater or
-Shoshone (see <a href="#c4">Chapter IV</a>) are other checkpoints which now
-seem quite firm. In addition, there are two interesting
-claims of physical evidence. While these are both necessarily
-debatable and subject to challenge as hoaxes, they
-deserve consideration. According to Philip A. Rollins,
-quoted by Vinton:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>In September of 1889, Tazewell Woody (Theodore
-Roosevelt&rsquo;s hunting guide), John H. Dewing (also a hunting
-guide) and I, found on the left side of Coulter Creek, some
-fifty feet from the water and about three quarters of a mile
-above the creek&rsquo;s mouth, a large pine tree on which was a
-deeply indented blaze, which after being cleared of sap
-and loose bark was found to consist of a cross thus &lsquo;X&rsquo;
-(some five inches in height), and, under it, the initials &lsquo;J C&rsquo;
-(each some four inches in height).</p>
-<p>The blaze appeared to these trained hunting guides,
-so they stated to me, to be approximately eighty years old.</p>
-<p>They refused to fell the tree and so obtain the exact
-age of the blaze because they said they guessed the blaze
-had been made by Colter himself.</p>
-<p>The find was reported to the Government authorities,
-and the tree was cut down by them in 1889 or 1890, in
-order that the blazed section might be installed in a museum,
-but as I was told in the autumn of 1890 by the then
-superintendent of the Yellowstone Park, the blazed section
-had been lost in transit.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>The second reputed Colter relic, which has survived, is
-the so-called &ldquo;Colter Stone&rdquo; which is now exhibited by the
-National Park Service in its new Fur Trade Museum at the
-Moose Visitor Center, Grand Teton National Park. This is
-a piece of rhyolite hand-carved roughly in the shape of a
-<span class="pb" id="Page_16">16</span>
-human head, with the inscribed lettering &ldquo;John Colter 1808.&rdquo;
-This specimen was dug up in 1931 by William Beard and
-son while clearing timber on their farm about five miles
-east of Tetonia, Idaho, just within the Wyoming state line.
-In 1933 Aubrey Lyon, a neighbor, obtained the &ldquo;stone head&rdquo;
-in trade for a pair of riding boots, and presented it to park
-officials.</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig10">
-<img src="images/img010.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="542" />
-<p class="caption">Colter&rsquo;s Hell today (with Superintendent Lon Garrison and wife).<span class="jr"> Photo by Author</span></p>
-</div>
-<p>Although the natural tendency to view such finds with
-skepticism may be respected here, several factors lend
-plausibility. Members of the Beard family had no knowledge
-of John Colter. In 1931 the Colter story had not been
-well researched, and the version then was largely confined
-to the year 1807; yet if Colter made winter camp in the
-Teton Basin, and left a record to help while away the
-time, this would logically occur early in 1808. The stone
-itself yields no conclusive evidence on the basis of wear or
-patination; but some geologists agree that 125 years of
-weathering and soil acidity could have elapsed between the
-initial carving and time of discovery. At least the Colter
-Stone is a great historical conversation piece!</p>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_17">17</div>
-<p>According to Thomas James, an associate of Colter&rsquo;s, the
-fight with the Blackfeet, mentioned by Brackenridge as
-occurring on Colter&rsquo;s Yellowstone journey, did not actually
-occur until the summer of 1808, near the Three Forks of the
-Missouri. On this occasion Colter was wounded in the furious
-battle between the Blackfeet and Flatheads.</p>
-<p>Still later in 1808 Colter and John Potts (another Lewis
-and Clark veteran) were captured by Blackfeet on Jefferson
-River. Potts was killed and dismembered. Colter was
-stripped naked and told to run for his life. The Indians,
-who were to have great sport with Colter in this way, were
-enraged when he managed to escape his tormentors and
-kill one of them. He finally made his way back to Manuel&rsquo;s
-Fort, greatly emaciated.</p>
-<p>After this fabulous feat of endurance, Colter remained
-in the wilderness until 1810, when he guided Colonel Menard
-to Three Forks, where a new fort was built, which was
-subject to constant Blackfeet harassment. Vowing never to
-return to the mountains, Colter returned downriver to St.
-Louis, arriving in May 1810 after six years of perils which
-well entitle him to claim as &ldquo;The American Ulysses.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>Colter settled at the village of Charette, a few miles
-above the mouth of the Missouri River, and married a girl
-named Sally. According to Washington Irving, in 1811
-Wilson Price Hunt of the Astorian expedition attempted to
-persuade Colter to join him but this Colter declined to do
-after &ldquo;balancing the charms of his bride against those of
-the Rocky Mountains.&rdquo; In 1813 he died, ingloriously, of
-&ldquo;jaundice.&rdquo; Thus passed the phantom discoverer of the
-Teton-Yellowstone region, to whom James pays this tribute:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>[Colter was] five feet ten inches in height and wore
-an open, ingenious, and pleasing countenance of the Daniel
-Boone stamp. Nature had formed him, like Boone, for
-hardy indurance of fatigue, privation and perils.... His
-veracity was never questioned among us and his character
-was that of a true American backwoodsman.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_18">18</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig11">
-<img src="images/img011.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="462" />
-<p class="caption">Upper Geyser Basin from the cone of Old Faithful.<span class="jr"> W. H. Jackson photo. 1871</span></p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_19">19</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig12">
-<img src="images/img012.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="248" />
-<p class="caption">WHISKEY KEGS</p>
-</div>
-<h2 id="c4">IV. &ldquo;Colter&rsquo;s Hell&rdquo;: A Case of Mistaken Identity</h2>
-<p>One of the most venerable old axioms of fur trade
-history is that of Colter&rsquo;s Hell, which may be formulated
-thus: &ldquo;After John Colter discovered what is now Yellowstone
-National Park, he told others of the scenic wonders
-there. No one believed him, and his listeners derisively
-dubbed the imaginary place Colter&rsquo;s Hell.&rdquo; No item of
-Yellowstone history is more widely believed, more universally
-beloved, and more transparently incorrect.</p>
-<p>There <b>was</b> a Colter&rsquo;s Hell in the fur trappers lexicon,
-which referred specifically to an ancient thermal area bordering
-the Shoshone River just west of present Cody,
-Wyoming. The term was <b>never</b> applied historically to the
-thermal zone within Yellowstone Park itself. It was Hiram
-M. Chittenden, the esteemed engineer and historian who
-first suggested this usage in 1895 with the original edition
-of his book, <b>Yellowstone National Park</b>.</p>
-<p>The earliest published reference to &ldquo;Colter&rsquo;s Hell&rdquo; is in
-Washington Irving&rsquo;s version of Capt. Benjamin L. E. Bonneville&rsquo;s
-journal narrating events from 1832 to 1835. However,
-note here that this &ldquo;volcanic tract&rdquo; with its &ldquo;gloomy
-terrors, its hidden fires, smoking pits, noxious streams and
-the all-pervading &lsquo;smell of brimstone&rsquo;&rdquo; was located, according
-<span class="pb" id="Page_20">20</span>
-to Irving, not on the headwaters of the Yellowstone but
-on the Shoshone or &ldquo;the Stinking River&rdquo; or &ldquo;the Stinkingwater,&rdquo;
-originally named on the Clark Map. It was Chittenden
-in 1895 and not Irving in 1837 who started the legend
-by asserting vaguely that &ldquo;the region of ... [Colter&rsquo;s] adventures
-was long derisively known as &lsquo;Colter&rsquo;s Hell,&rsquo;&rdquo;
-implying that by &ldquo;region&rdquo; he meant Yellowstone Park, the
-subject of his book. He does not accuse Bonneville or
-Irving of error, perforce conceding that &ldquo;this name early
-came to be restricted to the locality where Colter discovered
-the tar spring on the Stinkingwater,&rdquo; but he hopefully
-guesses that &ldquo;Colter&rsquo;s description, so well summed up by
-Irving ... undoubtedly referred in large part to what he
-saw in the Yellowstone and Snake River Valleys.&rdquo; This is
-where the misconception got started.</p>
-<p>It is significant that no historian prior to Chittenden
-entertained this misconception. For example, in 1890 Hubert
-H. Bancroft wrote: &ldquo;Far east of ... [the volcanic basins on
-the Upper Madison], on the Stinkingwater Fork ... is
-Colter&rsquo;s Hell, where similar phenomenon is exhibited on a
-lesser scale.&rdquo; It is further significant that in his monumental
-<b>American Fur Trade of the Far West</b>, the first
-edition of which appeared in 1902, seven years after the
-first edition of <b>Yellowstone</b>, Chittenden wrote that Colter
-was &ldquo;the first to pass through the singular region which
-has since become known throughout the world as the Yellowstone
-Wonderland. He <b>also</b> saw the immense tar spring
-at the forks of Stinkingwater River, a spot which came to
-bear the name of Colter&rsquo;s Hell.&rdquo; This is his only reference
-here to the term, which is a clear if tacit admission that
-he was in error in the first instance to create the impression
-that it ever applied contemporaneously to Yellowstone Park.
-But the impression once created would not down. Like
-Aladdin&rsquo;s wonderful lamp, the jinni was out of the bottle,
-and the poetic version of &ldquo;Colter&rsquo;s Hell&rdquo; has become a stock
-item in Western literature.</p>
-<p>Defenders of the Colter&rsquo;s Hell mythology are eager to
-challenge Washington Irving as an authority. True, Irving&rsquo;s
-<span class="pb" id="Page_21">21</span>
-Captain Bonneville by his own admission never personally
-saw the Yellowstone Park area. Also, it is true that geysers
-are not to be seen today along the Shoshone River. Hence
-it might be reasoned that the only noteworthy thermal activity
-in 1807 was likewise confined to the Yellowstone (more
-particularly, to the upper Madison), and that Bonneville was
-merely reporting a twisted rumor. But a cold examination
-of the facts shows that Irving and Bonneville were correct.</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig13">
-<img src="images/img013.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="533" />
-<p class="caption">Colter Monument.<span class="jr"> Photo by Author</span></p>
-</div>
-<p>First, there is no good reason to question Bonneville&rsquo;s
-geographical knowledge. While he never saw it himself,
-Bonneville had quite a crew circulating through the future
-park as early as 1833 and, in fact, there is reason to believe
-that the great geyser basin of Firehole River, climaxed by
-Old Faithful, was discovered that year by one of his own
-lieutenants (see <a href="#c7">Chapter VII</a>).</p>
-<p>Secondly, although there are no phenomena readily
-apparent to passing motorists at the bona fide and unmarked
-Colter&rsquo;s Hell site just west of Cody, the evidence of thermal
-activity, not entirely extinct now, is abundantly evident to
-<span class="pb" id="Page_22">22</span>
-anyone who cares to pause enroute to or from Yellowstone&rsquo;s
-East Gate. On the Canyon rim downstream from the rocky
-defile enclosing the Buffalo Bill Dam, there are extinct
-geyser cones up to thirty feet in height and an extensive
-crust of fragile sinter. In the canyon floor itself there are
-bubbling fountains in the river bed, and the same pervasive
-smell of rotten eggs, (or more scientifically, sulphur dioxide)
-which assails one&rsquo;s nostrils on the Upper Firehole. (Other
-related hot springs once existed at the forks of the Shoshone,
-now drowned beneath the reservoir).</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig14">
-<img src="images/img014.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="541" />
-<p class="caption">Colter Stone Find Site (Wyoming).<span class="jr"> Photo by Author</span></p>
-</div>
-<p>How very strange that this spot, quite evidently the
-&ldquo;Boiling Spring&rdquo; of Colter&rsquo;s famous route on the William
-Clark Map of 1810, has been largely ignored since 1895.
-Campfire writers and lecturers have been so enchanted by
-the Yellowstone &ldquo;Wonderland,&rdquo; they never gave thought to
-this historical-geological feature 50 miles outside of the Park
-boundary.</p>
-<p>Thirdly, Bonneville wasn&rsquo;t the only one who knew about
-the phenomena on the Stinkingwater. The true identity
-<span class="pb" id="Page_23">23</span>
-of Colter&rsquo;s Hell was well understood by other mountain
-men. In 1829 Joe Meek knew all about steam vents &ldquo;on
-the Yellowstone Plains,&rdquo; but he also was familiar with a
-volcanic tract on &ldquo;Stinking Fork,&rdquo; previously &ldquo;seen by one
-of Lewis and Clarke&rsquo;s men, named Colter, while on a solitary
-hunt, and by him also denominated &lsquo;hell.&rsquo;&rdquo; In 1852 the
-famed missionary-explorer, Father De Smet, cited &ldquo;Captain
-Bridger&rdquo; as the source of his information that, &ldquo;Near the
-source of the River Puante, which empties into the Big
-Horn ... is a place called Colter&rsquo;s Hell&mdash;from a beaver-hunter
-of that name. This locality is often agitated with
-subterranean fires....&rdquo;</p>
-<p>Stallo Vinton, early Colter biographer and editor of the
-1935 edition of Chittenden&rsquo;s <b>American Fur Trade</b>, paid no
-attention to Chittenden&rsquo;s footnoted correction of 1902.
-Rather, he did more than anyone, perhaps, to exterminate
-the true Colter&rsquo;s Hell and pin the name on the National
-Park. He accuses Irving of a substantial error in locating
-&ldquo;Hell&rdquo; on the Stinking River. Similarly, he ignores Joe
-Meek&rsquo;s careful distinction between the Yellowstone and
-Shoshone volcanic tracts.</p>
-<p>In 1863 Walter Washington DeLacy accompanied a party
-of Montana gold-seekers through the Yellowstone Park area.
-Although his companions were too absorbed in the search
-for the precious metal to pay any attention to the scenic
-wonders, DeLacy, a surveyor by trade, did pay attention
-and subsequently published a crude but illuminating map
-of the Park region. Here the principal geyser basin on
-Firehole River is called &ldquo;Hot Springs Valley.&rdquo; And far to
-the east, near the forks of the Shoshone is a &ldquo;Hot Spring,
-Colter&rsquo;s Hill.&rdquo; [sic] In 1867 the official map of the Interior
-Department, by Keeler, apparently reproducing DeLacy&rsquo;s
-data, also indicates a &ldquo;Hot Spring, Coulter&rsquo;s Hill.&rdquo; [sic] So
-the Federal Government, at this early date, gave this official
-recognition to the clear distinction between the two thermal
-areas.</p>
-<p>Vinton refers to the DeLacy and Keeler maps but he
-dismisses this further evidence as a mistake. Perhaps his
-<span class="pb" id="Page_24">24</span>
-stubborn version of Colter&rsquo;s Hell would have collapsed if
-he had seen the recently discovered Bridger-De Smet Map
-of 1851, in the Office of Indian Affairs. Here Bridger also
-clearly distinguishes between &ldquo;Sulphur Spring or Colter&rsquo;s
-Hell Volcano&rdquo; on Stinking Fork and an entirely different
-&ldquo;Great Volcanic Region in state of eruption&rdquo; drained by
-Firehole River. (See <a href="#c8">Chapter VIII</a>.) Can we invoke any
-higher authority than Jim Bridger?</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig15">
-<img src="images/img015.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="767" />
-<p class="caption">Jim Bridger.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_25">25</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig16">
-<img src="images/img015a.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="243" />
-<p class="caption">GREEN RIVER KNIFE</p>
-</div>
-<h2 id="c5">V. &ldquo;Les Trois Tetons&rdquo;: The Golden Age of Discovery, 1810-1824</h2>
-<p>In the spring of 1810, after Colter had departed, the
-Missouri Fur Company fort at Three Forks was so besieged
-by the Blackfeet that Andrew Henry was forced to flee
-with his trappers southwestward. They crossed the Continental
-Divide to the north fork of Snake River, since
-known as Henry&rsquo;s Fork. A few log shelters built here near
-present St. Anthony, Idaho, called &ldquo;Henry&rsquo;s Fort,&rdquo; became
-the first American establishment on the Pacific slope. During
-the rigorous winter of 1810-1811 it may be reasoned that
-these men explored the country within a wide radius of the
-Teton Mountains. Any belief that they touched Yellowstone
-Park must be conjectural, but that they were acquainted
-with Jackson&rsquo;s Hole is quite evident from the
-testimony of the Astorians. In the spring of 1811 the starving
-company disbanded. Henry and others returned down
-the Missouri via Three Forks, while John Hoback, John
-Robinson and Jacob Reznor went eastward via Teton Pass,
-Jackson&rsquo;s Hole, Twogwotee Pass, and overland to the
-Arikara villages on the Missouri, where they shaped a dugout
-and proceeded downstream.</p>
-<p>In 1808 John Jacob Astor secured a charter from the
-state of New York creating the American Fur Company.
-The most ambitious of his schemes was the establishment
-<span class="pb" id="Page_26">26</span>
-of a trading post at the mouth of the Columbia River, to
-exploit the wealth of the Northwestern wilderness. To promote
-this enterprise, Astor organized the subsidiary Pacific
-Fur Company and sent out two expeditions, one of which
-went by sea around Cape Horn, while the other was to
-proceed overland along the route of Lewis and Clark. The
-overland Astorians achieved fame as the first transcontinental
-expedition after Lewis and Clark, but fate decreed
-that they should blaze their own trail&mdash;through Jackson&rsquo;s
-Hole.</p>
-<p>Early in 1811 the overland party, under the command
-of Wilson Price Hunt of New Jersey, left St. Louis and
-sailed by keelboat up the Missouri River. On May 26, near
-the mouth of the Niobrara River, they met Hoback, Robinson,
-and Reznor. This trio was persuaded to join the outfit
-as guides and hunters, and it appears that it was their
-reports of hostile Indians on the Upper Missouri that
-prompted Hunt to abandon his boats on July 18 at the
-Arikara villages and proceed on dry land. From this point
-on the expedition consisted of 82 horses, 62 men, and the
-squaw and two children belonging to the interpreter Pierre
-Dorion.</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig17">
-<img src="images/img016.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="354" />
-<p class="caption">Fort Astoria.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_27">27</div>
-<p>The hopeful caravan retraced the route that Hoback
-and his companions had followed across the trackless plains
-and the Bighorn Mountains, then started up Wind River.
-Here, on September 14, according to Irving&rsquo;s <b>Astoria</b>, the
-guides</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>assured Mr. Hunt that, by following up Wind River, and
-crossing a single mountain ridge, he would come upon the
-head waters of the Columbia. The scarcity of game, however,
-which already had been felt to a pinching degree,
-and which threatened them with famine among the sterile
-heights which lay before them, admonished them to change
-their course. It was determined, therefore, to make for a
-stream [Green River] which, they were informed, passed
-the neighboring mountains to the south and west, on the
-grassy banks of which it was probable they would meet
-with buffalo. Accordingly about three o&rsquo;clock on the following
-day, meeting with a beaten Indian road which led
-in the proper direction, they struck into it, turning their
-backs upon Wind River.</p>
-<p>In the course of the day they came to a height that commanded
-an almost boundless prospect. Here one of the
-guides paused, and, after considering the vast landscape
-attentively, pointed to three mountain peaks glistening
-with snow [the Tetons], which rose, he said, above a fork
-of Columbia River. They were hailed by the travellers
-with that joy with which a beacon on a sea-shore is hailed
-by mariners after a long and dangerous voyage....</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>After a buffalo hunt on the &ldquo;Spanish&rdquo; or Green River, the
-Astorians crossed the dividing ridge to the head of the
-Hoback River (presumably then named in honor of their
-guide), which they followed into Jackson&rsquo;s Hole.</p>
-<p>The Hunt cavalcade paused at the confluence of the
-Hoback and the Snake rivers, and debated. &ldquo;Should they
-abandon their horses, cast themselves loose in fragile barks
-upon this wild, doubtful, and unknown river; or should they
-continue their more toilsome and tedious, but perhaps more
-certain wayfaring by land?&rdquo; After some tentative exploring
-of the Snake River Canyon, and upon the advice of the
-three hunters, they wisely decided in favor of the latter
-course. They forded the Snake, and on October 5 as they
-crossed &ldquo;the mountain [Teton Pass] ... by an easy and
-well-beaten trail, snow whitened the summit....&rdquo; On the
-8th they arrived at Andrew Henry&rsquo;s abandoned post. Here
-Hoback, Robinson, Reznor, and two others left the party on
-<span class="pb" id="Page_28">28</span>
-a separate exploring trip; and here it was that Hunt yielded
-to the demands of his followers, which he previously had
-resisted, and abandoned his horses in favor of passage by
-canoe flotilla down the Snake, a tragic mistake which
-brought great suffering to the Astorians before they reached
-their goal.</p>
-<p>While the main body passed on, four men remained in
-Jackson&rsquo;s Hole to &ldquo;catch beaver.&rdquo; This was the first known
-actual trapping of that area. Even more important, it was
-the first actual step in the great commercial project of
-Astoria. Irving recognized the significance of this move:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>[The expedition] had now arrived at the head waters of
-the Columbia, which were among the main points embraced
-by the enterprise of Mr. Astor. These upper streams were
-reputed to abound in beaver, and had as yet been unmolested
-by the white trapper. The numerous signs of
-beaver met with during the recent search for timber gave
-evidence that the neighborhood was a good &lsquo;trapping
-ground.&rsquo; Here then it was proper to begin to cast loose
-those leashes of hardy trappers, that are detached from
-trading parties, in the very heart of the wilderness. The
-men detached in the present instance were Alexander
-Carson, Louis St. Michel, Pierre Detaye, and Pierre
-Delaunay.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<div class="img" id="fig18">
-<img src="images/img017.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="539" />
-<p class="caption">Snake River crossing.<span class="jr"> Photo by Author</span></p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_29">29</div>
-<p>These men were instructed to &ldquo;trap upon the upper part
-of Mad (Snake) River, and upon the neighboring streams.&rdquo;
-Whether they entered Yellowstone Park at this time is
-entirely conjectural. In the spring of 1812 they were attacked
-by Crow Indians near the Three Forks, and Detaye
-was killed.</p>
-<p>On June 29, 1812, seven men led by Robert Stuart left
-Astoria carrying dispatches overland to Astor. The party
-arrived at St. Louis on April 30, 1813. They were the first
-organized transcontinental expedition eastbound after the
-return of Lewis and Clark, and the first to discover South
-Pass and the great Platte or Central route which was destined
-to become the main highway of the covered-wagon
-migrations. This journey again took them through Jackson&rsquo;s
-Hole.</p>
-<p>Stuart had gone out to Astoria by sea, but his fellow
-travelers had all been members of the Hunt expedition.
-These were John Day, Benjamin Jones, Francois Leclerc,
-Andre Valle, Ramsay Crooks, and Robert McClellan. Soon
-after setting out up the Columbia River John Day became
-violently deranged because of his sufferings from the previous
-winter and had to be sent back to Astoria. To the six
-remaining travelers, however, was eventually added Joseph
-Miller, who had been with Hoback, Robinson, and Reznor
-after they left Hunt in October 1811. The Stuart party
-reached Bear River intending to go due east; but there Crow
-Indians got on their trail. To elude them Stuart went north
-to the Snake and thus struck Hunt&rsquo;s route of the preceding
-year. At Snake or &ldquo;Mad River&rdquo; near the present Idaho-Wyoming
-boundary, Crows stampeded their horses. They
-built a raft and descended the Snake for over a hundred
-miles, then crossed over the Snake River Range to Pierre&rsquo;s
-Hole at the foot of the &ldquo;Pilot Knobs,&rdquo; where they reached
-familiar territory.</p>
-<p>Here, in order to avoid a chance encounter with a Blackfoot
-war party, Stuart kept to the foothills, but the cantankerous
-McClellan, complaining of sore feet, refused to
-<span class="pb" id="Page_30">30</span>
-detour and went his own way. He was not to be seen again
-for thirteen days. Crooks, who had been ailing for some
-time, fell desperately ill, and despite recourse to castor oil
-and &ldquo;an Indian sweat,&rdquo; tied up the expedition in Pierre&rsquo;s
-Hole for four days. On October 5 they set out again and
-on the 7th crossed &ldquo;the summit of Pilot Knob Mountain
-[Teton Pass]&rdquo; and reached the east bank of &ldquo;Mad River.&rdquo;
-Their stock of venison was by this time depleted. On the
-9th they started up the precipitous Hoback Canyon and on
-the 12th reached Green River drainage, where they found
-McClellan. Warding off starvation by slaughtering an &ldquo;old
-rundown buffalo bull,&rdquo; the travelers journeyed from here
-to South Pass and down the Platte, wintering in the vicinity
-of Scotts Bluff.</p>
-<p>For a few years after Stuart&rsquo;s party disappeared up
-Hoback Canyon, the Tetons and Jackson&rsquo;s Hole were left
-in solitude. Due to the hostility of the Blackfeet, the loss
-of Astoria in the War of 1812, and the indifference of the
-Federal Government, American interest in the Western Fur
-trade suffered a relapse. British interests now took the
-initiative. In 1816 the Northwest Company, licensed by the
-Crown to trade in Oregon, put Donald McKenzie in charge
-of the Snake River division. From Fort Nez Perce at the
-mouth of the Walla Walla, he set forth in September of
-1818 at the head of an expedition &ldquo;composed of fifty-five
-men, of all denominations, 195 horses and 300 beaver traps,
-besides a considerable stock of merchandise.&rdquo; He reported
-his course to Alexander Ross:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>From this place [the &ldquo;Skamnaugh&rdquo; or Boise] we advanced,
-suffering occasionally from alarms for twenty-five days,
-and then found ourselves in a rich field of beaver, in the
-country lying between the great south branch and the
-Spanish waters [Bear River?].... I left my people at the
-end of four months. Then taking a circuitous route along
-the foot of the Rocky Mountains, a country extremely
-dreary during a winter voyage, I reached the head water
-of the great south branch regretting every step I made that
-we had been so long deprived of the riches of such a
-country....</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>In a description of the Snake River country, presumably
-furnished him by McKenzie, Ross continues:</p>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_31">31</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig19">
-<img src="images/img018.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="457" />
-<p class="caption">&ldquo;The British Threat&rdquo;&mdash;Exhibit in Fur Trade Museum, Grand Teton National Park.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="box">
-<p><b>For twelve years after the returning Astorians disappeared up the Hoback, no Americans
-entered Jackson Hole. The British North West Company, and then the Hudson&rsquo;s Bay Company,
-with which it merged, trapped unchallenged west of the Rockies.</b></p>
-</div>
-<blockquote>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_32">32</div>
-<p>The Rocky Mountains skirting this country on the
-East, dwindle from stupendous heights into sloping ridges,
-which divide the country into a thousand luxurious vales,
-watered by streams which abound in fish. The most remarkable
-heights in any part of the great backbone of
-America are three elevated insular mountains, or peaks,
-which are seen at the distance of one hundred and fifty
-miles: the hunters very aptly designate them the Pilot
-Knobs they are now generally known as the Three Paps
-or &lsquo;Tetons&rsquo;; and the source of the Great Snake River is in
-their neighborhood....</p>
-<p>Boiling fountains, having different degrees of temperatures,
-were very numerous; one or two were so very hot
-as to boil meat. In other parts, among the rocks, hot and
-cold springs might alternately be seen within a hundred
-yards of each other, differing in their temperature.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>McKenzie&rsquo;s exact route can only be conjectural, but the
-context suggests passage through Jackson&rsquo;s Hole into a corner,
-at least, of Yellowstone Park. It was apparently on
-this occasion that the &ldquo;Trois Tetons&rdquo; and &ldquo;Pierre&rsquo;s Hole&rdquo;
-were given their names by Iroquois or French-Canadians
-who accompanied McKenzie.</p>
-<p>Chittenden reports the discovery in 1880 by Colonel
-P. W. Norris of a tree near the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone
-with the inscription &ldquo;JOR Aug 19 1819.&rdquo; Although of
-course the initials prove nothing as to identity, Chittenden
-accepts this as proof of white men in the Park at that time.</p>
-<p>Stimulated by McKenzie&rsquo;s success in acquiring peltries,
-the Northwest Company followed up with other Snake River
-expeditions. The threat of British domination of Oregon
-was aggravated when, in 1821, the Northwest Company was
-absorbed by the powerful Hudson&rsquo;s Bay Company.</p>
-<p>Shortly after the consolidation of the British companies,
-the prospects for a revival of American interest in the
-mountain fur trade were awakened in the frontier town of
-St. Louis by the formation of a partnership that would
-evolve into the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. In 1822
-General William H. Ashley and the veteran Major Andrew
-Henry enlisted the aid of &ldquo;one hundred young men to ascend
-the Missouri River to its source&rdquo; on a trapping expedition.
-Among those who joined the enterprise, then or subsequently,
-<span class="pb" id="Page_33">33</span>
-were men destined to make history in the West&mdash;James
-Bridger, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Jedediah Smith, William
-Sublette and David E. Jackson. They were green boys,
-hardly fit material for an epic invasion of the uncharted
-Rocky Mountains; yet they were destined to become continental
-explorers.</p>
-<p>Henry took his young men in keelboats up the Missouri
-to the mouth of the Yellowstone, where they spent the
-winter. In the spring of 1823 he set out for the Blackfoot
-country to the west. Again, as in 1810, these Indians proved
-to be most inhospitable, scalping four of his recruits and
-driving him back to his fort. Meanwhile General Ashley
-organized another expedition and proceeded upriver without
-incident until he arrived at the villages of the Arikara.
-There his plans were upset by a treacherous attack in which
-thirteen of his men were killed and many others were
-wounded. Colonel Leavenworth hastened to the rescue,
-but his campaign against the Indians was something of a
-fiasco. Soon afterward Ashley returned to St. Louis, Henry
-returned to his post on the Yellowstone, and a third contingent
-started overland under the command of Jedediah
-Smith. In February 1824 this last group made the first
-crossing of South Pass from east to west, their discovery of
-rich beaver fields in Green River Basin opening a new era
-in fur trade history. In June they split into four parties.
-Fitzpatrick, heading east for Fort Atkinson to report the
-situation to Ashley, rediscovered the Platte route of the
-returning Astorians; Sublette, Bridger, and others went
-southwest to explore the Bear River country and lay claim
-to the discovery of Great Salt Lake; and Smith, with six
-unidentified companions, went north. The details of their
-course are given in Washington Hood&rsquo;s <b>Original draft of a
-report of a practicable route for wheeled vehicles across the
-mountains</b>, written at Independence, August 12, 1839.</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>After striking the Colorado, or Green river, make up the
-stream toward its headwaters, as far as Horse creek, one of
-its tributaries, follow out this last mentioned stream to its
-source by a westerly course, across the main ridge in order
-to attain Jackson&rsquo;s Little Hole, at the headwaters of Jackson&rsquo;s
-fork [Hoback River]. Follow down Jackson&rsquo;s fork
-to its mouth and decline to the northward along Lewis&rsquo;s
-<span class="pb" id="Page_34">34</span>
-fork [Snake River], passing through Jackson&rsquo;s Big Hole
-to about twelve miles beyond the Yellowstone pass [sic],
-crossing on the route a nameless beaver stream. Here the
-route passes due west over another prong of the ridge
-[Conant Pass], a fraction worse than the former, followed
-until it has attained the headwaters of Pierre&rsquo;s Hole, crossing
-the Big Teton, the battleground of the Blacksmith&rsquo;s
-fork; ford Pierre&rsquo;s fork eastward of the butte at its mouth
-and Lewis fork also, thence pass to the mouth of Lewis
-fork.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>Subsequently the Smith party encountered a Hudson&rsquo;s
-Bay Company brigade under Alexander Ross, giving first
-notice that Americans would actively contest British claims
-to Oregon. This expedition to the Jackson&rsquo;s Hole country
-was also significant as the first in an amazing series which
-has established Jedediah Smith as perhaps the foremost
-explorer of Western America.</p>
-<p>We have noted the visit of McKenzie&rsquo;s brigade of British-Canadians
-to the Upper Snake and a region of boiling fountains,
-in 1818-1819, as reported by Ross. Now, in 1824, Ross
-himself conducted the second British invasion of Yellowstone
-Park, while crossing from Okanagon to the headwaters
-of the Missouri. In the foolscap folios which make up his
-official report, the entry for April 24 reads: &ldquo;We crossed
-beyond the Boiling Fountains. The snow is knee-deep half
-the people are snow-blind from sun glare.&rdquo; So British
-traders have supplied the first clear record of Yellowstone
-thermal wonders to follow the hazy notations along Colter&rsquo;s
-route on The Clark Map of 1810.</p>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_35">35</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig20">
-<img src="images/img019.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="238" />
-<p class="caption">TRADE BEADS AND HAWK BELLS</p>
-</div>
-<h2 id="c6">VI. &ldquo;Jackson&rsquo;s Hole&rdquo;: Era of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, 1825-1832</h2>
-<p>Late in 1824 General Ashley, journeying west to reap
-the winter&rsquo;s harvest of furs, approached the mountains by
-way of the little-known South Platte route and the Colorado
-Rockies and explored the lower Green River. In the summer
-of 1825 on Henry&rsquo;s Fork of the Green (near the
-Wyoming-Utah line) he inaugurated the annual rendezvous
-of the mountain trappers, which provided a more flexible
-system of fur trading than the &ldquo;fixed fort system&rdquo; which
-had hitherto prevailed in the Western fur trade. The beaver
-catch brought in this first year was of such magnitude that
-Ashley was assured of a substantial profit. With Smith
-and a strong guard he took his prize by pack train to the
-Bighorn, by bullboats to the mouth of the Yellowstone, and
-by keelboats down the Missouri River to St. Louis.</p>
-<p>Jedediah Smith left Flathead House in 1825 with Peter
-Skene Ogden of the Hudson&rsquo;s Bay Company, but left him
-in time to rejoin his comrades at the rendezvous. When
-the reunited Americans exchanged tales of their adventures,
-it is possible that Smith offered a glowing account of the
-Jackson&rsquo;s Hole region. Whatever the inspiration, Bridger
-and Fitzpatrick are reported to have headed there to resume
-trapping operations, after seeing Smith and Ashley safely
-<span class="pb" id="Page_36">36</span>
-down the Bighorn. This may have been the first large-scale
-trapping venture in which Jackson&rsquo;s Hole was a primary
-objective.</p>
-<p>The rendezvous of 1826 took place near Great Salt Lake.
-The turnover of furs was immense and, having made his
-fortune, General Ashley sold his interests to three of his
-most able employees, Jedediah Smith, David E. Jackson, and
-William Sublette. Smith left the rendezvous to lead a band
-southwest across the desert to the Spanish settlements of
-California, being the first to make this perilous passage.
-Jackson and Sublette headed for the Snake River country
-to trade with the Flatheads, taking a large force of trappers.</p>
-<p>Daniel T. Potts of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania,
-one of Sublette&rsquo;s men on this expedition, is now identified
-as the long-mysterious author of the letter which first appeared
-in the Philadelphia <b>Gazette and Daily Advertiser</b>,
-September 27, 1827, reprinted in <b>Niles&rsquo; Register</b> of October 6,
-which contains the earliest known description of any portion
-of present Yellowstone National Park by an American. The
-original document came to light in 1947 when Mrs. Kate
-Nixon and Miss Anne G. Rittenhouse of Washington, D. C.,
-collateral descendants of Potts, made themselves known to
-officials of the National Park Service. It has been fittingly
-acquired for posterity by the Yellowstone Library and Museum
-Association at Mammoth Hot Springs. The cover is
-addressed to &ldquo;Mr. Robert T. Potts, High Street, Philadelphia&rdquo;
-and stamped &ldquo;St. Louis, Missouri.&rdquo; Dated July 8, 1827, at
-the &ldquo;Sweet Lake&rdquo; or Bear Lake (Utah) rendezvous, it describes
-how the Potts party, no members of which are identified,
-went north after the Salt Lake rendezvous of 1826:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>A few dass sinci our trader arived by whom I received
-two letters one from Dr. Lukens the other from yourself
-under date of January 1827 which gives me great congratulation
-to hear that you are both happy wilst I am unhappy
-also to hear from my friends shortly after writing to you
-last year I took my departuri for the Black-foot Country
-much against my will as I could not maki a party for any
-other rout. We took a northerly direction about fifty miles
-where we cross Snake River or the South fork of columbia
-at the forks of Henrys &amp; Lewis&rsquo;s forks at this place we
-was dayly harrased by the Black-feet from thence up
-Henrys or North fork which bears North of East thirty
-<span class="pb" id="Page_37">37</span>
-miles and crossed a large ruged Mountain which sepparates
-the two forks from thence East up the other fork to its
-source which heads on the top of the great chain of Rocky
-Mountains which sepparates the water of the Atlantic from
-that of the Pacific. At or near this place heads the Luchkadee
-or Calliforn Stinking fork Yellow-stone South fork
-of Massuri and Henrys fork all those head at an angular
-point that of the Yellow-stone has a large fresh water lake
-near its head on the verry top of the Mountain which is
-about one hundrid by fourty miles in diameter and as clear
-as crystal on the south borders of this lake is a number of
-hot and boiling springs some of water and others of most
-beautiful fine clay and resembles that of a mush pot and
-throws its particles to the immense height of from twenty
-to thirty feet in height The clay is white and of a pink
-and water appear fathomless as it appears to be entirely
-hollow under neath. There is also a number of places
-where the pure suphor is sent forth in abundance one of
-our men Visited one of those wilst taking his recreation
-there at an instan the earth began a tremendious trembling
-and he with dificulty made his escape when an explosion
-took place resembling that of thunder. During our stay
-in that quarter I head it every day.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>From here, probably the West Thumb thermal area, &ldquo;by
-a circutous rout to the Nourth west&rdquo; and after some more
-bloody encounters with the Blackfeet, the trappers moved
-toward the Bear Lake rendezvous. In 1828 Potts left the
-hostile mountains and embarked from New Orleans on a
-cattle ship, which sank with all hands in the Gulf of Mexico.</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig21">
-<img src="images/img020.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="351" />
-<p class="caption">Daniel T. Potts at the Bear Lake rendezvous of 1827.</p>
-</div>
-<p>At the 1827 rendezvous at Bear Lake Jedediah Smith
-appeared like a ghost out of the Great Salt desert, reporting
-<span class="pb" id="Page_38">38</span>
-that the Spanish Governor of California had expelled him
-from that province. He arranged with his partners, Jackson
-and Sublette, to meet two years hence &ldquo;at the head of
-Snake River.&rdquo; Then, after a rest of only ten days, he
-summoned volunteers and again set his face toward the
-Pacific Ocean. In the winter of 1827-28, while Sublette
-attended to the business of getting supplies from St. Louis,
-Jackson sent fur brigades north from Bear Lake to the
-Snake River and its tributaries, where they came in frequent
-contact with the Hudson&rsquo;s Bay Company trappers under
-Ogden. In 1828 the rendezvous was again Great Salt Lake,
-and again the trappers dispersed to hunting grounds on
-the Bear, the Snake, and the Green.</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig22">
-<img src="images/img021.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="377" />
-<p class="caption">Keelboat up the Missouri.</p>
-</div>
-<p>In March 1829 William Sublette left St. Louis for the
-mountains with a heavily laden pack train and 60 men, including
-a novice of 19 named Joseph L. Meek, whose life
-story, as told to Mrs. F. F. Victor, is a prime source of information.
-After the general rendezvous, which that year
-was held in July on the Popo Agie River northeast of South
-Pass, Captain Sublette sent a brigade under his brother,
-Milton Sublette, to the Bighorn Basin, then set out with the
-main party, including Meek, Bridger, and Fitzpatrick, for
-the upper Snake River Valley at the foot of the Tetons, the
-<span class="pb" id="Page_39">39</span>
-point of reunion with his partners which had been agreed
-upon two years previously. The episode which followed,
-one of the treasured traditions of the Western fur trade,
-is described in Mrs. Victor&rsquo;s <b>River of the West</b>:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>Sublette led his company up the valley of the Wind
-River, across the mountains, and on to the very headwaters
-of the Lewis or Snake River. Here he fell in with
-Jackson, in the valley of Lewis Lake, called Jackson&rsquo;s Hole,
-and remained on the borders of this lake for some time,
-waiting for Smith, whose non-appearance began to create
-a good deal of uneasiness. At length runners were dispatched
-in all directions looking for the lost Booshway.</p>
-<p>The detachment to which Meek was assigned had the
-pleasure and honor of discovering the hiding place of the
-missing partner, which was in Pierre&rsquo;s Hole, a mountain
-valley about thirty miles long and of half that width, which
-subsequently was much frequented by the camps of the
-various fur companies.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<div class="img" id="fig23">
-<img src="images/img021a.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="383" />
-<p class="caption">Arikara attack on Ashley Party, 1823.</p>
-</div>
-<p>This is the core of the tradition. From this it has
-generally been inferred that it was on this occasion that the
-lake and the valley were named in honor of David E. Jackson,
-and that this was Captain Sublette&rsquo;s idea. David E.
-Jackson, sometimes referred to as &ldquo;Davey,&rdquo; is the mystery
-man of the Smith-Jackson-Sublette trio. How old he was,
-what he looked like, where he came from prior to 1823 is
-not known. He was one of the &ldquo;enterprising young men&rdquo;
-<span class="pb" id="Page_40">40</span>
-who responded to Ashley&rsquo;s call in that year. That his
-&ldquo;rating&rdquo; with trappers was high and that he was one of the
-acknowledged leaders of the Rocky Mountain fur trade is
-clear from the fact of the partnership formed in 1826. He
-was not illiterate, for his signature appears on documents,
-but like most of his associates he kept no diary, so that our
-knowledge of his exact wanderings is indistinct. It is part
-of the tradition that he spent the winter of 1828-29 in the
-vicinity of Jackson&rsquo;s Hole, and his known interest in the
-region prompts us to believe that he had spent several previous
-years there as well. He might well have been one of
-the six men who accompanied Smith on his &ldquo;discovery&rdquo; of
-Jackson Hole in 1824. He left the mountains in 1830, went
-to Santa Fe and then on to California on a trading venture
-in 1831, and apparently returned to St. Louis in 1832, where
-he disappears, so to speak, under a cloud. One rumor has
-it that he &ldquo;ran off with property belonging to the firm of
-Jackson, Waldo and Young,&rdquo; another that &ldquo;he dissipated his
-large and hard-earned fortune in a few years.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>After the reunion in Pierre&rsquo;s Hole, according to Meek,
-the entire company moved up Henry&rsquo;s Fork of the Snake,
-and across the Divide to the valleys of the Madison and
-Gallatin. Crossing the Gallatin Range in early winter, the
-trappers reached the vicinity of Cinnabar Mountain, three
-miles below Yellowstone Park&rsquo;s present North Entrance.
-Here two men were killed and the party was scattered by
-the Blackfeet. Meek alleges that he wandered into the
-future Park, where he ascended a high peak. Crossing
-Yellowstone River, he ran into an incredible region smoking
-&ldquo;like Pittsburgh on a winter morning&rdquo; with the vapor from
-boiling springs, haunted by the sound of whistling steam
-vents, dotted with cone-shaped mounds surmounted by craters
-from which issued &ldquo;blue flames and molten brimstone,&rdquo;
-and devoid of living creatures. From here, apparently the
-seldom visited Mirror Plateau, Meek crossed the Absaroka
-Range to the winter camp on Powder River.</p>
-<p>About the first of April 1830, according to Meek, &ldquo;Jackson,
-or &lsquo;Davey,&rsquo; as he was called by his men, with about
-<span class="pb" id="Page_41">41</span>
-half the company, left for the Snake country.&rdquo; At the Wind
-River rendezvous in July, &ldquo;Jackson arrived from the Snake
-country with plenty of beaver....&rdquo;</p>
-<p>At Wind River, on August 4, 1830, Smith, Jackson, and
-Sublette, having earned a deserved fortune from their labors,
-decided to retire from the mountain trade, and sold their
-interest to a group of their employees who had already
-distinguished themselves in the service&mdash;James Bridger,
-Thomas Fitzpatrick, Milton Sublette, Henry Fraeb, and Baptiste
-Gervais. The main trapper band, numbering over two
-hundred and including Meek, followed Bridger and Fitzpatrick
-northward to the Three Forks of the Missouri, thence
-south to Ogden&rsquo;s Hole, a small valley in the Bear River
-Mountains. In the fall of 1830, John Work, heading the
-annual Snake River expedition of the Hudson&rsquo;s Bay Company,
-got wind of the American invasion of his domain.
-Among other rumors was one that Fontenelle and his men
-&ldquo;have been hunting on the Upper Snake. They were set
-upon by the Blackfeet on the Yellowstone River and 18 men
-killed.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>In the spring of 1831, after wintering again at Powder
-River, Meek reports on the spring hunt: &ldquo;Having once more
-visited the Yellowstone, they turned to the south again,
-crossing the mountains into Pierre&rsquo;s Hole, on to Snake river;
-thence to Salt river; thence to Bear river; and thence to
-Green river to rendezvous.&rdquo; Confirmation of this comes
-from Joseph Meek&rsquo;s brother Stephen, who says that this
-year he trapped on the Yellowstone, Wind, and Musselshell
-Rivers, &ldquo;going through Jackson&rsquo;s Hole to the rendezvous on
-Popyoisa River.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>From the Powder River encampment Fitzpatrick headed
-for St. Louis to round up a supply caravan. Running into
-his old companions Smith, Jackson, and Sublette en route to
-Santa Fe, he was persuaded to join them, being promised
-an outfit when they arrived. Thus he shared the delays
-and perils of that expedition in which Jedediah Smith was
-slain by a Comanche spear, and when he left Santa Fe, he
-<span class="pb" id="Page_42">42</span>
-was far behind schedule. Picking up young Kit Carson and
-other volunteers at Taos, he followed the east slope of the
-Rockies into eastern Wyoming country, sometime during
-September reaching the North Platte River at Laramie&rsquo;s
-Fork. Here he met Fraeb, who had been sent to look for
-him while the others waited impatiently with parched
-tongues at Green River. Fitzpatrick returned to St. Louis
-for supplies, while Fraeb led the recruits westward, traveling
-via Green River and Jackson&rsquo;s Hole to &ldquo;winter quarters
-on the head of Salmon River.&rdquo; Thus there was no real
-summer rendezvous in 1831.</p>
-<p>At this time the shadow of the American Fur Company,
-the great monopoly of the Upper Missouri region, fell across
-the Rocky Mountains. In February 1830 the newly organized
-&ldquo;Western Department&rdquo; of this company, determined to
-capture the lucrative mountain trade, sent out an expedition
-from St. Louis under Andrew Drips, Lucien Fontenelle and
-one Robidoux. Our chief source of information about this
-company during the early 1830&rsquo;s is the journal of Warren A.
-Ferris. From an encampment near the Big Hole country of
-Montana, Ferris writes: &ldquo;On the 8th [of October, 1831] two
-of our men accompanied by three or four Indians departed
-for the Trois Tetons, to meet Mr. Dripps who was expected
-this fall from the Council Bluffs, with an equipment of men,
-horses, and merchandise.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>From spring camping grounds on the Bear and Snake
-River tributaries, the brigades of the rival companies converged
-on Pierre&rsquo;s Hole, where the Rocky Mountain Fur
-Company partners had scheduled their rendezvous for 1832.
-Although they welcomed peaceful Indians and &ldquo;free&rdquo; trappers,
-they expressly did not invite their competitors of the
-American Fur Company who, nevertheless decided to attend.
-Rumors of the impending conclave of the &ldquo;mountain men&rdquo;
-also reached the scattered bands of independent trappers,
-among whom was George Nidever. In the spring Nidever&rsquo;s
-band trapped up the Green River until May, intending to
-continue on to &ldquo;the head waters of the Columbia,&rdquo; but
-turned back when they learned that &ldquo;the place we intended
-<span class="pb" id="Page_43">43</span>
-going was already being trapped by other companies.&rdquo; (This
-strongly suggests that somebody, probably Rocky Mountain
-men, were trapping in Jackson&rsquo;s Hole prior to the rendezvous.)
-Returning to the Platte River, they met &ldquo;O&rsquo;Felon&rdquo;
-and Moses &ldquo;Black&rdquo; Harris, two other independent traders,
-with whom they proceeded by way of Teton Pass to the
-rendezvous, where they arrived on July 4.</p>
-<p>The experienced William Sublette, one-time partner,
-had contracted with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company to
-supply trade goods, and to take out the beaver hides. With
-Robert Campbell he set out for St. Louis in May 1832 with
-over 100 men. At Independence he picked up a band of
-eighteen green New Englanders under Nathaniel J. Wyeth,
-an ambitious young man who had hopes of succeeding,
-where John Jacob Astor had failed, in establishing a fur-trading
-empire in Oregon. At Laramie&rsquo;s Fork he recruited
-some twenty trappers under Alfred K. Stephens, and other
-trappers were picked up farther on. Not the least remarkable
-feature of this expedition was that at least five of its
-members kept notes&mdash;William Sublette, the methodical
-Nathaniel Wyeth, his brother John B. Wyeth, another of his
-followers named John Ball, and Zenas Leonard, one of the
-&ldquo;free&rdquo; trappers with Stephens.</p>
-<p>Sublette&rsquo;s account is contained in a letter to General
-Ashley, dated Lexington, Missouri, September 21, 1832. He
-indicates that he arrived at the head of the &ldquo;Colorado of
-the West&rdquo; (Green River) on July 2, being attacked that night
-by Blackfoot Indians; arrived &ldquo;on the waters of the Columbia&rdquo;
-July 4 &ldquo;and at the rendezvous of the Rocky Mountain
-Hunters, on the Columbia river, west of the Three Teton
-Mountains,&rdquo; on July 8. Nathaniel Wyeth&rsquo;s diary agrees substantially
-with Sublette on chronology, but is much more
-illuminating. He clearly depicts the dangerous descent of
-the Hoback, the fording of &ldquo;Lewis River&rdquo; on July 6, and the
-climb up Teton Pass, &ldquo;a gap of the mountains due south of
-the Trois Tetons.&rdquo; The disillusioned brother, John Wyeth,
-gives us a dramatic picture:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_44">44</div>
-<p>On the 4th [6th?] of July, 1832, we arrived at Lewis&rsquo;s
-fork [Snake River], one of the largest rivers in these rocky
-mountains. It took us all day to cross it. It is half a mile
-wide, deep and rapid. The way we managed was this:
-one man unloaded his horse, and swam across with him,
-leading two loaded ones, and unloading the two, brought
-them back, for two more, and as Sublet&rsquo;s company and our
-own made over a hundred and fifty, we were all day in
-passing the river. In returning, my mule, by treading on
-a round stone, stumbled and threw me off, and the current
-was so strong, that a bush which I caught hold of only
-saved me from drowning.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>&ldquo;Broken Hand&rdquo; Fitzpatrick became &ldquo;White Hair&rdquo; Fitzpatrick
-as a result of events which befell him in 1832. Zenas
-Leonard states that in June 1832 while he was encamped at
-Laramie&rsquo;s Fork:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>Mr. Fitzpatrick and a company of 115 men came to our
-camp. He was on his way [from St. Louis] to join his
-company on the west side of the mountains, on the Columbia
-River, and to supply them with merchandise, ammunition,
-horses, etc....</p>
-<p>Having made this arrangement with Mr. F., our camp
-[on the Laramie] was all confusion at an early hour this
-morning, preparing to depart for the Columbia river. Mr.
-F. took one of the fleetest and most hardy horses in his
-train, and set out in advance of the main body, in order to
-discover the disposition of the various Indian tribes through
-whose dominions we were to travel, and to meet us at a
-designated point on the head of the Columbia river.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>While en route to Pierre&rsquo;s Hole, probably in the valley
-of Green River, Fitzpatrick was ambushed by or stumbled
-upon the hostile Gros Ventres, probably the same who later
-raided Sublette&rsquo;s camp. By sacrificing his horse and secreting
-himself in a hole in the rocks, he managed to elude these
-savages, but nearly starved while wandering through the
-wilderness. Fitzpatrick&rsquo;s whereabouts during his ordeal are
-not recorded, and in most accounts he merely turns up (on
-July 8, according to Ferris) in Pierre&rsquo;s Hole in a pitiful state.
-Meek relates that &ldquo;he made his appearance in camp in company
-with two Iroquois half-breeds, belonging to the camp,
-who had been out on a hunt,&rdquo; which is also the way that
-Irving got it from Bonneville. George Nidever claims to
-have been one of these hunters, and, if his story is straight,
-Fitzpatrick was found in Jackson&rsquo;s Hole: &ldquo;A week or so
-<span class="pb" id="Page_45">45</span>
-after the arrival of the company a trapper by the name of
-Poe and I went out for a short hunt, and met Fitzpatrick
-crossing the Lewis Fork.... We piloted him back to camp.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>By the 17th of July the whiskey kegs were all empty,
-and the wild celebration which invariably climaxed every
-rendezvous of the fur traders perforce came to an end in
-Pierre&rsquo;s Hole. On this day the combined companies of
-Nathaniel Wyeth and Milton Sublette set out for the lower
-Snake River. On the morning of the 18th they described a
-column of Gros Ventre tribesmen descending a hillside,
-&ldquo;fantastically painted and arrayed, with scarlet blankets
-fluttering in the wind.&rdquo; The ensuing conflict was a victory
-for the trappers. Some of the Indians escaped from their
-improvised fort into Jackson&rsquo;s Hole, leaving perhaps twenty-six
-of their number dead, while their trail of blood suggested
-other heavy casualties. This battle upset the general time-table
-and delayed the various departures from the rendezvous.
-On the 24th of July, Wyeth and Milton Sublette resumed
-their journey which had before been so rudely interrupted,
-Wyeth eventually continuing on to visit the British
-establishments on the Pacific Coast. Captain Sublette
-was compelled to linger because of his injuries, and, on the
-25th, seven who planned to accompany him to St. Louis
-became impatient and started out by themselves. These
-were Joseph More of Boston, one of Wyeth&rsquo;s deserters, a Mr.
-Foy of Mississippi, Alfred K. Stephens, &ldquo;two grandsons of
-the celebrated Daniel Boone,&rdquo; and two others unidentified.
-In Jackson&rsquo;s Hole, apparently near the mouth of the Hoback,
-they were ambushed by a band of Gros Ventres. More and
-Foy were killed instantly, while Stephens died from his
-wounds after he and the four survivors retreated with tiding
-of disaster to Sublette&rsquo;s camp.</p>
-<p>On July 30 Bridger and Fitzpatrick led the Rocky
-Mountain Fur Company brigades northward from Pierre&rsquo;s
-Hole toward the headwaters of the Missouri, while William
-Sublette found himself sufficiently recovered to assist
-Campbell in organizing the homeward-bound caravan, composed
-of sixty men and a beaver-laden packtrain. According
-to Irving, &ldquo;they chose a different route through the
-<span class="pb" id="Page_46">46</span>
-mountains, out of the way, as they hoped, of the lurking
-bands of Blackfeet. They succeeded in making the frontier
-in safety.&rdquo; It seems evident that the Sublette caravan turned
-north after crossing the Snake and then ascended the Gros
-Ventre River and crossed over to Wind River by way of
-Union Pass. While the Sublette caravan was leaving the
-valley, they were shadowed by a &ldquo;large body of the Blackfoot
-tribe,&rdquo; doubtless the murderers of More and Foy, who
-showed a healthy respect for the heavily armed trappers.
-Thus it would seem that, while he did not entirely elude the
-Blackfeet, Sublette managed to bluff his way past them and
-avoid what might well have become the &ldquo;Battle of Jackson&rsquo;s
-Hole.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>At the Pierre&rsquo;s Hole rendezvous, Drips and Vanderburgh,
-the American Fur Company partisans, were frustrated
-in their competitive effort by the fact that their
-supply train under Fontenelle had failed to arrive. It was
-now too late to bid for the furs taken out by Sublette, but
-they might follow Bridger and Fitzpatrick with profit if
-they only had trade goods. Accordingly, they resolved to
-hasten to Green River to see if they could find the belated
-caravan. The clerk, Warren A. Ferris, gives a detailed account
-of the passage through &ldquo;Jackson&rsquo;s Big Hole,&rdquo; in early
-August:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>In the evening we halted on a spring, four miles east of
-Lewis River, after marching twenty-two miles. On the
-5th we passed six or eight miles southeast, and halted on
-the margin of the stream [Hoback], flowing from that
-direction. During our march, some of the hunters saw
-the bones of two men, supposed to be those killed from a
-party of seven, in the latter part of July....</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>After losing one horse in precipitous Hoback Canyon, the
-party reached Jackson&rsquo;s Little Hole, where they killed several
-buffalo, and successfully by-passed a large village of
-Indians. They crossed over to Green River, and on the 8th
-fell in with Fontenelle, &ldquo;who had passed from St. Louis to
-the mouth of the Yellowstone in a steamboat, and thence
-with pack horses to this place.&rdquo; Ferris accompanied Vanderburgh
-and Drips on the return trip in pursuit of Bridger.
-He writes:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_47">47</div>
-<p>On the 14th we passed through the Narrows, between
-Jackson&rsquo;s Holes; and avoided some of the difficulties we
-met on our previous passage, by crossing the river, several
-times. In the evening we halted for the night near the
-remains of two men, who were killed in July last. These
-we collected, and deposited in a small stream, that discharged
-itself into a fork of the Lewis river; that flows
-from Jackson&rsquo;s Little Hole.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<div class="img" id="fig24">
-<img src="images/img022.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="348" />
-<p class="caption">Rendezvous scene.</p>
-</div>
-<p>Captain Benjamin L. E. Bonneville, a Frenchman of
-distinguished antecedents, applied in 1831 for a leave of
-absence from the U.S. Army for the joint purpose of exploration
-and trade. With funds provided by hopeful New
-York capitalists he organized an impressive company, including
-110 men and twenty ox-drawn wagons, and on
-May 1, 1832, he set out from Fort Osage. Bonneville&rsquo;s wagon
-train was the second to ascend the traditional overland route
-along the Platte and the Sweetwater, and the first to cross
-South Pass. In the Green River Valley on July 26 the
-Captain was overtaken by Fontenelle&rsquo;s company. On the
-west side of the Green, five miles above Horse Creek, he
-started the erection of Fort Bonneville, while his rival encamped
-farther upstream, for his jaded horses and mules
-would budge no further. After Fontenelle&rsquo;s departure,
-above noted, the Captain decided upon the advice of &ldquo;free
-trappers,&rdquo; to head for Salmon River for the winter. Leaving
-his cumbersome wagons at the fort, he cached most of his
-baggage and then packed the rest on mules and horses. The
-expedition set forth on August 22, reaching Teton Pass on
-September 3. Instead of taking the standard route via the
-Hoback, where hostile Indians waited in ambush, Captain
-Bonneville elected to take a long circuitous route to the
-headwaters of Green River, entering Jackson&rsquo;s Hole via the
-Gros Ventre River.</p>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_48">48</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig25">
-<img src="images/img023.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="456" />
-<p class="caption">&ldquo;Weapons of the Pierre&rsquo;s Hole Fight&rdquo;&mdash;Exhibit in Fur Trade Museum, Grand Teton National Park.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_49">49</div>
-<p>Following the rendezvous in Pierre&rsquo;s Hole, the Rocky
-Mountain men conducted their fall hunt in the dangerous
-Blackfoot country around the Three Forks of the Missouri.
-In attempting to follow them, Vanderburgh of the American
-Fur Company was slain by the Blackfeet. During the winter
-of 1832-33 the various rival bands holed up along tributaries
-of the Snake and Salmon rivers; and at the first
-melting of the snow they resumed their feverish scramble
-for the prime hunting grounds.</p>
-<p>Most of the other trapping bands remained west of the
-Continental Divide to make their spring hunt, and approached
-the Green River rendezvous through Jackson&rsquo;s
-Hole. The first to stir in this direction was the American
-Fur Company partisan Drips, who led the bulk of his forces,
-probably about sixty men, up Snake River, hunting and
-trapping as they went. At the junction of Salt River, they
-were compelled to leave the Snake to make the toilsome
-detour over the Snake River Range and Teton Pass, which
-they reached on May 31. Ferris vividly describes their journey
-through the &ldquo;immense banks of snow on the mountain,&rdquo;
-the fording of &ldquo;Lewis River,&rdquo; and the ascent of &ldquo;Gros Vent&rsquo;s
-Fork&rdquo; to the head of Green River. He notes, &ldquo;We found a
-large herd of buffalo in the valley, and killed several; also
-a large bear, which paid with his life the temerity of awaiting
-our approach.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>Wyeth&rsquo;s enterprise on the Columbia River was balked
-by the shipwreck of the vessel which was to supply him,
-and, after a fruitless winter at Fort Vancouver, he set out
-eastward with Francis Ermatinger of the Hudson&rsquo;s Bay
-Company. Below the forks of the Snake they came up with
-<span class="pb" id="Page_50">50</span>
-Captain Bonneville. The Wyeth journal tells the story of
-their Jackson&rsquo;s Hole passage via Teton Pass and the Hoback.
-He found &ldquo;horse flies on the mountains ... buffalo in the
-bottom also mosquitoes.&rdquo; Evidence of the recent trail of
-the &ldquo;men of Dripps and Fontenelle&rdquo; was observed, also the
-place where More and Foy were killed the year before.
-Of this passage Irving reports,</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>No accident of a disastrous kind occurred, excepting the
-loss of a horse, which, in passing along the giddy edge of
-a precipice, called the Cornice, a dangerous pass between
-Jackson&rsquo;s and Pierre&rsquo;s Hole, fell over the brink, and was
-dashed to pieces.</p>
-<p>On the 13th of July [1833], Captain Bonneville arrived
-at Green River....</p>
-</blockquote>
-<div class="img" id="fig26">
-<img src="images/img024.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="571" />
-<p class="caption">Fort Bonneville site, on Horse Creek near its junction with Green River.<span class="jr"> Photo by Author</span></p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_51">51</div>
-<div class="img" id="map1">
-<img src="images/m1_lr.jpg" alt="" width="645" height="800" />
-<p class="caption">Section of &ldquo;Map of the Rocky Mountains&rdquo; by Washington Hood, Corps of Topographical Engineers, 1839. Data by William Sublette and others. Records of the War Department, National Archives.<br /><a class="ab" href="images/m1_hr.jpg">High-resolution Map</a></p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_52">52</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig27">
-<img src="images/img025.jpg" alt="" width="381" height="799" />
-<p class="caption">Trapper type&mdash;American.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_53">53</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig28">
-<img src="images/img025a.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="253" />
-<p class="caption">BULLET MOLD</p>
-</div>
-<h2 id="c7">VII. &ldquo;The Fire Hole&rdquo;: Era of the American Fur Company, 1833-1840</h2>
-<p>By 1832 only fragments of the Yellowstone Park area
-had apparently been explored, notably the Lake region.
-According to Warren A. Ferris, one of the great geyser
-basins was visited in the spring hunt of 1833 by a party of
-forty men under a Spaniard named Alvaris (or Alvarez).
-They reached the area by going up Henry&rsquo;s Fork, later returning
-to Green River for the rendezvous. This is the first
-concrete evidence of white men in the Firehole Basin. The
-discoverer may have been Manuel Alvarez, United States
-consul at Santa Fe from 1839 to 1846, who figures prominently
-in Josiah Gregg&rsquo;s journal.</p>
-<p>The rendezvous of 1833 was held at Bonneville&rsquo;s fort on
-Horse Creek, tributary of Green River, near Daniel, Wyoming.
-The St. Louis supply caravan of the Rocky Mountain
-Fur Company, led by Robert Campbell, included young
-Charles Larpenteur, who wrote in his journal of a side trip
-through Jackson&rsquo;s Hole:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>The day after we reached the rendezvous Mr. Campbell,
-with ten men, started to raise a beaver cache at a
-place called by the French Trou a Pierre, which means
-Peter&rsquo;s Hole. As I was sick Mr. Campbell left me in camp,
-and placed Mr. Fitzpatrick in charge during his absence,
-telling the latter to take good care of me ... after seven
-or eight days Mr. Campbell returned with ten packs of
-beaver.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_54">54</div>
-<p>An epidemic of hydrophobia brought on by &ldquo;mad
-wolves&rdquo; seems to have contributed to the early break-up of
-the 1833 meeting. Campbell, Wyeth, and the partners of
-the Rocky Mountain Fur Company with fifty-five packs of
-beaver and a strong guard circled down through South Pass
-and up to the junction of the Shoshone and the Bighorn
-rivers, where they embarked on bullboats for the mouth of
-the Yellowstone. Here Wyeth was entertained at the palatial
-Fort Union by the famous Kenneth McKenzie, and
-observed a powder flask which had belonged to the unfortunate
-More, and which had found its way here from
-Jackson&rsquo;s Hole by the devious channels of the fur trade.</p>
-<p>While Bonneville outfitted an expedition under Joseph
-R. Walker to explore California (and discover Yosemite
-Valley), the American Fur Company brigades headed for
-the Snake River country. On July 20 Warren A. Ferris and
-Robert Newell departed at the head of an outfit destined
-for the Flathead trade. The little party consisted of six
-&ldquo;engages&rdquo; with pack horses, and five armed Indians,
-amounting in all to thirteen armed men. Their route was
-the usual one via Hoback Canyon and Teton Pass. The
-ecstatic description of Jackson&rsquo;s Hole from the summit of
-the pass, given by Ferris on this occasion, is one which can
-be appreciated by the modern tourist:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>... Gazing down in the direction of Jackson&rsquo;s Hole, from
-our elevated position, one of the most beautiful scenes
-imaginable, was presented to our view. It seemed quite
-filled with large bright clouds, resembling immense banks
-of snow, piled on each other in massy numbers, of the
-purest white; wreathing their ample folds in various forms
-and devious convolutions, and mingling in one vast embrace
-their shadowy substance.&mdash;Sublime creations! emblems
-apt of the first glittering imaginings of human
-life!...</p>
-<p>Turning with reluctance to things of a more terrestrial
-nature we pursued our way down to Pierre&rsquo;s Hole, where
-we fortunately discovered and killed a solitary bull....</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>The rendezvous of 1834 was scheduled for June on
-Ham&rsquo;s Fork of the Green near present Granger, Wyoming;
-and here converged all the scattered trapper bands, with
-the exception of those in the pay of Bonneville, who had
-<span class="pb" id="Page_55">55</span>
-his own private rendezvous on Bear River. Drips hunted
-up the Snake River to Jackson&rsquo;s Hole, and apparently crossed
-into the valley of the Green from there. Behind him came
-Ferris. On his southward journey from Montana country,
-Ferris decided to make a side trip from Henry&rsquo;s Fork to
-investigate strange rumors concerning the upper Madison,
-a trip which resulted in the second known published description
-of the Yellowstone Park wonders.</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig29">
-<img src="images/img026.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="317" />
-<p class="caption">Fort Hall.</p>
-</div>
-<p>Ferris, a native of New York who later resided in Texas,
-made his first western journey with the American Fur Company
-in 1830. Hardly a typical mountain man, he kept a
-journal of his travels entitled &ldquo;Life in the Rocky Mountains,&rdquo;
-which appeared serially in 1842 and 1843 in the
-<b>Western Literary Messenger</b>, an obscure weekly published
-in Buffalo, New York. The piece containing an account of
-his visit to the geyser region in 1834 appeared on July 13,
-1842, attracted no special attention at the time except that
-of the editors of the Nauvoo, Illinois, <b>Wasp</b>, who ran it without
-credit in their edition of August 13, 1842. Olin D.
-Wheeler discovered it and republished it in 1901. Its historical
-importance as the first adequate description of the
-geysers by an eyewitness (and the second published description
-of any portion of Yellowstone Park) was appreciated by
-Chittenden, but his identity and the magnificent scope of
-<span class="pb" id="Page_56">56</span>
-his journal was not fully understood until its republication
-with extensive editorial notes by Dr. Paul C. Phillips in
-1940. It was in May 1834, while his brigade was traveling
-through Idaho country en route to the rendezvous on Ham&rsquo;s
-Fork of the Green, that Ferris and two Indian companions
-made a hurried side trip, going almost due east forty miles.
-His object was to verify the rumors concerning &ldquo;remarkable
-boiling spring on the sources of the Madison&rdquo; which he had
-heard at the rendezvous of 1833. He soon realized that &ldquo;the
-half was not told me.&rdquo; A fragment of his vivid description
-follows:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>From the surface of a rocky plain or table, burst forth
-columns of water, of various dimensions, projected high in
-the air, accompanied by loud explosions, and sulphurous
-vapors, which were highly disagreeable to the smell. The
-rock from which these springs burst forth, was calcareous,
-and probably extends some distance from them, beneath
-the soil. The largest of these wonderful fountains, projects
-a column of boiling water several feet in diameter, to the
-height of more than one hundred and fifty feet&mdash;in my
-opinion; but the party of Alvarez, who discovered it, persist
-in declaring that it could not be less than four times that
-distance in height&mdash;accompanied with a tremendous noise.
-These explosions and discharges occur at intervals of about
-two hours.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<div class="img" id="fig30">
-<img src="images/img027.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="419" />
-<p class="caption">Baling beaver hides inside stockade.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_57">57</div>
-<div class="img" id="map2">
-<img src="images/m2_lr.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="795" />
-<p class="caption">Section of &ldquo;Map of the Northwest Fur Country,&rdquo; 1836, by Warren A. Ferris. From <i>Life in the Rocky Mountains</i>, Old West Publishing Company, Denver, 1940.<br /><a class="ab" href="images/m2_hr.jpg">High-resolution Map</a></p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_58">58</div>
-<p>After this adventure, he returned to Henry&rsquo;s Fork and
-thence to Pierre&rsquo;s Hole, crossing Teton Pass on May 24. In
-the Hoback Canyon he found evidence that a party under
-Drips had preceded him.</p>
-<p>Less well known than the vivid description by Ferris
-but even more remarkable is his &ldquo;Map of the Northwest
-Fur Country,&rdquo; drawn in 1836. Lying in the family trunk
-for over a century, unknown to geographers and historians,
-it was made available in 1940 for publication with the
-journals. This is, to quote Dr. Phillips, &ldquo;the most detailed
-and accurate of all the early maps of the region,&rdquo; far superior
-in accuracy to the famous maps by Bonneville,
-Parker, John C. Fremont, and others which were published
-contemporaneously. In addition to mountain chains, valleys,
-and trails, it locates such fascinating details as &ldquo;Yellow
-stone L.,&rdquo; &ldquo;Boiling water,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Volcanoes&rdquo; near the south
-shore of the lake and &ldquo;spouting fountains&rdquo; within the &ldquo;Burnt
-Hole&rdquo; at the head of Madison River, indicating the present
-West Thumb thermal area and the Upper Geyser Basin on
-Firehole River, respectively. The context of the journal,
-together with the evidence of the map, suggests that Ferris
-beheld and described Old Faithful, the geyser which has
-become the symbol of Yellowstone National Park.</p>
-<p>In August of 1834 a party of fifty-five men in Bonneville&rsquo;s
-employ led by Joseph H. Walker ascended Pacific
-Creek from Jackson&rsquo;s Hole and after some debate &ldquo;agreed
-to move down onto Wind River,&rdquo; instead of descending the
-Yellowstone. Thus Walker, who had previously discovered
-Yosemite Valley, and Zenas Leonard, the journalist of the
-expedition, missed the big exploring opportunity which
-Ferris had grasped.</p>
-<p>The quaint nomenclature bestowed on certain locales
-and landmarks by the mountain trappers offer more than
-one clue to their shadowy passage. The Gardner River
-Valley at Swan Lake Flats, between Mammoth Hot Springs
-and Obsidian Cliff, seems to be the most likely locale of the
-beaver-rich &ldquo;Gardner&rsquo;s Hole&rdquo; frequented by the mountain
-men, probably named for Johnson Gardner, a freelance trapper
-<span class="pb" id="Page_59">59</span>
-who must have frequented those parts at least as early
-as 1834, possibly as early as 1830 as Chittenden suggests.
-His name appears in the Fort Union account books of 1832,
-which include an agreement to purchase his stock of beaver
-skins then cached on Yellowstone River. In 1834 he fell in
-with Prince Maximilian of Wied on the Lower Missouri,
-revealing to that distinguished traveler that &ldquo;he was on his
-return from hunting beavers on the Upper Yelowstone.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>Three significant events occurred in connection with
-the rendezvous of 1834. (1) En route from St. Louis, Sublette
-and Campbell began the building of Fort Laramie
-(originally Fort William) on the North Platte. (2) Nathaniel
-Wyeth, embarking on a second venture, brought in trade
-goods which were not accepted, and so resorted to the establishment
-of Fort Hall near the junction of the Snake and
-Portneuf. The advent of these two fixed trading posts
-prophesied an end to the traditional rendezvous system.
-Also (3), at the rendezvous the partnership of the Rocky
-Mountain Fur Company was dissolved, Fraeb and Gervais
-selling out their interests. The remaining partners&mdash;Fitzpatrick,
-Bridger, and Milton Sublette&mdash;formed a new firm,
-but they made an agreement with Fontenelle which gave
-the American Fur Company a virtual monopoly of the Rocky
-Mountain fur trade.</p>
-<p>Among those whom Nathaniel Wyeth had left at Fort
-Hall in 1834 was a young man named Osborne Russell, whose
-subsequent career as a trapper was hardly typical, for
-among his trapping accessories were copies of Shakespeare
-and the Bible! Although later a prominent pioneer of
-Oregon and California, his claim to fame rests on his <b>Journal
-of a Trapper</b>, which &ldquo;as a precise and intimate firsthand
-account of the daily life of the trapper explorer ... has no
-equal,&rdquo; except that of Warren A. Ferris, who left the mountain
-scene just as Russell arrived. On the 15th of June 1835
-a party of fourteen trappers and ten camp keepers was
-made up. Writes Russell:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>Here we again fell on to Lewis&rsquo; Fork, which runs in a
-southerly direction through a valley about eighty miles
-long, there turning to the mountains through a narrow cut
-<span class="pb" id="Page_60">60</span>
-in the mountain to the mouth of Salt River, about thirty
-miles. This valley was called &lsquo;Jackson Hole.&rsquo; It is generally
-from five to fifteen miles wide. The southern part
-where the river enters the mountains is hilly and uneven,
-but the northern portion is wide, smooth and comparatively
-even, the whole being covered with wild sage and surrounded
-by high and rugged mountains upon whose summit
-the snow remains during the hottest months in summer. The
-alluvial bottoms along the river and streams intersecting
-it through the valley produced a luxuriant growth of vegetation,
-among which wild flax and a species of onion were
-abundant. The great altitude of this place, however, connected
-with the cold descending from the mountains at
-night, I think would be a serious obstruction to the growth
-of most kinds of cultivated grains. This valley, like all
-other parts of the country, abounded with game.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>After a nearly disastrous attempt to cross &ldquo;Lewis Fork&rdquo; by
-bullboat and raft, the party discovered a ford, and then
-ascended Gros Ventre Fork. The party became lost in the
-mountains for several weeks, missing out on the Green River
-rendezvous. After extricating themselves from the craggy
-wilderness of the Absarokas, the party reached the Lamar
-River or East Fork of the Yellowstone, where they encountered
-some woebegone Sheepeater Indians, and lost a hunter.
-They apparently forded the Yellowstone at the lower end
-of the Grand Canyon near the mouth of Antelope Creek, at
-a point just above the spectacular Tower Falls and the
-Basaltic Cliffs where the river &ldquo;rushes down a chasm with
-a dreadful roar echoing among the mountains.&rdquo; From
-&ldquo;Gardner&rsquo;s Hole&rdquo; the party then crossed the mountains to
-Gallatin and Madison forks, where they fell in with a trapping
-brigade under Bridger. Just below the Madison Canyon
-the combined forces were attacked by eighty Blackfeet
-and narrowly escaped massacre.</p>
-<p>The supply caravan under Fitzpatrick arrived at the
-Green River rendezvous on August 12, 1835. Accompanying
-him were two famous missionaries&mdash;Marcus Whitman, who
-distinguished himself among the trappers by extracting an
-Indian arrow from the back of Captain Bridger, and Reverend
-Samuel Parker, who alienated them by his overzealous
-moralizing. However, Parker made quite a hit with the
-assembled Flatheads and was so enthusiastic over their
-eagerness for Christian knowledge that it was decided that
-he would accompany them to their homes, while Whitman
-<span class="pb" id="Page_61">61</span>
-would return to the states to recruit help for a permanent
-mission in Oregon. Parker tells of his journey westward:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>August 21st, commenced our journey in company with
-Capt. Bridger, who goes with about fifty men, six or eight
-days&rsquo; journey on our route. Instead of going down on the
-southwest side of Lewis&rsquo; river, we concluded to take our
-course northerly for the Trois Tetons, which are three very
-high mountains, covered with perpetual snow, separated
-from the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, and are seen
-at a very great distance; and from thence to Salmon
-river....</p>
-<p>On the 22d ... we ... arrived at what is called
-Jackson&rsquo;s Hole [Jackson&rsquo;s Little Hole]....</p>
-<p>Sabbath, 23d. Had an opportunity for rest and devotional
-exercises. In the afternoon we had public worship
-with those of the company who understood English. The
-men conducted with great propriety, and listened with
-attention....</p>
-<p>Arose very early on the 24th, and commenced our
-way through the narrow defile, frequently crossing and
-recrossing a large stream of water [Hoback] which flows
-into the Snake river....</p>
-<p>... on the 25th, [we] encamped in a large pleasant
-valley, commonly called Jackson&rsquo;s large hole. It is fertile
-and well watered with a branch of Lewis&rsquo; river coming
-from the southeast [Hoback], and another of some magnitude
-coming from the northeast [Snake River itself], which
-is the outlet of Jackson&rsquo;s lake, a body of water situated
-just south of the Trois Tetons....</p>
-<p>We continued in this encampment three days, to give our
-animals an opportunity to recruit, and for Captain Bridger
-to fit and send out several of his men into the mountains
-to hunt and trap....</p>
-<p>On the 28th, we pursued our journey and passed over
-a mountain [Teton Pass] so high, that banks of snow were
-but a short distance from our trail. When we had ascended
-two-thirds of the way, a number of buffalo, which
-were pursued by our Indians, came rushing down the side
-of the mountain through the midst of our company....</p>
-<p>In [Pierre&rsquo;s Hole] ... I parted with Captain Bridger
-and his party, who went northeast into the mountains to
-their hunting ground, which the Blackfeet claim, and for
-which they will contend.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>According to the impious Joseph L. Meek, the sermon
-on Sunday the 23rd in Jackson&rsquo;s Little Hole (the site of
-which has been memorialized by the State of Wyoming as
-<span class="pb" id="Page_62">62</span>
-that of &ldquo;the first Protestant sermon in the Rocky Mountains&rdquo;)
-was not such a great success as Parker makes out,
-for, &ldquo;in the midst of the discourse, a band of buffalo appeared
-in the valley, when the congregation broke up,
-without staying for a benediction,&rdquo; and every man excitedly
-joined in the hunt.</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig31">
-<img src="images/img028.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="612" />
-<p class="caption">Marcus Whitman removing arrow from Jim Bridger.</p>
-</div>
-<p>Another who accompanied this expedition was Kit Carson.
-Parker gave Carson his initial shove into immortality
-by relating the story of his victory at the rendezvous over
-a &ldquo;great bully&rdquo; named Shunar:</p>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_63">63</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig32">
-<img src="images/img028a.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="664" />
-<p class="caption">Trappers at Old Faithful.</p>
-</div>
-<blockquote>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_64">64</div>
-<p>... I will relate an occurrence which took place near
-evening, as a specimen of mountain life. A hunter, who
-goes technically by the name of the great bully of the
-mountains, mounted his horse with a loaded rifle, and
-challenged any Frenchman, American, Spaniard, or Dutchman,
-to fight him in single combat. Kit Carson, an American,
-told him if he wished to die, he would accept the
-challenge. Shunar defied him. C. mounted his horse, and
-with a loaded pistol, rushed into close contact, and both
-almost at the same instant fired. C&rsquo;s ball entered S&rsquo;s hand,
-came out at the wrist, and passed through the arm above
-the elbow. Shunar&rsquo;s ball passed over the head of Carson;
-and while he went for another pistol, Shunar begged that
-his life might be spared. Such scenes, sometimes from
-passion, and sometimes for amusement, make the pastime
-of their wild and wandering life.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>Another rendezvous was held for the summer of 1836,
-again on Horse Creek tributary of Green River. Fitzpatrick
-and Fontenelle arrived with the supply caravan on July 3.
-With them were the missionaries Marcus Whitman and H. H.
-Spalding, accompanied by their wives, the first white
-women ever to attend a rendezvous of the mountain men
-and doubtless the first to come within 100 miles of the
-future Grand Teton and Yellowstone Parks. At this meeting
-Major Joshua Pilcher, as agent for the American Fur
-Company, formally and legally took over the interests of
-Bridger, Fitzpatrick, and Fontenelle, thus consolidating the
-monopoly. The missionaries, accompanied by Hudson&rsquo;s Bay
-Company agents, followed the Bear River route westward.
-The fur trappers were left in the mountains with Drips,
-Fontenelle, and Bridger. Says Osborne Russell:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>Mr. Bridger&rsquo;s party, as usual, was destined for the
-Blackfoot country. It contained most of the American
-trappers and amounted to sixty men. I started with a
-party of fifteen trappers and two camp keepers, ordered
-by Mr. Bridger to proceed to the Yellowstone Lake and
-there await his arrival with the rest of the party.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>Russell entered Jackson&rsquo;s Hole by way of the upper Green
-and Gros Ventre rivers, followed the Snake River north to
-Jackson Lake, and on August 7 started up Buffalo Fork, to
-reach Two Ocean Pass. On August 13, he camped at the
-inlet of Yellowstone Lake, and on the 16th &ldquo;Mr. Bridger
-came up with the remainder of the party.&rdquo; They followed
-along the eastern shore of the lake to its outlet at present
-<span class="pb" id="Page_65">65</span>
-Fishing Bridge, and camped again &ldquo;in a beautiful plain
-which extended along the northern extremity of the lake.&rdquo;
-Russell describes the lake as &ldquo;about 100 miles in circumference
-... lying in an oblong form south to north, or rather
-in the shape of a crescent.&rdquo; His further description of the
-boiling springs, hot steam vents, and the hollow limestone
-crustation &ldquo;of dazzling whiteness,&rdquo; apparently in Hayden
-Valley, ranks him with Potts and Ferris as a pioneer
-journalist of the Park phenomena.</p>
-<div class="img" id="map3">
-<img src="images/m3_lr.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="706" />
-<p class="caption">Section of Father De Smet &ldquo;map of the Indian country&rdquo; of 1851, reflecting data given by Jim Bridger. From the Cartographic Section, National Archives.<br /><a class="ab" href="images/m3_hr.jpg">High-resolution Map</a></p>
-</div>
-<p>In 1837 Thomas Fitzpatrick again led the supply train
-across the plains, picking up Fontenelle at Fort Laramie,
-<span class="pb" id="Page_66">66</span>
-and arriving at the rendezvous on July 18. After the business
-of that year was transacted, Drips returned east with
-Fitzpatrick&rsquo;s caravan, and Fontenelle and Bridger made up
-a strong company of 110 men to invade the hostile Blackfoot
-country. Osborne Russell and five others started off separately
-&ldquo;to hunt the headwaters of the Yellowstone, Missouri
-and Bighorn Rivers.&rdquo; Going due north up Green River,
-they were attacked by &ldquo;sixty or seventy&rdquo; Blackfeet, but
-managed to escape to the rendezvous. Here they wisely
-decided to throw in with Fontenelle&rsquo;s party, as Russell explains,
-&ldquo;intending to keep in their company five or six days
-and then branch off to our first intended route.&rdquo; After
-descending the Hoback, Russell and three others left the
-main party at the ford of &ldquo;Lewis Fork&rdquo; in &ldquo;Jackson&rsquo;s Big
-Hole&rdquo; and took the same route to Yellowstone Lake used
-the preceding year, then went northeast over the mountains
-to gain the &ldquo;Stinking Water.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>In the spring of 1838 the company moved westward from
-Powder River, trapping the Bighorn and other tributaries
-of the Yellowstone. Russell and Meek report another fight
-with the Blackfeet on the Madison, followed by a gathering
-of the brigade on the north fork of the Yellowstone, near
-the lake. Afterward, Meek reports:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>Bridger&rsquo;s brigade of trappers met with no other serious
-interruptions on their summer&rsquo;s march. They proceeded
-to Henry&rsquo;s Lake, and crossing the Rocky Mountains,
-traveled through the Pine Woods, always a favorite region,
-to Lewis&rsquo; Lake on Lewis&rsquo; Fork of the Snake River [Jackson
-Lake]; and finally up the Grovant Fork, recrossing the
-mountains to Wind River, where the rendezvous was appointed.</p>
-<p>Osborne Russell describes this rendezvous of 1838:</p>
-<p>... [July] 4th&mdash;We encamped at the Oil Spring on
-Popo-azia, and the next day we arrived at the camp. There
-we found Mr. Dripps from St. Louis, with twenty horse
-carts loaded with supplies, and again met Captain Stewart,
-likewise several missionaries with their families on their
-way to the Columbia River. On the 8th Mr. F. Ermatinger
-arrived with a small party from the Columbia, accompanied
-by the Rev. John Lee, who was on his way to the United
-States. On the 20th of July the meeting broke up and the
-parties again dispersed for the fall hunt.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_67">67</div>
-<p>The Captain Stewart referred to by Russell was an
-English veteran of Waterloo, Sir William Drummond
-Stewart, ostensibly a wealthy sportsman, who became a
-perennial visitor to the annual conclaves of the &ldquo;mountain
-men,&rdquo; beginning in 1833. He probably entered Jackson&rsquo;s
-Hole on more than one occasion, in company with the trapper
-bands, but of this there is no proof, except the following
-passage to be found in <b>Altowan</b>, a romantic novel based on
-his experiences:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>On the banks of a small stream, which ultimately finds
-its way into the upper waters of Snake River, a rugged
-path, made by the bison descending from a pass above,
-winds its way through the dwarf willows and quaking asp
-that line its side ... on a sudden turn of the road round
-a projecting cliff, Altowan stopped to contemplate the
-scene below, which, though not new to him, is one of
-undying wonder and magnificence. Far over an extensive
-vale rise &lsquo;the three Tetons,&rsquo; high above surrounding mountains;
-their peaked heads shine white against the azure
-sky, while other ranges succeed each other like waves
-beyond and beyond, until they merge into the purple haze
-of the Western Horizon.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>By 1838, competition for beaver pelts was beginning to
-exhaust the streams, and the law of diminishing returns was
-making itself felt in the Rocky Mountain fur trade. Nevertheless,
-after the rendezvous of that year, the field commanders
-of the company assembled their trappers for another
-invasion of the Jackson&rsquo;s Hole country. Again Osborne
-Russell illuminates the scene:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>I started, with about thirty trappers, up Wind River,
-expecting the camp to follow in a few days. During our
-stay at the rendezvous it was rumored among the men that
-the company intended to bring no more supplies to the
-Rocky Mountains, and discontinue all further operations.
-This caused a great deal of discontent among the trappers
-and numbers left the party. 21st&mdash;We traveled up Wind
-River about thirty miles and encamped. 22nd&mdash;Continued
-up the river till noon, then left it to our right, traveled
-over a high ridge covered with pines, in a westerly direction
-about fifteen miles, and fell on to the Grosvent Fork.
-Next day we traveled about twenty miles down Grosvent
-Fork. 24th&mdash;Myself and another crossed the mountain in
-a northwest direction, fell on to a stream running into
-Lewis Fork, about ten miles below Jackson&rsquo;s Lake. Here
-we staid and trapped until the 29th. Then we started back
-to the Grosvent Fork, where we found the camp, consisting
-of about sixty men, under the direction of Mr. Dripps, with
-James Bridger pilot.</p>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_68">68</div>
-<p>The next day the camp followed down the Grosvent
-Fork to Jackson&rsquo;s Hole. In the meantime myself and
-comrade returned to our traps, which we raised, and took
-over the mountain in a southwest direction and overtook
-the camp on Lewis Fork. The whole company was starving.
-Fortunately I had killed a deer in crossing the mountain,
-which made supper for the whole camp. Aug. 1st&mdash;We
-crossed Lewis Fork and encamped and staid the next
-day. 3d.&mdash;Camp crossed the mountain to Pierre&rsquo;s Hole and
-the day following I started with my former comrade to
-hunt beaver on the streams which ran from the Yellowstone....</p>
-</blockquote>
-<div class="img" id="fig33">
-<img src="images/img030.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="424" />
-<p class="caption">Trapper train in Teton Pass.</p>
-</div>
-<p>Russell&rsquo;s side trip appears to have been made cross
-country from near the Cottonwood Creek tributary of the
-Gros Ventre over the foothills of Mt. Leidy to Spread Creek,
-where he set traps, then back along this same route to
-Bridger&rsquo;s camp on the Gros Ventre, then back to Spread
-Creek, and later down the Snake River, rejoining the main
-camp near the mouth of the Gros Ventre. Russell&rsquo;s account
-of the main expedition fits in very well with the brief entry
-in Newell&rsquo;s diary&mdash;&ldquo;up Wind River into Jackson&rsquo;s Hole, on
-to Pier&rsquo;s Hole.&rdquo; Another trapper present was young Jim
-Baker, famous Wyoming pioneer, who was making his first
-visit to the mountains.</p>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_69">69</div>
-<p>An entry in Russell&rsquo;s journal indicates that a party of
-trappers from Fort Hall reached Yellowstone Lake in 1838.
-Meek alleges that he went alone to Gardner&rsquo;s Hole after the
-rendezvous and later to Burnt Hole, the neighborhood of
-Hebgen Lake. Here he left a joking message on a buffalo
-skull.</p>
-<p>Some evidence of wintering in Jackson&rsquo;s Hole is given
-by Robert Newell:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>Capt. Drips left in December for Wind River with his
-camp. Capt. Walker remained on Green River with a
-small party, where we are now. Snow about one foot.
-January 26, 1839, buffalow scarce. I spent last Christmas
-in Jackson&rsquo;s Hole. We spent the balance of the winter
-down on Green River, over on Ham&rsquo;s Fork, the spring
-commencing to open the first of March, 1839.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>Kit Carson writes:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>On the return of Spring we commenced our hunt,
-trapped the tributaries of the Missouri to the head of Lewis
-Fork, and then started for the rendezvous on Green River,
-near the mouth of Horse Creek....</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>In March, Meek, after wintering among the Nez Perces
-on the Salmon River, and acquiring an Indian wife (apparently
-his third), set out trapping again with a comrade
-named Allen to whom he was much attached.</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>They traveled along up and down the Salmon, to Godin&rsquo;s
-River, Henry&rsquo;s Fork of the Snake, to Pierre&rsquo;s Fork, and
-Lewis&rsquo; Fork, and the Muddy, and finally set their traps
-on a little stream that runs out of the pass which leads to
-Pierre&rsquo;s Hole.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>Correlated with other data, the &ldquo;pass which leads to Pierre&rsquo;s
-Hole&rdquo; sounds very much like Teton Pass. Here, according
-to Victor, a horrible event occurred. Ambushed by Blackfeet,
-Meek managed to escape in a thicket, but the hapless
-Allen was caught, shot, and then gleefully dismembered
-within sight and sound of his companion. Meek is supposed
-to have wriggled away during the night and, &ldquo;after twenty-six
-days of solitary and cautious travel,&rdquo; escaped to the place
-of rendezvous.</p>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_70">70</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig34">
-<img src="images/img031.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="425" />
-<p class="caption">Free trapper under attack by Indians.</p>
-</div>
-<p>Information on the rendezvous of 1839 has survived
-through the account of F. A. Wislizenus, a German doctor
-and political refugee, who accompanied the St. Louis supply
-train in the interests of curiosity and recreation. In addition
-to offering a vivid picture of proceedings at the rendezvous,
-he also comments on the decline of the fur trade in the Rocky
-Mountains. Wislizenus, Ermatinger of the Hudson&rsquo;s Bay
-Company, the Munger-Griffin missionary party, and several
-hundred Indians left the rendezvous for Fort Hall, going by
-the Bear River route, which was soon to become a part of
-the Oregon Trail. As for the trappers, it appears that some
-of them, yielding to fate, disbanded, but Meek and Newell
-were among those who went to Fort Hall and later trapped
-around Brown&rsquo;s Hole (a valley made by the Green River
-along the northern base of the Uinta Range). Others were
-still attracted to Jackson&rsquo;s Hole, the heart of the prime
-beaver country. An eminent pioneer of Montana, W. T.
-Hamilton, got it from &ldquo;old-timers&rdquo; that:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>In the year 1839 a party of forty men started on an
-expedition up the Snake River. In the party were Ducharme,
-Louis Anderson, Jim and John Baker, Joe Power,
-<span class="pb" id="Page_71">71</span>
-L&rsquo;Humphrie, and others. They passed Jackson&rsquo;s Lake,
-catching many beaver, and crossed the Continental Divide,
-following down the Upper Yellowstone&mdash;Elk&mdash;River to the
-Yellowstone Lake.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<div class="img" id="fig35">
-<img src="images/img031a.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="430" />
-<p class="caption">Skinning beaver in Jackson&rsquo;s Hole.</p>
-</div>
-<p>This party was attacked by the Blackfeet near the outlet
-of Yellowstone Lake, suffering a loss of five men. The
-survivors, while trapping the Park, witnessed &ldquo;Sulphur
-Mountain,&rdquo; the Mud Volcano, Yellowstone Falls at the head
-of the Canyon, and the pyrotechnic displays of &ldquo;Fire Hole
-Basin.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>Early in 1839, Russell hunted mountain sheep and trapped
-beaver along the Snake River below Jackson&rsquo;s Hole,
-returning to Fort Hall in June. Making up a party of four
-for the purpose of trapping in the Yellowstone and Wind
-River Mountains, he spent the Fourth of July at the outlet
-of Jackson Lake, near present Moran, then followed the
-Snake River northward to Lewis Lake and Shoshone Lake.
-The Shoshone Geyser Basin is described by Russell in meticulous
-detail, including the rhythmic &ldquo;Hour Spring&rdquo; which
-resembles present Union Geyser. From here they crossed
-over to Hayden Valley via the Midway Geyser Basin, there
-<span class="pb" id="Page_72">72</span>
-noting a &ldquo;boiling lake&rdquo; of deep indigo blue, about three hundred
-feet in diameter, probably the present Grand Prismatic
-Spring. After an extended camp at the outlet of Yellowstone
-Lake they went east to the head of Clark&rsquo;s Fork,
-thence back to the Yellowstone at the ford near Tower Falls,
-thence to Gardner&rsquo;s Hole and back to the lake outlet. En
-route they saw disturbing evidence of &ldquo;a village of 300 or
-400 lodges of Blackfeet&rdquo; that had only recently been evacuated.
-In their camp on Pelican Creek, just east of the present
-Fishing Bridge campground, they were suddenly assailed
-by a horde of &ldquo;70 or 80&rdquo; Blackfeet &ldquo;who rent the air with
-their horrid yells&rdquo; and inflicted severe arrow wounds on
-Russell and one other. They fought off the Indians with
-their rifles, but suffered great pain and hardship in making
-their way back to Fort Hall via West Thumb, Snake River,
-Berry Creek and Conant Pass at the north end of the Teton
-Range. This was Russell&rsquo;s final sorrowful exit from Wonderland.</p>
-<p>Two slim and shaky clues to other Yellowstone expeditions
-in the late 1830&rsquo;s are available. In his journal of 1839,
-while sojourning in the Utah country, apprentice trapper
-E. Willard Smith reports: &ldquo;The country around the headwaters
-of the Yellowstone, a tributary of the Missouri,
-abounds in natural curiosities. There are volcanoes, volcanic
-productions and carbonated springs. Mr. Vasquez told me
-that he went to the top of one of these volcanoes, the crater
-of which was filled with pure water, forming quite a large
-lake.&rdquo; In his <b>Life in the Far West</b> (1849), a fictionalized
-account of the mountain men, with whom he had personally
-consorted in 1846, Lieutenant Ruxton tells how, on one
-occasion, Old Bill Williams, &ldquo;tough as the parfleche soles of
-his moccasins,&rdquo; led seven of his hardy associates into a little-known
-region, beckoned thence by &ldquo;a lofty peak&rdquo; which
-fits the description of the Grand Tetons, entering &ldquo;the valley
-lying about the lakes now called Eustis and Biddle, in which
-are many thermal and mineral springs, well known to the
-trappers by the name of Soda, Beer, and Brimstone Springs,
-and regarded by them with no little awe and curiosity, as
-being the breathing places of his Satanic majesty.&rdquo;</p>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_73">73</div>
-<p>The year 1840 can be said to mark the formal demise of
-the Rocky Mountain fur trade, for in that year was held the
-fifteenth and last of these great conclaves of the wilderness,
-the trapper&rsquo;s rendezvous on Horse Creek of the Green River.
-It also marks the end of an epoch in the history of Jackson&rsquo;s
-Hole. The main chronicler of this fateful year was the
-Belgian, Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Jesuit priest who accompanied
-the American Fur Company&rsquo;s last expedition to the
-mountains so that he might survey the prospects for a
-Catholic mission among the Flathead Indians. This was the
-beginning of a series of epic pilgrimages to the Far West
-which were to make him one of the dominant figures in
-American frontier history. Andrew Drips headed the supply
-train. Also present were several Protestant missionaries
-and &ldquo;the first avowed Oregon emigrant,&rdquo; Joel P. Walker,
-and his wife and five children. On April 30, the caravan
-left Westport, Missouri, and, after two months of traveling
-over the Great Plains in the midst of vast buffalo herds, it
-reached its destination. Writes Father De Smet:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>On the 30th [June] I came to the rendezvous, where
-a band of Flatheads, who had been notified of my coming,
-were already waiting for me.... On the 4th of July, I
-resumed my travels, with my Flatheads; ten brave Canadians
-also chose to accompany me....</p>
-<p>Three days we ascended Green river, and on the 8th
-we crossed it, heading for an elevated plain which separates
-the waters of the Colorado from those of the Columbia....
-On leaving this plain, we descended several thousand feet
-by a trail and arrived in Jackson&rsquo;s Hole [Jackson&rsquo;s Little
-Hole].... Thence we passed into a narrow and extremely
-dangerous defile, which was at the same time picturesque
-and sublime....</p>
-<p>On the 10th, after crossing the lofty mountain, we
-arrived upon the banks of Henry&rsquo;s Fork [Snake River],
-one of the principal tributaries of Snake [Columbia] river.
-The mass of snow melted during the July heat had swollen
-this torrent to a prodigious height. Its roaring waters
-rushed furiously down and whitened with their foam the
-great blocks of granite which vainly disputed the passage
-with them. The sight intimidated neither our Indians nor
-our Canadians; accustomed to perils of this sort, they
-rushed into the torrent on horseback and swam it. I dared
-not venture to do likewise. To get me over, they made a
-kind of sack of my skin tent; then they put all my things
-in and set me on top of it. The three Flatheads who had
-jumped in to guide my frail bark by swimming, told me,
-laughing, not to be afraid, that I was on an excellent boat.
-<span class="pb" id="Page_74">74</span>
-And in fact this machine floated on the water like a
-majestic swan; and in less than ten minutes I found myself
-on the other bank, where we encamped for the night.</p>
-<p>The next day we had another high mountain to climb
-[Teton Pass] through a thick pine forest, and at the top
-we found snow, which had fallen in the night to the depth
-of two feet.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>Joe Meek relates that,</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>about the last of June ... he started for the old rendezvous
-places of the American Companies, hoping to find
-some divisions of them at least, on the familiar camping
-ground. But his journey was in vain. Neither on Green
-River or Wind River, where for ten years he had been
-accustomed to meet the leaders and their men, his old
-comrades in danger, did he find a wandering brigade even.
-The glory of the American companies was departed, and
-he found himself solitary among his long familiar haunts.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>However, this sad story does not fit in with De Smet&rsquo;s
-account nor with the testimony of Meek&rsquo;s own good friend,
-Robert Newell, who in June 1840 also left Fort Hall for the
-rendezvous:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>Mr. Ermatinger arrived 13th of June. I went to the
-American rendezvous, Mr. Drips, Freab and Bridger from
-St. Louis with goods, but times were certainly hard, no
-beaver, and everything dull. Some missionaries came
-along with them for the Columbia, Messrs. Clark, Smith,
-Littlejohn. I engaged to pilot them over the mountains,
-with their wagons and such used in crossing, to Fort Hall.
-There I bought their wagons....</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>Unless Meek&rsquo;s memory was at fault, the discrepancy can
-only be explained on the assumption that Meek, approaching
-Green River by way of Jackson&rsquo;s Hole, simply did not look
-hard enough. Be that as it may, Meek avers that after his
-disappointed return to Fort Hall,</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>he set out on what proved to be his last trapping expedition,
-with a Frenchman, named Mattileau. They visited
-the old trapping grounds on Pierre&rsquo;s Fork, Lewis&rsquo; Lake,
-Jackson&rsquo;s [Hoback] River, Jackson&rsquo;s Hole, Lewis River
-and Salt River: but beaver were scarce; and it was with
-a feeling of relief that, on returning by way of Bear River,
-Meek heard from a Frenchman whom he met there, that
-he was wanted at Fort Hall, by his friend Newell, who
-had something to propose to him.</p>
-</blockquote>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_75">75</div>
-<p>What Newell had to propose to Meek was something
-revolutionary. On one of Newell&rsquo;s wagons Meek loaded
-his traps and his Indian family, and together they performed
-the historic feat of taking the first wagons through to the
-Columbia River. Their departure best symbolizes the death
-of the Rocky Mountain fur trade and the birth of the Oregon
-Trail. After Meek&rsquo;s visit in 1840, Jackson&rsquo;s Hole relapsed
-into virgin solitude. For twenty years thereafter there is
-little positive evidence of white men in this valley. It was
-forty-five years before the arrival of the first permanent
-settler. For over a hundred years the historic importance
-of Jackson&rsquo;s Hole as the continental crossroads of the Western
-fur trade has been all but forgotten.</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig36">
-<img src="images/img032.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="426" />
-<p class="caption">Rocky Mountain men setting traps.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_76">76</div>
-<div class="img" id="map4">
-<img src="images/m4_lr.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="742" />
-<p class="caption">Section of Map accompanying <i>Report on the Exploration of the Yellowstone River</i>, by Bvt. Brig. Gen. W. F. Raynolds, Washington, 1868. Errors and omissions reflect failure of the Raynolds expedition to reach the Yellowstone Park area in 1860.<br /><a class="ab" href="images/m4_hr.jpg">High-resolution Map</a></p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_77">77</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig37">
-<img src="images/img033a.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="274" />
-</div>
-<h2 id="c8">VIII. Epilogue: 1841-1870</h2>
-<p>After 1840 Yellowstone Park was likewise virtually left
-in primeval solitude. There is tangible evidence of only four
-visits of white men during this period, and one attempted
-visit which failed. In his recently published biography,
-William Clark Kennerly has it that in 1843 a grand hunting
-expedition headed by Sir William Drummond Stewart, and
-including such notables as Sublette and Baptiste Charbonneau,
-camped one evening among the geysers, having particularly
-great sport in vain efforts to throttle &ldquo;old Steam
-Boat.&rdquo; In 1844, according to Chittenden, a party of trappers,
-identity not disclosed, entered Upper Yellowstone Valley
-from the south, and &ldquo;passed around the west shore of Yellowstone
-Lake to the outlet, where they had a severe battle
-with the Blackfoot Indians, in a broad open tract at that
-point. The remains of their old corral were still visible as
-late as 1870.&rdquo; (This might be a variant of the same battle
-of 1939, told by Hamilton.)</p>
-<p>The remaining three expeditions were guided by James
-Bridger, who in 1843 had set up Fort Bridger on Black&rsquo;s
-Fork of Green River, to cater to the emigrants who were
-beginning to follow the Oregon Trail. James Gemmell
-claims to have been among those present in 1846 when
-Bridger led &ldquo;a trading expedition to the Crows and Sioux,&rdquo;
-north up the Green River through Jackson&rsquo;s Hole to West
-<span class="pb" id="Page_78">78</span>
-Thumb, making a tour of the &ldquo;wonderful spouting springs&rdquo;
-and other scenic features before continuing down the Yellowstone.
-E. S. Topping states that in 1850 Jim Bridger,
-Kit Carson, and twenty-two others on a prospecting trip
-out of St. Louis &ldquo;crossed the mountains to the Yellowstone
-and down it to the lake and the falls; then across the Divide
-to the Madison River. They saw the geysers of the lower
-basin and named the river that drains them the Fire
-Hole.... The report of this party made quite a stir in St.
-Louis.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>The only historically discernible &ldquo;stir&rdquo; made by Bridger&rsquo;s
-reports consisted of the usual incredulity and scoffing, exemplified
-by the timidity of a Kansas City editor who in
-1856 let immortality slip through his grasp by refusing to
-publish Bridger&rsquo;s own version of &ldquo;the place where Hell
-bubbled up.&rdquo; By this time, however, one notable Bridger
-story had actually broken through the literary overcast,
-and two more would soon appear to vindicate the famous
-trapper. In 1852 Lieutenant Gunnison, who had been a
-member of the Howard Stansbury exploring party which
-Bridger guided to Great Salt Lake in 1849, published a
-romantic but essentially accurate description of the principal
-scenic features. Here is a &ldquo;lake, sixty miles long,&rdquo; a &ldquo;perpendicular
-canyon,&rdquo; the &ldquo;Great Springs&rdquo; on successive terraces,
-and &ldquo;geysers spouting seventy feet high.&rdquo; In his
-letter mentioned above, published in 1863, constituting a
-report on his participation in the Fort Laramie treaty council
-of 1851, Father De Smet located what is substantially
-the present Park &ldquo;in the very heart of the Rocky Mountains,
-between the 43d and 45th degrees of latitude, and the 109th
-and 111th degrees of longitude; that is between the sources
-of the Madison and the Yellowstone,&rdquo; regarding it as &ldquo;the
-most marvellous spot of all the northern half of the continent&rdquo;
-because of its boiling springs, calcareous hills, escaping
-vapors, steamboat noises, subterranean explosions and, near
-Gardner River, &ldquo;a mountain of sulphur.&rdquo; In this case likewise
-the source of his information was Bridger, &ldquo;who is
-familiar with every one of these mounds, having passed
-thirty years of his life near them.&rdquo;</p>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_79">79</div>
-<p>Even more illuminating to the historian than the well-known
-De Smet letter are five unpublished maps traced by
-that missionary. These maps had little contemporary influence
-and, though noted by his biographers in 1905, they
-have been neglected by subsequent historians. They are
-documents of signal import, which should inspire renewed
-respect for the ubiquitous Bridger and yet increase the
-stature of the versatile and indefatigable De Smet, already
-one of the giants of western history. Of these five maps
-four are still at St. Louis University, which was his headquarters.
-These are among dozens which were made by
-him in the course of his several western journeys, the information
-obtained by acute personal observation as well
-as &ldquo;from trappers and intelligent Indians.&rdquo; The draftsmanship
-of the first three, while not striking, is respectable.
-One shows &ldquo;Yellow Stone&rdquo; River and tributaries as high as
-&ldquo;Gardner&rsquo;s F.&rdquo; A second, embracing the Upper Missouri,
-Yellowstone, and Upper Platte regions, shows a nameless
-bladder-shaped lake at the head of the Yellowstone and a
-conspicuous &ldquo;Hot Sulphur Spring&rdquo; north of the lake. A
-third, embracing the entire West from the Great Basin to
-the Forks of the Platte, shows essentially the same features.
-The fourth map in the St. Louis collection is the most intriguing.
-This depicts that remarkable twisted region of
-the Rocky Mountains where the headwaters of the Yellowstone,
-the Wind, the Green, the Snake, and the Missouri
-rivers unwind before rolling to their respective oceans. The
-undated map is crude and smeary, and it has all the ear-marks
-of being sketched in the field without benefit of desk
-or blotter. In view of De Smet&rsquo;s express testimony that
-the most famous trapper of all supplied him with his geographic
-data, at least for the &ldquo;Yellowstone Park&rdquo; section,
-it is a fair guess that this was drawn by De Smet with
-Bridger at his elbow. Here, on a rough chart consigned to
-the oblivion of a library vault, is where &ldquo;Yellowstone Park&rdquo;
-first comes into clear focus. Allowing for pardonable distortions,
-all of the principal scenic features are in evidence:
-the geyser basins of the Firehole (&ldquo;volcanic country&rdquo;); Mammoth
-Hot Springs (&ldquo;Sulphur Mountain&rdquo; near &ldquo;Gardener&rsquo;s
-Cr.&rdquo;); a shapeless Yellowstone Lake (&ldquo;60 by 9&rdquo;) with &ldquo;Hot
-<span class="pb" id="Page_80">80</span>
-Springs&rdquo; and &ldquo;Great Volcanoes&rdquo; alongside; the Grand Canyon
-and &ldquo;Falls 290 feet&rdquo;; and Hayden Valley (&ldquo;Volcanic
-country [?] Steam Springs&rdquo;). Two Ocean Pass, Jackson
-Lake, and &ldquo;Colter&rsquo;s Hell&rdquo; on Stinking River are other conspicuous
-features near by.</p>
-<p>The &ldquo;Bridger Map&rdquo; is the obvious source of the Yellowstone
-data found on the fifth De Smet map, embracing the
-western United States, which is more carefully drawn than
-the others. This large untitled map, with a bold floral
-border, is dated 1851, and contains the following fading inscription
-within curved palm fronds: &ldquo;respectfully presented
-to Col. David D. [?] Mitchell [by] P. J. De Smet, Soc. Jes.&rdquo;
-As to the circumstances under which this map was drawn,
-De Smet explains as follows in a letter dated July 1, 1857,
-to officials of the Department of the Interior:</p>
-<blockquote>
-<p>When I was at the council ground in 1851, on the Platte
-River, at the mouth of the Horse creek, I was requested
-by Colonel Mitchell [superintendent of Indian Affairs at
-St. Louis] to make a map of the whole Indian country,
-relating particularly to the Upper Missouri, the waters of
-the upper Platte, east of the Rocky mountains and of the
-headwaters of the Columbia and its tributaries west of
-these mountains. In compliance with this request I drew
-up the map from scraps then in my possession. The map,
-so prepared, was seemingly approved and made use of by
-the gentlemen assembled in council, and subsequently sent
-on to Washington together with the treaty then made with
-the Indians. In my humble opinion, therefore, it can be
-of very little service for your purposes, in which accuracy
-of instrumental measurements and observation seems to
-be absolutely necessary....</p>
-</blockquote>
-<p>The final gesture of modesty may explain why this revealing
-map, prepared and made available to the government
-twenty years before the first official Park exploration got
-under way, was duly glanced at by the department authorities
-and then tucked away, a needle in the haystack of
-official files, in Washington, D. C., where it still reposes.
-It contains all the features of the &ldquo;Bridger Map,&rdquo; but with
-refinements. Here is a &ldquo;Great Volcanic Region [?] now
-in a state of eruption,&rdquo; drained by &ldquo;Fire Hole Riv.&rdquo; The
-lake now appear as &ldquo;Yellowstone or Sublette&rsquo;s Lake,&rdquo; still
-oddly sausage-shaped. There is a &ldquo;Little Falls&rdquo; at the head
-of the canyon but the more impressive Lower Falls are
-<span class="pb" id="Page_81">81</span>
-unexplainably omitted. To the southwest, in the position
-of present Shoshone Lake, is &ldquo;De Smet Lake.&rdquo; To the east
-at the forks of &ldquo;Stinking Fr.&rdquo; appears the &ldquo;Sulphur Springs
-or Colter&rsquo;s Hell Volcano&rdquo; which, due to the unavailability
-of this map, has led so many historians astray. This map,
-with its manuscript forebears, ranks with the Ferris journal
-and map and the Potts letter as one of the principal historical
-documents pertaining to early Yellowstone.</p>
-<div class="img" id="fig38">
-<img src="images/img034.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="399" />
-<p class="caption">Trappers in Pierre&rsquo;s Hole, west of &ldquo;Les Trois Tetons&rdquo;</p>
-</div>
-<p>It is not evident that information given by Gunnison
-and De Smet or any of their predecessors relative to unusual
-phenomena on the Upper Yellowstone greatly impressed
-representatives of the Federal Government. Certainly
-no eagerness to verify these reports is betrayed in
-the official instructions dated April 13, 1859, by which
-Captain Raynolds, Corps of Topographical Engineers, was
-directed &ldquo;to organize an expedition for the exploration of
-the region of the country through which flow the principal
-tributaries of the Yellowstone river, and of the mountains
-in which they, and the Gallatin and Madison forks of the
-Missouri, have their source.&rdquo; However, since one of the
-objects of this exploration was to ascertain the principal
-topographical features and since, moreover, the indispensable
-<span class="pb" id="Page_82">82</span>
-Bridger was secured as a guide, it would seem that the
-Yellowstone marvels were just about to be officially discovered
-and proclaimed. Not so, however. The expedition
-left winter camp on Platte River in May 1860. While a
-detachment under Lieutenant Henry E. Maynadier went
-north along the eastern slope of the Absaroka Range, the
-main party ascended Wind River to Union Pass, then turned
-north seeking the headwaters of the Yellowstone. Deep
-snow and a great &ldquo;basaltic ridge&rdquo; blocked their efforts before
-they reached Two Ocean Pass, and they had to satisfy themselves
-with encircling the Park area via Jackson&rsquo;s Hole,
-Teton Pass, Henry&rsquo;s Fork, and Raynolds&rsquo; Pass. By way of
-the Madison, they rejoined Maynadier at the Three Forks.
-Raynolds&rsquo; report and map became the first recognition by
-the Federal Government of the possible existence of volcanic
-activity in the region of the Upper Yellowstone. For information
-regarding the &ldquo;burning plains, immense lakes, and
-boiling springs&rdquo; and other unverifiable phenomena mentioned
-he was, of course, indebted to his guide Bridger, with
-trimmings added by Meldrum. On his &ldquo;Map of the Yellowstone
-and Missouri Rivers,&rdquo; within the &ldquo;enchanted enclosure&rdquo;
-which now constitutes Yellowstone National Park, the
-soldier-explorer had the courage to place &ldquo;Yellowstone
-Lake,&rdquo; &ldquo;Falls of the Yellowstone,&rdquo; &ldquo;Burnt Hole,&rdquo; &ldquo;Sulphur
-Mountain,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Elephant&rsquo;s Back Mt.,&rdquo; all now recognizable
-features. This was an extraordinary demonstration of faith
-in Bridger&rsquo;s veracity. Because of the Civil War, publication
-of the report was delayed until 1868, but the map itself was
-first issued separately a few years earlier.</p>
-<p>It was the discovery of gold, first in California and
-later in Colorado, which started the population moving centrally
-westward in great numbers and diverted whatever
-attention might otherwise have become focussed on the
-Upper Yellowstone region. It was the discovery of gold in
-western Montana which brought about its rediscovery and
-early creation as the world&rsquo;s first National Park. Although
-there was desultory prospecting previous to 1862, it was in
-that year that the news of several major gold strikes was
-broadcast and a full scale stampede to the diggings began.
-<span class="pb" id="Page_83">83</span>
-In the spring of 1863 at least two prospecting parties entered
-the Park. Although they were feverishly preoccupied with
-the search for gold, the unusual character of the country
-did not escape them entirely, and the leader of one party
-made something akin to the first scientific eyewitness report.
-This was Walter W. DeLacy, a professional surveyor.
-In August 1863 he fell in with an expedition of forty-two
-men bound for Snake River, and was elected captain. Their
-search being unrewarded, fifteen of the party deserted at
-Jackson Lake, the others deciding to push north. From the
-junction of the Lewis and the Snake they went over the
-Pitchstone Plateau to discover Shoshone Lake and Lewis
-Lake. From there they crossed over the Divide to the
-geyser basins of the Firehole. Although amazed at the
-&ldquo;Steamboat Springs&rdquo; they had little time for sight-seeing,
-and left the Park by way of the Gallatin. DeLacy&rsquo;s discoveries
-were incorporated in his &ldquo;Map of the Territory of
-Montana,&rdquo; which was published &ldquo;for the use of the First
-Legislature of Montana&rdquo; in 1865. His accurate firsthand
-knowledge of the western section of the Park is reflected
-in the correct relationship of &ldquo;Jackson&rsquo;s Lake&rdquo; and unnamed
-Lewis Lake and Shoshone Lake, and in the &ldquo;Hot
-Spring Valley&rdquo; or geyser basin at the headwaters of the
-Madison. Identifiable features of the unvisited eastern section
-consist only of a misshapen &ldquo;Yellow Stone Lake&rdquo; and
-the &ldquo;Falls.&rdquo;</p>
-<p>We have recognized the Ferris map of 1836 and the
-De Smet map of 1851, based on the undated &ldquo;Bridger Map,&rdquo;
-as the earliest authentic maps of the Yellowstone Park area,
-but these remained unpublished and unheralded. The Raynolds
-and DeLacy maps, though purporting to reveal the
-scenic wonders, were scanned mainly by single-minded gold
-seekers before they became obsolete. As to other contemporary
-published maps, the persistence of this geographical
-blind spot in the face of testimony offered by such prime
-witnesses as Potts, Ferris, and Bridger is demonstrated by
-the fact that for over half a century of map making by such
-respected cartographers as John Arrowsmith, Albert Gallatin,
-Bonneville, Fremont, and Gouverneur K. Warren there
-<span class="pb" id="Page_84">84</span>
-was no improvement in the &ldquo;Yellowstone Park&rdquo; section of
-the Clark map of 1810, with its &ldquo;Lake Eustis&rdquo; and &ldquo;Hot
-Spring Brimstone.&rdquo; There were only occasional meaningless
-variations of nomenclature. For instance, on the Robert
-Greenhow map of 1840 and on E. F. Beade&rsquo;s &ldquo;New Map of
-the Great West,&rdquo; published in 1856, &ldquo;Hot Sulphur Springs&rdquo;
-is substituted. On Charles Wilkes&rsquo; &ldquo;Map of Oregon Territory&rdquo;
-which appeared in 1845 and on the J. H. Colton map
-which accompanied <b>Horn&rsquo;s Overland Guide</b>, published in
-1856, this phenomenon becomes &ldquo;Steamboat Sp.&rdquo; and Eustis
-is transformed into &ldquo;Sublette&rsquo;s L.&rdquo; However, on the famed
-Colton map of 1867, just five years before the first boat was
-launched from its shores, the phantom lake&mdash;Eustis, Sublette,
-or Yellowstone&mdash;has disappeared entirely!</p>
-<p>Contemporary newspaper accounts and later published
-reminiscences reveal several prospecting expeditions which
-traversed the Park area during the period 1864-1869, but the
-partial and foggy reports of &ldquo;a lost world&rdquo; given out by
-these treasure hunters did little to dispel the curtain of
-mystery stubbornly surrounding the area. The cumulative
-effect of such reports and rumors, however, was destined
-soon to convince intelligent listeners that no wild tale could
-be so persistent, and that there must be something at the
-headwaters of the Yellowstone worth looking into. In September
-1869, David E. Folsom, Charles W. Cook, and William
-Peterson packed south out of Diamond City, Montana, without
-distracting thoughts of beaver hides or gold, but with
-the express purpose of exploring that neighborhood and reporting
-their findings without adornment. General Henry
-D. Washburn, Hon. Cornelius Hedges, Hon. Nathaniel Langford,
-Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden, and Photographer William
-H. Jackson were standing in the wings. The brief era of
-definitive discovery was dawning.</p>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_85">85</div>
-<div class="img" id="fig39">
-<img src="images/img035.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="371" />
-<p class="caption">First picture ever made of Yellowstone Lake from watercolor by Henry W. Elliott, 1871.<span class="jr"> Picture courtesy of Haynes Studios, Inc.</span></p>
-</div>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_86">86</div>
-<h2 id="c9">Selected Bibliography for
-<br />COLTER&rsquo;S HELL AND JACKSON&rsquo;S HOLE</h2>
-<dl class="undent"><dt>Allen, Paul, <i>History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark</i>, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1814).</dt>
-<dt>Alter, J. Cecil, <i>James Bridger</i> (Salt Lake City, 1925).</dt>
-<dt>Bancroft, H. H., <i>History of Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming, 1540-1888</i> (San Francisco, 1890).</dt>
-<dt>Barry, J. Neilson (ed.), &ldquo;Journal of E. Willard Smith,&rdquo; <i>Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society</i> (September 1913).</dt>
-<dt>Bonneville, Captain B. L. E., undated letter from Fort Smith, Arkansas, <i>Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana</i> (Helena), I (1876), 93-97.</dt>
-<dt>Brackenridge, Henry M., <i>Views of Louisiana</i> (Pittsburgh, 1814).</dt>
-<dt>Bradbury, John, <i>Travels in the Interior of North America, 1809-1811</i> (London, 1819), republished in Reuben G. Thwaites (ed.), <i>Early Western Travels</i>, 32 vols. (Cleveland, 1904-1907), V.</dt>
-<dt>Burpee, Lawrence J. (ed.), <i>Journal of Larocque from the Assiniboine to the Yellowstone, 1805</i> (Ottawa, 1910).</dt>
-<dt>Carter, Clarence E. (ed.), <i>Territorial Papers of the United States</i> (Washington, 1934), XIII, <i>Territory of Louisiana-Missouri, 1803-1806</i> (1948).</dt>
-<dt>Chittenden, Hiram M., <i>The American Fur Trade of the Far West</i>, 2 vols., ed. by Stallo Vinton (New York, 1936).</dt>
-<dt>Chittenden, Hiram M. and Richardson, Albert T., <i>Life, Letters and Travels of Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, S. J., 1801-1873</i> (New York, 1905), 4 vols.</dt>
-<dt>Chittenden, Hiram M., <i>The Yellowstone National Park, Historical and Descriptive</i> (Cincinnati, 1895).</dt>
-<dt>Coues, Elliott (ed.), <i>Forty Years a Fur Trader ... Charles Larpenteur</i>, 2 vols. (New York, 1898).</dt>
-<dt>Coutant, Charles G., <i>History of Wyoming</i> (Laramie, 1899).</dt>
-<dt>Dale, Harrison C., <i>The Ashley-Smith Explorations</i> (Glendale, 1941).</dt>
-<dt>DeLacy, Walter W., <i>Map of the Territory of Montana</i>, etc. (St. Louis, 1865).</dt>
-<dt>DeLacy, Walter W., &ldquo;A Trip Up the South Snake River in 1863,&rdquo; <i>Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana</i>, I (1876).</dt>
-<dt>De Smet, Pierre Jean, <i>Western Missions and Missionaries</i> (New York, 1863).</dt>
-<dt>DeVoto, Bernard, <i>Across the Wide Missouri</i> (Boston, 1947).</dt>
-<dt>DeVoto, Bernard (ed.), <i>Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth</i> (New York, 1931).</dt>
-<dt>Ellison, William H., <i>Life and Adventures of George Nidever</i> (Berkeley, 1937).</dt>
-<dt>Frost, Donald M., <i>Notes on General Ashley, the Overland Trail and South Pass</i> (Worcester, 1944).</dt>
-<dt>Grant, Blanche C. (ed.), <i>Kit Carson&rsquo;s Own Life Story</i> (Taos, 1926).</dt>
-<dt>Gunnison, John W., <i>The Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake</i> (Philadelphia, 1852).</dt>
-<dt>Hamilton, William T., <i>My Sixty Years on the Plains</i> (New York, 1905).</dt>
-<dt class="pb" id="Page_87">87</dt>
-<dt>Harris, Burton, <i>John Colter, His Years in the Rockies</i> (New York, 1952).</dt>
-<dt>Irving, Washington, <i>Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains</i>, 3 vols. (Philadelphia, 1836).</dt>
-<dt>Irving, Washington, <i>The Rocky Mountains.... The Journal of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville</i>, 2 vols. (Philadelphia. 1837).</dt>
-<dt>James, Thomas, <i>Three Years Among the Indians</i>, ed. by Walter B. Douglas (St. Louis, 1916), reprinted from original edition of 1846.</dt>
-<dt>Kennerly, William C., <i>Persimmon Hill: A Narrative of Old St. Louis</i> (Norman, 1948).</dt>
-<dt>Laut, Agnes, <i>Conquest of the Great Northwest</i> (G. H. Doran Co., 1908).</dt>
-<dt>Lindsay, Charles, <i>The Big Horn Basin</i> (Lincoln, 1932).</dt>
-<dt>Mattes, Merrill J., &ldquo;Behind the Legend of Colter&rsquo;s Hell: The Early Exploration of Yellowstone National Park,&rdquo; <i>Mississippi Valley Historical Review</i> (September 1949).</dt>
-<dt>Mattes, Merrill J., &ldquo;Jackson Hole, Crossroads of the Western Fur Trade, 1807-1840,&rdquo; <i>Pacific Northwest Quarterly</i> (April 1946 and January 1948).</dt>
-<dt>Parker, Samuel, <i>Journal of an Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains</i> (Ithaca, 1944).</dt>
-<dt>Phillips, Paul C. (ed.), <i>Life in the Rocky Mountains; A Diary ... by Warren A. Ferris</i> (Denver, 1940).</dt>
-<dt>Potts, Daniel T., Letters, <i>Yellowstone Nature Notes</i> (September 1947).</dt>
-<dt>Raynolds, General William F., &ldquo;Report on the Explorations of the Yellowstone River&rdquo; (Washington, 1868), <i>Senate Executive Documents</i>, No. 77. 40 Cong. 1 [2] Sess.</dt>
-<dt>Rollins, Philip A. (ed.), <i>The Discovery of the Oregon Trail</i> (Hunt and Stuart Journals) (New York, 1935).</dt>
-<dt>Ross, Alexander, <i>The Fur Hunters of the Far West</i>, 2 vols. (London, 1855).</dt>
-<dt>Russell, Osborne, <i>Journal of a Trapper</i>, edited by Aubrey L. Haines (Portland, 1955).</dt>
-<dt>Sabin, Edwin L., <i>Kit Carson Days</i>, 2 vols. (New York, 1935).</dt>
-<dt>Sullivan, M. S., <i>Travels of Jedediah Smith</i> (Santa Ana, 1934).</dt>
-<dt>Thwaites, Reuben G., <i>Oregon; or, a Short History ... by John B. Wyeth</i> (<i>Early Western Travels</i>) (Cleveland, 1905), XXI.</dt>
-<dt>Thwaites, Reuben G. (ed.), <i>Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 1804-1806</i>, 8 vols. (New York, 1904-1905), V.</dt>
-<dt>Topping, E. S., <i>Chronicles of the Yellowstone</i> (St. Paul, 1883).</dt>
-<dt>Victor, Frances Fuller, <i>The River of the West</i> (Hartford, 1870).</dt>
-<dt>Vinton, Stallo, <i>John Colter, Discoverer of Yellowstone Park</i> (New York, 1926).</dt>
-<dt>Wagner, W. F. (ed.), <i>Leonard&rsquo;s Narrative; Adventures of Zenas Leonard 1831-1836</i> (Cleveland, 1904).</dt>
-<dt>Webb, J. Watson (ed.), <i>Altowan</i>, 2 vols. (New York, 1846).</dt>
-<dt>Wislizenus, F. A., <i>A Journey to the Rocky Mountains in 1839</i> (St. Louis, 1912).</dt></dl>
-<div class="pb" id="Page_88">88</div>
-<div class="img" id="map5">
-<img src="images/m5_lr.jpg" alt="" width="594" height="800" />
-<p class="caption">Colter&rsquo;s Route 1807-1808 (CONJECTURAL)<br />Trapper Trails 1811-1840<br /><a class="ab" href="images/m5_hr.jpg">High-resolution Map</a></p>
-</div>
-<h2>Transcriber&rsquo;s Notes</h2>
-<ul><li>Retained copyright notice on the original book (this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.)</li>
-<li>Silently corrected a few palpable typos.</li>
-<li>Moved illustrations to the nearest paragraph break, adjusting page breaks where necessary.</li>
-<li>In the text versions, delimited italicized words with _underscores_ (the HTML version uses bold and italic fonts instead.)</li></ul>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
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-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole, by 
-Merrill J. Mattes
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diff --git a/old/50381-h/images/m4_lr.jpg b/old/50381-h/images/m4_lr.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index d99969d..0000000
--- a/old/50381-h/images/m4_lr.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/50381-h/images/m5_hr.jpg b/old/50381-h/images/m5_hr.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 7321dd8..0000000
--- a/old/50381-h/images/m5_hr.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/50381-h/images/m5_lr.jpg b/old/50381-h/images/m5_lr.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 7d0e974..0000000
--- a/old/50381-h/images/m5_lr.jpg
+++ /dev/null