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The Mountain Man & The Fur Trade
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At the height of the fur trade it is estimated that the annual rendevous in the mountains was attended by about 600 trappers and traders. All told there may have been as many as twelve hundred men who went into the mountains in search of beaver during the first decades of the nineteenth century. Many, if not most, of the men who pushed west from St. Louis were never heard from again and few gained any real wealth. If we take Colter's return to the mountains in 1806 as the start of the era of the mountian man and the last great fur trapper rendevouz on Green River in Wyoming as the end, the age of the mountain man lasted from 1806 through the summer of 1838. (The Pioneer Era started when the Bartleson-Bidwell wagon train crossed into Oregon and California in 1841) Many of the mountian men remained in the West after the fur trade declined and a number of them became famous guides for the government explorers and pioneer settlers who followed them westward in search of knowledge, land, and gold. Among the men involved with the fur trade during this period were the following:
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William Ashley
Organized Rocky Mountain Fur Company 1822
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John Jacob Astor
Organized the Pacific Fur Company in 1810
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Captain Benjamin Bonneville
Explored area west of South Pass 1832-1835
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James Beckworth
Early Fur Trapper
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Charles Bent
Early Fur Trapper
First Governor of New Mexico
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William Bent
Early Fur Trapper
Established Bent's Fort
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Jim Bridger
Early Fur Trapper
Abandoned Hugh Glass 1823
First to Document Existence of Great Salt Lake 1825
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Moses Carson
Early Fur Trapper
Brother of Kit Carson
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Toussaint Charbonneau
Early Fur Trapper
Interpreter for Lewis and Clark on Voyage of Discovery
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William Clark
Co-Leader Corps of Discovery
Superintendant of Indian Affairs Louisiana Territory
Partner Missouri Fur Company 1809
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James Clyman
Early Fur Trapper
Sewed Jeddediah Smith's scalp and ear after grizzly bear attack
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John Colter
Corps of Discovery Member
Early Fur Trapper 1806
Guide for Missouri Fur Comapny 1809
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Joseph Dickson
Early Fur Trapper 1804
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George Drouillard
Corps of Discovery Member
Early Fur Trapper
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John Fitzgerald
Early Fur Trapper
Abandoned Hugh Glass 1823
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Thomas Fitzpatrick
Early Fur Trapper
Guide for Bartleson-Bidwell Wagon Train
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Lucien Fontanelle
Early fur trapper
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Forest Hancock
Early Fur Trapper 1804
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Andrew Henry
Fur Trapper with Missouri Fur Comapny 1809
Partner in Ashley's Fur Company 1822
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John Hoback
Early Missouri Fur Company Trapper
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Wilson Price Hunt
St. Louis Clerk
Early Fur Trapper with Astor 1811
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David Jackson
Early Fur Trapper
Partner in Smith, Jackson, Sublette Fur Company
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Reuben Lewis
Brother of Meriwether Lewis
Partner Missouri Fur Company 1809
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Manuel Lisa
Organized Missouri Fur Company in 1807
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Alexander Mackenzie
Early British Fur Trapper
Crossed Canada 1793
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Donald Mackenzie
British-Canadian North West Company Leader
British-Canadian Hudson Bay Company Leader
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Robert McLellan
Early Fur Trapper
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John George McTavish
Led the British-Canadian North West Company in taking over Fort Astoria, 1813
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Joseph Miller
Early Fur Trapper
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Peter Scene Ogden
Early Hudson Bay Fur Trapper trapping in "Inland Empire"
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James Ohio Pattie
One of first Americans to see the Grand Canyon
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Etiene Provost
Early Fur Trapper Operating from Taos
Probably Discovered Great Salt Lake 1824
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Jacob Resnor
Early Fur Trapper
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Antoine Robidoux
Early French-Canadian fur trapper
Established White Rocks Tradding Post in Utah
Encoraged John Bidwell to go to California 1841
Wounded in Battle of San Pascual
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Edward Robinson
Early Fur Trapper
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Harrison G. Rogers
Jeddediah Smith's company clerk on the Southwest Expedition
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Edward Rose
Early Black Fur Trapper with Astor 1811
Friend of the Crow Indians who called him "Five Scalps Rose"
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William Sublette
Early Fur Trapper
Partner in Smith, Jackson & Sublette Fur Company 1826
Guide for Nathanial Wyeth 1832
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Robert Stuart
Early Fur Trapper working with Astor
Discovered South Pass 1812
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Ceran St, Vrain
Early fur trader
Partner with Bent Brothers
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Joseph Reddeford Walker
Sheriff of Independence 1827
Field Commander of Bonneville Expedition 1832-1835
Discovered Walker Pass 1833
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John Weber
Early Fur Trapper
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Ezekial Williams
Early Fur Trapper
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William Wolfskill
Early Taos Fur Trapper
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Nathaniel J. Wyeth
Boston Merchant
First Person to Travel From East Coast to Oregon via the "Oregon Trail" 1832
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Ewing Young
Early Taos Fur Trapper
Mentor for Kit Carson regarding fur trade
Led first American Party to the Grand Canyon
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