America’s Pantheon of Fur Trappers

Tales of two legendary mountain men.

Jan 22, 2024

By guest author @BillMcKinleyFan.

It is no surprise to the readers of this publication that our ancestors were brave men who through will, intellect, and might forged a brilliant new world for their progeny. In other words, they were good men, a far cry from the present ruling class. Our Washingtons, Lees, Adamses, Astors, etc. were great because of their grand feats in war, diplomacy, and business. This article is not about these people; instead, I aim to introduce to the good reader a brief compendium of true tales, expanding our conception of great men to include a list of the best Beaver Trappers and Mountain Men of the West before it was known as the Old West.

These men perfectly fulfilled Hobbes’s famous line “nasty, brutish, and short” as a general rule for how to live their lives. Few lived into middle age, as they had to contend with the rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains, Indians, bears, mountain lions, and each other. Some made huge profits, some broke even, and others went broke over the years. Their years were often spent alone or in small groups, with their only taste of civilization coming with the rendezvous, which ran from 1825 to 1840.1

Despite being popular and familiar folk heroes for generations after their era had passed, it seems that most are unfamiliar with their integral role in the development of our Nation and our push westward. While John Colter and Jedediah Smith are still commonly known within the American lexicon, few could explain why they were notable, or describe any of their exploits. This is why this article is being written. These were true “Great Men” of history, in the Carlylean sense. Despite their lack of formal education, military experience, or grand business acumen, they had a will, and surely had great strength and intelligence, which opened the West for conquest, sparked the development of the Eastern cities, and immortalized them into the pantheon of American heroes.

Before exploring the vignettes of these individual great men, it is important to lay out a brief history of the fur trade and its role in the development of America. As historian James Truslow Adams wrote: “The Bible and the beaver were the two mainstays” of the Plymouth Colony, integral to its survival.2 It is not as well known as it should be that after tobacco, furs were our second major export from the Colonies to England. The Eurasian Beaver had been trapped to near-extirpation from Europe by the 17th century, and yet the demand for beaver pelt hats, coats, and gloves had not reduced.3 It was therefore a godsend when the Plymouth Colonists discovered that beavers were remarkably prevalent in almost every stream, river, and marsh in New England. In fact, at the time of first contact in the New World, the North American Beaver was among the most common animals in North America, with a range covering almost all of the continental U.S., as well as much of Canada and Mexico. The New Englanders achieved their first major commercial success through the acquisition of furs, often through barter and trade with the local Indian populations. It is not important to discuss the finer details of this (which could make up a whole article on its own), but it is important to note that from this point and into the dawn of the 19th century the beaver trade was crucial to the economy of the Colonies.

John Colter

In 1803, Thomas Jefferson achieved arguably his most important success as president, cheaply purchasing the Louisiana Territory from France. (It belonged to Spain, which was under Napoleon’s thumb.) It is with this that the story of the Mountain Man era begins. Having doubled the size of the country overnight, Jefferson sent an expedition led by Lewis and Clark to explore the western territories. This is well known, but what is less known is that the principal aims of the expedition included a provision to explore the viability of fur trapping.4 The expedition was a success, and from that journey the legend of John Colter was born.

Colter was about thirty when he joined Lewis and Clark. Having grown up in the backwoods of Western Virginia and Kentucky, Colter was an able woodsman, and a nice addition to the expedition. He, perhaps along with the legendary marksman George Drouillard, became one of the most important men involved with the expedition, being relied upon to go out alone into the unknown wilderness to scout ahead and hunt for food.5 Being on his own off the beaten path more than perhaps any other man in the crew, he likely saw more than anyone else the possibilities trapping could bring. Six weeks out of St. Louis, Colter amicably left the expedition to go out with two new coming trappers to explore the Yellowstone River further and to begin trapping. Unfortunately for this trip, it coincided with an unforgiving Wyoming winter, and not much trapping was done, though this did not diminish his dreams.

As he was heading to civilization in the spring of 1807, he inadvertently made contact with the keelboat armada of the aspiring fur trader and conniving businessman Manuel Lisa.6 Colter joined them and with his guidance “Lisa’s men began felling timbers and constructing an unimpressive shelter that became the first fur trading post in the upper Missouri country.”7 Lisa gave Colter a perilous and very dangerous mission: to go out and seek the natives and tell them of the expedition and its desire to trade with them. This was dangerous because the natives were unpredictable and volatile. Different tribes behaved differently at different times. Regardless, Colter trekked out alone with “powder, lead, flint and steel, sharpening stone, jerky… in a pack weighing thirty pounds — picked up his rifle, and set out on a five-hundred-mile winter hike through the mountain stronghold of the Crows.”8 It was on this journey that he became the first known white man to see the Yellowstone geysers. After his return, he was sent back out to become an ambassador of sorts within the Crow Nation. This was where Colter was when the Crow were attacked by their longtime rivals, the Blackfeet. Colter aided his friends in the Crow Nation in pushing the Blackfeet out of the area, which leads some historians to “believe that the Blackfeet held a grudge from that moment on against not only Colter but all white men.”9

This set the stage for one of the greatest feats of fortitude and bravery ever recorded in the annals of American history. What happened to Colter was so unbelievable that “[c]oming from Joe Meek, Jim Beckwourth, or some other trapper famed for his storytelling skills, the account of Colter’s amazing escape might have been questioned. But the quiet Colter was known for his honesty.”10 It was early in the morning, deep in Blackfeet country, and Colter and fellow trapper John Potts were checking their beaver trap sets. They heard a noise, and Colter was prepared to leave, but Potts assured him that it was just a bison herd passing over the ridge.11 “A few minutes later Colter’s fears were realized when five or six hundred Blackfeet appeared on either bank.”12 The warriors waved the two trappers over, and Colter obliged. Whilst Colter maintained a cool head and realized escape was not an option, Potts refused to come to shore, and in a futile yet valiant effort killed one of the braves before being covered in arrows motionless in the canoe.13

With his partner dead and himself in custody, Colter awaited his opportunity to escape. The savage Blackfeet stripped him naked, covered him in the mutilated body parts of poor Potts, and brought him to their camp. Colter knew some of their language, and knew they were going to kill him. After much squabbling within the tribe, the chief came up to him and asked him whether he was a good runner, to which Colter replied he was not.14 In a fashion not unsimilar to that of Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game, but with much lower odds, Colter was told to run as a group of braves stood behind him. Thus began the greatest race in history as Colter dashed across the flatlands, heading for the river, viewing that as his best chance at survival. “Colter ignored the pain in his feet as his bare soles were cut and punctured by sharp edged stones and the spines of prickly pear. His exertions were such that blood vessels in his nose ruptured, sending a crimson stream down the front of his body.”15

About a mile from the river, Colter looked backwards and realized that he had outrun all but one of the attackers. Realizing he could not run much farther, he turned around to face his enemy. Surprised, the warrior stumbled whilst trying to stop, and unintentionally broke his spear. Colter then used the spear to slay the Blackfoot brave before running to the river. Once he reached the river, he saw a large pile of driftwood, which he promptly swam underneath, arising to acquire a peep-hole with which to watch for threats.16 Soon after settling into his hiding place, the other runners caught up with him, and tracked up and down the river looking for him. As night came, they slept, and Colter saw his chance. He would spend seven days in the wilderness hiking 250 miles to Lisa’s camp, arriving emaciated and starving.17 Colter would finish his time with Manuel Lisa, and when his duties ceased, he used his money from furs to buy a farm near Dundee, Missouri, and get married.18

The life of John Colter is inspiring; but more than that, it is a life that was uniquely American. On his own in the woods, Colter ran into a savage horde bent on his destruction. Rather than admitting defeat, he fought for victory, but not in a brash way more akin to suicide as had Mr. Potts. Colter achieved legendary status that day due to foresight and determination. All Americans in our sphere should know his name and story.

Jedediah Smith

Colter was a true pioneer of what would become the Mountain Man era in the West, but a man who exemplified the spirit of the age perhaps better than anyone was Jedediah Smith. Over 6 feet tall, lean, with brown hair and blue eyes, Smith was an imposing man. This image was expanded by his remarkably serious, religious, and contemplative demeanor, especially compared to the rowdy bunch he associated with.19 He grew up in the backcountry of Ohio, hunting squirrels, whitetails, and anything else he could find. In 1822, at twenty-three years of age, Smith went westward to St. Louis, that capital of the fur market, in order to seek opportunities to explore the West and hunt its game.

This led him to join William H. Ashley’s expedition, the first to acquire furs exclusively through its hired trappers, cutting out the native middle men.20 Ashley’s company struggled initially, as it kept together a cohort of 150 trappers in close proximity, which made it easy for jealous natives like the Arikara to assault them. His luck changed in 1825, when his crews reached the Green River Valley. It was here that he told them to split up into small groups, and that in exactly one year they were to meet up and sell their wares at the Green River Junction. This was the first “Rendezvous” of the mountain men, which became a staple until 1840, when declining beaver populations destroyed the industry.21 Ole Jed Smith established himself as one of the best, and became the leader of his detachment of men. Noting the decreasing productivity of trapping in Yellowstone, with Ashley’s instruction he cut south down the Yellowstone River, seeking to discover whether beavers populated the Southwest as much as they did the Northwest.22

It was on this first venture to the south that Smith had his first dance with death. He and his men were on the move, Jed in front, when a large grizzly bear came out from the tree line and brought Smith to the ground. Jim Clyman, a member of his party, wrote that the grizzly bear “did not hesitate a moment but sprang on the captain”:

The huge bear took Smith’s head in its mouth and tossed him on the ground. This ripped Smith’s scalp open, leaving a flap of hair and bloody skin hanging down and exposing white skull. The beast then grabbed the young captain by the middle, breaking not only the blade of Smith’s butcher knife, but also several of his ribs. Lead balls began thumping into the old bear’s sides until the beast finally dropped, releasing Smith only in its moment of death.23

Despite his severe injuries, Smith remarkably retained consciousness, giving orders to his men, including that they should stitch up his scalp and ear. He was only out of commission for ten days before he was back on the trail, leading the way where no white man had been before.24

In 1827, Smith went on a journey to try to find the (mythical) river of the Great Salt Lake. This was a true shot in the dark, as the area was uninhabited even by Indians, who could not tell him anything about the region. Laycock says of him that “the lure of unexplored country was as strong in him as the promise of beaver pelts.”25 As the days went by, the beaver and buffalo disappeared, and the crew had unknowingly walked into the Mojave Desert. Smith pushed onwards, certain that they would come across a river that did not really exist. On the brink of dehydration and starvation, his men eventually reached the Spanish mission town of San Gabriel in California.26 Now in Mexican territory, Smith requested permission to leave. This permission was granted, but on the condition that they must leave the way they came, and could not explore California.27

The group began the way they came, but once out of sight of the Mexican authorities, they cut north to explore even further for beaver. They discovered the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and as they got deeper walked into an opposite, yet just as perilous, region to explore. Rather than heat, it was cold, but hunger remained the same.28 They cut east to try to make it to the rendezvous in time. The event was already underway, with newly paid mountain men getting their first taste of civilization in a year, with vendors galore selling food, booze, and women.29 On July 3, halfway through the rendezvous, a group of Snake Indians appeared with the ragged crew of Jed Smith, which had been assumed dead by its fellows.30

After several of his legendary travels to the Southwest, surviving bear attacks, native ambushes, and traps by the Mexican government, Ole Jed began escorting people to New Mexico, Arizona, and California.31 In 1830, after eight years in the mountains, Smith decided to retire with his small fortune, but not before making one more trip to the Southwest. In April 1831, he led a large trading party on a trip from St. Louis to Santa Fe, using the Santa Fe Trail.32 Generally this would have been an easy trip, but unfortunately a massive drought was occurring, and many of the streams people normally relied on to drink had run dry. In late May, Smith broke off with some others to look for water springs, and while on his own ran into a fresh spring. The only problem with it was that already occupying the grounds were a party of hostile Comanche, who were lying in wait for wild game, but would not have minded killing a white man as a consolation prize. When he saw them, weapons drawn, he quickly lifted his rifle and fired one shot, killing the Comanche’s chief before he himself was slain.33 Smith died “the first white man to go overland to California, the first to travel the California coast north to Columbia, the earliest to cross the rugged Sierra Nevada, and the first to explore the Great Basin.”34

Conclusion

These are but two of the dozens of famed mountain men, and their accomplishments are extraordinary. They went out into the true unknown, and conquered it for their civilization. The furs they trapped made men like John Jacob Astor rich, and led to his real estate expansion in New York City.35 They also led the way for towns to pop up throughout the West, and for the bringing of civilization to the West, even if that was unintended. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, they create a perfect representation of the American mythos, representing the rugged men who made the land possible to live in, etching themselves eternally in the pantheon of great American heroes. In short, these men were great men of history, and our sphere would do well to remember them and their stories.

P.S. Beaver Nationalism is inevitable.

Old Glory Club

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