Explorers and Mountain Men

  Meriwether Lewis  ( )  Soldier, explorer, politician, and public administrator  William Clark  ( )  Explorer, Indian agent, and territorial governor.  Starting in St. Louis, the two leaders with about 30 men in May They returned in 1806, having only lost one member to a burst appendix. Corps of Discovery

  They explored much of the Louisiana Territory, developing friendships with the native tribes they encountered.  Clark went on to a fairly important career, while Lewis committed suicide at 35 years old.  They faced quite a few dangers, including a bear attack, and set the stage for many other explorers and for westward expansion in general. Corps of Discovery

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  The Mountain Men were fur trappers and hunters between 1810s and 1880s, especially around the 1840s.  The term “mountain man” is usually applied to trappers in the Mid/Northern Rockies, but also applied to Appalachian explorers in the 1700s.  The earliest Mountain Men include Daniel Boone, Ethan Allen, and a few others, but these are usually not included in the Mountain Man Era. Mountain Men

  John Colter (1774–1812), one of the first mountain men, was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He later became the first European man to enter Yellowstone National Park. His description of the geothermal activity there seemed so outrageous to some that the area was mockingly referred to as Colter's Hell. Colter's narrow escape following capture by Blackfeet, leaving him naked and alone in the wilderness, became a legend known as "Colter's Run" Mountain Men

  Jim Bridger (1804–1881) came west in 1822 at the age of 17, as a member of Ashley's Hundred exploring the Upper Missouri drainage. He was among the first non-natives to see the geysers and other natural wonders of the Yellowstone region. He is also considered one of the first men of European descent, along with Étienne Provost, to see the Great Salt Lake. Mountain Men

  Kit Carson (1809–1868) achieved notability for his later exploits, but he got his start and gained some recognition as a trapper. Carson explored the west to California, and north through the Rocky Mountains. He lived among and married into the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes. He was hired by John C. Fremont as a guide, and led 'the Pathfinder' through much of California, Oregon and the Great Basin area Mountain Men

  Jim Beckwourth (1800–1866) born into slavery, came to Missouri with his parents and was freed by his father. He started working with the Ashley expedition, signed on with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and became a well-known mountain man. He lived with the Crow for years and became a war chief. Mountain Men

  George Drouillard (1774/75?–1810). Hunter, interpreter, sign-talker on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Often considered as one of Lewis' two most appreciated members with John Colter. Born to a French Canadian father and a Shawnee mother in Detroit, Drouillard proved to be the most skillful hunter on the expedition, notably during the harsh wintering in Fort Clatsop. George Drouillard was savagely killed in May 1810 by Blackfeet Indians in the Three Forks area. Mountain Men

  Jedediah Smith ( circa 1831) was a hunter, trapper, and fur trader whose explorations were significant in opening the American West to settlement by Europeans and Americans. Smith is considered the first man of European descent to cross the future state of Nevada; the first to traverse Utah from north to south and from west to east; and the first American to enter California by an overland route. Smith had notable facial scarring from a grizzly bear attack. Mountain Men

  The Mountain Men were very often working for their own betterment, but they also improved the maps, roads, and general understand of the areas through which they traveled. They worked independently sometimes, but more often for fur companies, such as: Ashley’s Hundred, which became the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, Pacific Fur Company, Missouri Fur Company, also known as the Manuel Lisa Trading Company. Mountain Men