Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TRAPPERS, TRADERS & TOURISTS
The first Europeans to come in contact with Native Americans in Greater Yellowstone were
French fur trappers from eastern Canada. They encountered the Crow and Sioux in the late
1700s while exploring the upper Missouri River tributaries in search of beaver. It was these
lonesome French-speaking trappers who gave the Tetons their name for their highly tenu-
ous resemblance to female breasts. (As one writer wryly noted, that's what happens when
you let French fur trappers name mountains!)
The USA's Louisiana Purchase of present-day Montana, most of Wyoming, and eastern
Colorado from the French in 1803 led President Thomas Jefferson to commission the fam-
ous Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery in 1804−06. The Shoshone and Nez Percé told the
expedition's leaders about a 'thundering volcano to the south' that made the earth tremble,
though the expedition only made it as far south as the lower Gallatin Valley (which they
named) and the area along the Yellowstone River, east of Livingston, Montana.
As knowledge of the American West grew, so
did interest in its exploitable resources. Most
sought after was the beaver, whose 'plews'
(pelts) became known among the trappers as
'hairy dollars.' John Colter, a member of the
Lewis and Clark expedition, returned to explore
the Yellowstone area during the winter of
1807−08 to try his luck as a trapper. Colter
headed south from the Bighorn River into the Absaroka Mountains, into Jackson Hole,
over the Tetons (in winter!) and then north past Yellowstone Lake. His epic 500-mile loop
hike made him the first white man to visit the Yellowstone region, though it's not thought
he saw any of the region's geysers.
After the War of 1812, renewed demand for furs propelled another generation of trappers
westward. Legendary 'mountain men' like Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger, David Jackson
(after whom Jackson Hole is named), William Sublette, Kit Carson, Jim Beckwourth (a
free African American) and Thomas Fitzpatrick came to know the rugged Rockies' back-
country better than anyone except the Native Americans, with whom many of the men
formed beneficial relationships, often learning the languages and taking Native American
wives. Annual summer rendezvous - huge trading fairs attended by suppliers, Natives
Americans and even tourists - began in 1825 at the headwaters of Wyoming's Green River,
only to peter out in 1840, as the fur trade hit the skids.
Colter's most famous exploit was when he was cap-
tured by Blackfoot, stripped naked and forced to
run for his life. He managed to elude the Blackfoot
by hiding in a valley and he walked 300 miles back
to civilization, living off berries and roots.
