The links below are to articles on the Mountain Man and Plains Indian Fur Trade website. These are comprehensive articles with pictures and references, please be patient while they load. There is an overview of the various articles below the links bar. Several of the articles are not directly related to the Mountain Man and Plains Indian Fur Trade, but are of interest to me as background information for my next historical novel Winds of Change.

These articles, Anasazi Indians and Mesa Verde, Paleo-Indians, Fremont Indians and Indian Rock Art, and the Devastation of Forest Fires, are not related to the Mountain Man Plains Indian Fur Trade, but should be of interest to anyone that wants to understand and preserve our heritage.

                                            Beaver House - Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The four major "things" brought to Native Americans by the early European explorers, colonists, and the Mountain Man fur traders were diseases, alcohol, trade guns, and Spanish Colonial horses. Of the four, diseases and alcohol had the most devastating effects on the Native American Indians.

The smallpox outbreak of 1780 -1782 killed a great many Plains Indians, and the one in 1837 was as bad or worse. Some people believe that the smallpox virus was deliberately spread among the Indian Nations. Except for one case, there is no direct evidence to support this assumption. Another charge is that the government deliberately withheld vaccination from Native Americans. With the safety of using an attenuated smallpox virus vaccine being questioned at the present time, this seems like a ridiculous charge. Based on the medical standards of the time and the effectiveness of the non-attenuated cowpox virus vaccine, it may well have been as deadly as the smallpox virus to a population with no immunities to European diseases.

Misinformation and, in at least one case, outright lies are being carried out by "some" Indian activists and bigoted college professors. With over 350,000 hits a week on this website, the top entry or exit page is usually the Indian smallpox page. The vast majority of keywords typed into Google to find the article involve smallpox blankets. The whole issue of Indians being given smallpox blankets in 1837 by the army was fabricated in an article of lies by a University of Colorado professor, Ward Churchill. The only place a fanatic bigoted activist like Ward Churchill should be allowed to teach is as an inmate to death row prisoners, at least there it would limit the damage his lying does to our educational system. The link to an abstract of a paper written by Dr. Thomas Brown at Lamar University on the fabrication and lies of Ward Churchill is on the Indian smallpox page.

A great many Indians were killed simply because they were Indians, but history is what it was, both the good and the bad, and should be taught that way. Ideally, with equal time spent on the bad as well as the good. History should not be taught based on some long-haired, nut-case's political agenda, or political correctness.

Starting in 1790, the federal government tried to regulate the Mountain Man fur trade and the use of alcohol through a series of Trade and Intercourse Acts. With limited government ability to enforce these federal acts, the use of whiskey by the Mountain Man turned a great many proud, self-reliant Native Americans into drunken beggars that were willing to trade anything they had to the Mountain Man for more of the white-man liquor.                                  

The Northwest trade guns used during the Mountain Man Plains Indian Fur Trade Era were inaccurate and based on today's standards of poor quality; few Plains Indians could repair even minor problems associated with them. Before the introduction of the breechloader, the value of Northwest trade guns to the Mountain Man and Plains Indians for hunting and warfare has been blown all out of proportion.

Brought here in 1519 by Spanish Conquistadors, Spanish Barb horses had the biggest impact on the American Indian Cultures. Horses were the one thing brought to this continent by early Spanish explorers and Europeans that American Indians could reproduce and trade to the fur traders and the Mountain Man. Spanish Barb horses spread out of the Southwest across the Northwest, Rocky Mountains, Plains, and into Canada through an Indian to Indian horse trading network (horse distribution map).

Glass Trade Beads were used as a medium of exchange between Europeans, the Mountain Man and Native Americans. The Spanish explorers carried glass beads for trade with the native inhabitants...Columbus 1492 (West Indies), Cortéz 1519 (Mexico), Narváez 1527 and De Soto 1539 (Florida).  In 1741, the Russians reached the coast of Alaska and from there down the western coast of North America. A North West Company trader, Alexander Mackenzie, crossed Canada to the Pacific Ocean in 1793. All of these explorers, as well as the Mountain Man, David Thompson, and Lewis and Clark carried glass beads for presents, and as a medium of exchange, in dealing with the Native American Indians.

The Fur Trappers and traders were the first Americans to ascend the Missouri River to trap and trade for furs with the Plains Indians. Mountain Men were prohibited by the Trade and Intercourse Acts from trapping on Indian lands. Since there was no one to enforce these Acts, mountain men with metal traps did not care whose territory they trapped--Indian or Mexican.

Fur Trade Facts is short tidbits of information on the American and Canadian fur trade, and the Astorians. The American and Canadian fur trade conducted by the Mountain Man, the Missouri River traders, and the Astorians. Many of these "facts" point out distortion in the history of the Mountain Man Indian fur trade.

The article on the Astorians and the discovery of the Oregon Trail is divided into five parts: John Jacob Astor, Tonquin, Fort Astoria, Wilson Price Hunt, and Robert Stuart. Robert Stuart's crossing of the Continental Divide at South Pass on what would become the Oregon Trail had a profound affect on the geographical outline of the United States, millions of buffalo, and the Plains Indians....Forty-six years after the first settlers traveled over the Oregon Trail, the last buffalo hunt was held in the Judith Valley (Ewers), and the vast majority of Plains Indians were on reservations. 

David Thompson ranks as the premier surveyor of North America. Two Canadians, David Thompson and Alexander Mackenzie, are also the leading explorers of North America. From 1792 to 1812, David Thompson mapped most of the country west of Hudson Bay and Lake Superior, across the Rocky Mountains to the source of the Columbia River, and the length of the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Alexander Mackenzie made the first overland expeditions to the Pacific and Arctic oceans.

Joseph Rutherford Walker’s heritage was seventy years of border warfare and two hundred and fifty-four direct descendents from his great-grandfather John Walker. His extended family through marriage included Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston. This background and heritage served him well as America’s greatest mountain man—explorer. His closest rivals for the honor are Jedediah Smith, and three Canadians, David Thompson, Alexander McKenzie, and Peter Skene Ogden. Walker blazed the California Trail across the Great Basin, brought the first wagons over South Pass with Bonneville, and guided Fremont on his third expedition.

Jedediah Smith made the effective discovery of South Pass. Smith was a partner in the Rocky Mountain fur trade with General Ashley in 1825, and in 1826, formed the Smith Jackson Sublette Company with David Jackson and William Sublette. Jedediah Smith wrote Gen. William Clark, a report on his travels and losses at the Mojave Village and with the Umpqua Indians between August 1827 and July 1828 at twenty-five men and over three hundred riding and pack horses. Jedediah Smith made the first crossings of the Great Basin across Utah from North to South and East to West—from the southern end of California to the Columbia River.

The Mountain Man article is a large comprehensive article on the history of the Mountain Man and the North American Fur Trade. North of present day Mexico, the area that would become the United States and Canada was explored, wars were fought, and Indian Cultures destroyed in the pursuit of the Mountain Man Indian Fur Trade. During the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Era, the Mountain Man not only explored the West from the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains to the Oregon Country, Mountain Men led missionaries and settlers over the Oregon Trail to get them there. For ease of navigation, the article is divided into seven parts:
Explorers of the Fur Trade                           Trade and Intercourse Acts
North West Fur Trade                                    Rocky Mountain Fur Trade History              The  Mountain Man                                        Fur Trade Goods 
Statistical Review of the Mountain Man   

                                Grand Teton - Geographical Center of the Fur Trade

Innovation of the Rendezvous System is credited to William Ashley , and in terms of the Rocky Mountains, this is true. However, Ashley was not the first to use a rendezvous for the exchange of pelts and to re-supply the trappers. The North West Company had held an annually rendezvous at Grand Portage and later at Fort William since 1783. Several Congressional Trade and Intercourse Acts starting in 1790 made it illegal to trap on Indian lands, sell alcohol to Indians, or that the 1825 and the 1826 rendezvous were held on Mexican soil. These minor legalities did not bother General William H. Ashley, the Lieutenant Governor and future Missouri Congressman, one bit...one constant in history is that politician change little with time.

All of the mountain man rendezvous sites are pictured with approximate GPS locations. All of the rendezvous were held west of the Continental Divide with the exception of the 1829, 1830, and 1838 rendezvous. Six of the sixteen rendezvous were held outside the United States in territory belonging to Mexico. Except for two sites in Utah and one in Idaho, all of the rendezvous were held in Wyoming; six of the sixteen rendezvous were held on Horse Creek in the Green River Valley near present-day Daniel, Wyoming. Another point of interest is that all of the rendezvous were held in the territory of the Shoshone, or Snake, Indians

The Oregon and Mormon Trail articles are historical facts, tidbits of information, and some gross misrepresentations connected with the Oregon and Mormon pioneers. America's western expansion cannot be separated from the Mountain Man Indian fur trade. The Mountain Man not only discovered, or was told about by Native Americans, the western routes--the Mountain Man served as the guides to lead the pioneers West.

The Lewis and Clark article presents interesting information on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Native Americans, and Sacajawea. Did you know that Native Americans domesticated over three-fifths of modern day agriculture, or that Sacajawea (Sakakawea, Sacagawea) died in 1812, or that "Captain" William Clark was actually a Second Lieutenant,  or that Captain Meriwether Lewis committed suicide?

The article on Historical Landmarks, Monuments, and Markers is associated with the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails, the Mountain Man Fur Trade, and South Pass. A brief discussion of the Sublette Cutoff, and pictures of the Lander Cutoff are included. There are a great deal of pictures associated with landmarks of the Oregon-Mormon trail.

For a heart-rendering story of the Martin Handcart Company tragedy, read the firsthand account of Sarah Crossley Sessions. The tragedy that struck the Willey and Martin Handcart Companies was the worst disaster in the history of western overland travel. Only a massive rescue effort prevented it from being worse. It should be noted that the Cherokee Trail of Tears and the Navajo Long Walk were much worse in terms of the number of people that died.

The Hole-in-the-Rock expedition from Grand Staircase-Escalante to settle the San Juan area in the four corners of the United States is a feat unparalleled in American western expansion. The Hole-in-the-Rock narrative is more than men and women colonizing a new area. It is the “can do”, or as Jens Nielson would say  "stickie-ta-tudy" attitude of the American pioneer.

Prehistoric Indians migrated to the Americas about 13,500 years ago. Three of the earliest groups, Clovis, Folsom, and Plainview  are referred to as Paleo-Indians. The classification of these Prehistoric Indians is based on finding stone points associated with kill sites. The major portion of these hunter-gatherers came by way of the Bering Strait land bridge, but there is also growing evidence that some Native Americans came by boats at an earlier date.

Great pictographs comes from the Barrier Canyon Indians of the Archaic Period. The Barrier Canyon Indians left some of the finest rock art in the United States. Located in Canyonlands National Park, Barrier Canyon has been renamed Horseshoe Canyon.

The Anasazi Indians, (Ancient Ones, Ancient Enemies, Ancestral Puebloans), settled in the Four Corners area of the Southwestern United States during the late Archaic Period. The Anasazi Indians, as well as, the Mogollon and Hohokam Indians were building large Pueblos and irrigating cornfields several hundred years before the first European explorers "discovered" North America. Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde were population centers for the Anasazi, or Ancestral Puebloans, several centuries before the first colonists reached the North American Continent.

The Fremont Indians were diverse groups of Native American Indians that inhabited the western Colorado Plateau and the eastern Great Basin of Utah from 400 A.D. to 1350 A.D.  Vast numbers of Fremont Indian pictograph and petroglyph rock art panels are scattered throughout Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. The Three King's panel of the Fremont Indians near Vernal, Utah is regarded as the finest Indian petroglyph panel in the world. The Waldo Wilcox Ranch along Range Creek in the Book Cliff mountains of Utah was recently opened to archeological study. The undisturbed Fremont villages on the Wilcox Ranch will contribute a great deal to the understanding of the Fremont Indian Culture. The Anasazi Indian Culture left the great houses and kivas; the Fremont Indian Culture left the finest petroglyphs in the world. The finest pictographs are the "Great Mural" paintings in Baja, Mexico.

The forest fire article is on the devastating forest fires that result from the influence of environmentalists and the mismanagement of our National Parks and Forests. Although not directly related to the Mountain Man Indian Fur Trade, forest fires should be a concern to all of us that do not want to see our National Parks and National Forests destroyed by forest fires. Part of the article is based on firsthand observations from start to finish of the Mule Fire of 2002. The Mule Fire was on North Horse Creek in Sublette County, Wyoming. The fire was not far from Fort Bonneville and the six Mountain Man rendezvous that were held on Horse Creek during the Mountain Man rendezvous period from 1825 to 1840.

The next  picture is what we should see in our National Parks, not the black burned areas still visible fourteen years after the Yellowstone forest fires of 1988.

                                        Beaver Dam - Grand Teton National Park

The historical novel Mountains of Stone deals with the clash between European and Indian cultures. American Western Expansion  set in opposition two people--one with an insatiable thirst for furs and land--the other a territorial people with no concept of land ownership. Mother Earth was shared by all. The rich historical background coupled with cultural and religious aspects of Native Americans makes Mountains of Stone a gripping blend of historical facts and fiction. An exciting, page turning, storyline makes Mountains of Stone a "good read", as well as, educational.

The Winds of Change, the sequel to Mountains of Stone, is concerned with the early affects of westward expansion on the Northwest and Plains Indians. Westward expansion was driven by immigrants brought to America in the mid-1700's.  Prior to this time, European-Americans emigrants lived in settlements with similar cultures to what they had left in Europe--the overwhelming majority of these settlements were within one hundred miles of the Atlantic Coast. The new immigrants--primarily the Scots-Irish from the area around Ulster, Ireland--pushed the American frontier westward.  The Scots-Irish did not adapt the land to fit what they had left behind. They adapted to the land. As a group, the Scots-Irish were the first true American pioneers...two Scots-Irish, Joseph R. Walker led the first wagons over South Pass in 1832, and the first wagon train to reach California in 1843, his brother Joel Walker took his family over what would be the Oregon Trail in 1840.

Do you need an easy personalized gift? My first two historical novels,  Mountains of Stone and The Winds of Change , will be signed with your message, and along with a picture CD, mailed directly to anyone you designate. You are not required to pre-pay or send credit card information when ordering  Mountains of Stone or The Winds of Change. After receiving the book, please pay the enclosed invoice. A sad commentary on our present-day values is that there is little trust in people anymore. This is too bad. Being old fashioned, I trust people, and the overwhelming majority of people buying Mountains of Stone bear out my faith in people.

The few people that do not pay for the book end up on my "Dead Beat List'. For someone with any integrity at all, it should be embarrassing to have your name on a "Dead Beat List" that can be seen by colleagues, friends, students, clients, neighbors, and people from around the world. The Dead Beat names also show up on reference,  financial information, and credit reports. As an example, copy and paste this into Google - Sidney McLaughlin  credit report - or paste - Sidney McLaughlin deadbeat.
During the last few months more names have been added to the Dead Beat List than in the previous several years. I do not want to affect anybody's credit rating. If you are having problems, please let me know and we can work something out.

Click on the rattlesnake for  address, email address, and phone number of the Dead Beats.

Sidney McLaughlin, Brigitte Lucke, PhD, Paul Topham, David A Miller – Dead Beats Cade Humphrey, Shane Garcia, William Perugino, Michael Loretto – Dead Beats, Allen Willyerd, Jon Merritt, Timothy Dietz, Larry Opheim – Dead Beats,  Linda Bennington, Virginia Perches, Kris Giedosh, Brett D Pfingston – Dead Beats, Gail Belt, Shawn Seigler, Gerald Gallimore, Sandra Bowden – Dead Beats,  Nikki Davenport,  Don McCall, Gary Blauser, Randy Adam - Dead Beats, Feigue Cieplinski, PhD, Jim Georgeson – Dead Beats.

Unless otherwise noted, Ned Eddins took the photographs on the Mountain Man Plains Indian website. In some cases, the pictures have been digitally enhanced to portray the western Wyoming mountains, especially the Tetons in Jackson Hole, Monument Valley, Four Corners Area, etc. before the arrival of West Coast smog. It is nearly impossible to get a clear picture during the day--there is always a haze that can be seen on the skyline. For you non-believers, stand in Barstow, California, just after sundown and look West, or fly out of Denver, Colorado some evening.

This picture was taken a few miles from my home on New Years day 2006.

                                                 Upper Dam - Swift Creek Canyon

New Years day was one of the clearest days that we have had in a long time. The vast majority of the time, the mountain valleys of Wyoming are filled with smog from northern California and the Pacific Northwest (our prevailing winds). Even on what appears a clear day, there is always a gray haze on the horizon. If you scoff at this, look in the beaver dam picture at how much clearer the Mount Moran reflection is than the actual image. Or better yet, if you live in the West, walk outside and look west any evening, or the background haze in an recent outdoor move scene, or at the PBS documentary on the Lewis and Clark Expedition...Captain Lewis recorded in his journal how clear the air was as they approached the Rocky Mountains...not anymore.

As I come across new and interesting items, they will be added. If anyone has something they would like to add, or disagree with, click on the Mountain Man logo below. After your comments, type in your email address. Your email address will be used only if I need to contact you to clarify some point. 

A visitor recently pointed out a major error on the site. The reader pointed out that the Mountain Man Plains Indian website was on the fur trade, but nowhere had I listed the type and value of the Mountain Man goods traded....dumb, dumb on my part. The reader did not leave an email address so I could not email my personally thanks.

Since this is not a politically correct site, I would like to clarify a point on our present educational system. I received the following comment in an email.

Mr. Eddins, I hear that you don't like teachers, and think that they aren't as smart or as good as they used to be.

You heard wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth. Next to my parents, the man that had the greatest affect on my life was Dr. Bill McNulty, Head of the Plant Physiology Department at the University of Utah. Teachers are the cornerstone of a free society. Thankfully, there are a great many outstanding teachers in our educational system. What I and many teachers object to is the fabrications of bigoted liberal activists disguised as "teachers". No college professor should be able to publish an article of lies, or plagiarize a painting like Ward Churchill did and remain a teacher. His defenders are no better than he is.

There are frequent request to link to other internet sites, but I have refrained from linking to them because the sites were not about the Mountain Man fur trade. However, Oregon State University Press has just republished Don Berry's book, A Majority of Scoundrels. A Majority of Scoundrels is an excellent book on the business relationship between the fur trade suppliers and the mountain man associated with the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade.

On average over twenty-five thousand visitors look at the Mountain Man Plains Indian Fur Trade site each week. The site averages over four million hits per month from all over the world. Comments and suggestions are appreciated.

To email a comment, a question, or a suggestion click on the mountain man logo.

                                                 
                                                        
To return to the Article Link Bars click on the trapper logo.

The articles on the Mountain Man and Plains Indian Fur Trade site were written by O. N. (Ned) Eddins of Afton, Wyoming. Permission is given for material from the Mountain Man Plains Indian Fur Trade site to be used for school research papers.

Website Citation: Eddins, Ned. Index Page. Thefurtrapper.com. 2003.

References are at the bottom of each article

Contributions:                                           
Lou Roberts found the buffalo head on the North Fork of Horse Creek, Daniel, Sublette County, Wyoming.

The Native American Indian points and knives are from a private collection of West Texas Projectile Points. 

This site is maintained by:

O. N. Eddins
P.O. 305
Afton, WY.
83110

    Last Updated:
  November 13, 2009