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Explorers, Trappers, Traders & Mountain Men

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Andrew Henry (1775-1832) - Born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania in 1775, Andrew Henry became a fur trader and in 1809 joined with Manuel Lisa, Jean Pierra Choteau and William Clark to found the Missouri Fur Company. He led an expedition to the Three Forks in Montana where he built a trading post in 1810. The following year he explored the Montana-Idaho wilderness and discovered Lake Henry and built another trading post near present-day Saint Anthony, Idaho. After difficulties with the Blackfoot Indians, Henry returned to St. Louis in January, 1812 and soon joined the War of 1812, rising the rank of Major. In 1822, he started the Rocky Mountain Fur Company with William H. Ashley and led an expedition of 150 men to the mouth of the Yellowstone River and built a post that came to be known as Fort Henry. In 1824, Henry retired to Missouri and died on January 10, 1832.

 

 

Trappers and hunters in the Old West

Trappers and hunters in the Old West

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Hudson's Bay Company (1670-present) - Chartered on May 2, 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world. In its early days, it was headquartered in London, England and controlled the fur trade throughout much of British-controlled North America for several centuries. Forging early relationships with a number of Native American tribes, the company's trappers and traders were some of the first European people to set eyes on many locations that would later become the United States and Canada. The company's network of trading posts functioned as the de facto government in many areas of the continent prior to the arrival of large-scale settlement. At one time, the company was the largest land owner in the world. When the fur trade began to decline, the company evolved into mercantile business selling vital goods to settlers in the Canadian West. Today the company, headquartered in Toronto, Canada is best known for its department stores such as The Bay, Zellers, Fields, and Home Outfitters.

Meriwether LewisMeriwether Lewis (1774-1809) - The official leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Meriwether Lewis has been called "undoubtedly the greatest pathfinder this country has ever known." Born near Charlottesville, Virginia to William and Lucy (née Meriwether) Lewis, his family moved to Georgia when he was ten. At thirteen, he was sent back to Virginia for education by private tutors. Later, he joined the Virginia militia and in 1794, participated in putting down the Whiskey Rebellion. The next year he joined the regular army, in which he continued to serve until 1801, reaching the rank of captain. That same year, he was appointed private secretary to President Thomas Jefferson and became immediately involved in the planning of the Corps of Discovery Expedition. For the next two years, Jefferson prepared Lewis to lead the group of explorers by having him study navigation, cartography, plants, and animals at the University of Pennsylvania. After leading the expedition, along with William Clark, the pair returned after three years. Jefferson then appointed Lewis governor of the Louisiana Territory. In September 1809 Lewis set out for the nation's capital to answer complaints about his actions as governor, and on this trip died a violent but mysterious death in a tavern about 70 miles southwest of Nashville, Tennessee. Whether he committed suicide, as Jefferson believed, or was murdered, as his family maintained, remains uncertain even today. More ...

Benjamin "Ben" Vernon Lilly (1856-1936) - Often called the “last of the mountain men,” Ben Lilly was known as the greatest lion and bear hunter in the southwest. Born in Wilcox County, Alabama, in 1856, Lilly grew up in Mississippi, learning to be an expert hunter.  He attended a military academy, but the boy wanted freedom, rather than discipline, and soon ran away to Tennessee where he worked for a time as a blacksmith.  But, Lilly's passion was always hunting and where the panthers and bears were, Lilly would soon find them.

Though he was married twice and had several children, this didn’t stop his wandering. By 1906, he could no longer be confined, and turning all his property over to his wife, he left home for good. However, though he was gone, he continued to support his family.

Over the years, Lilly acted as a hunting guide for Teddy Roosevelt in Louisiana, and hunted bears and panthers in the Big Thicket of east Texas before making his way across the Lone Star state to Mexico, where he hunted for many years. In 1911, at the age of 55, he moved on to the Gila Wilderness of southwest New Mexico where he spent the rest of his life hunting mountain lions, wolves, and bears. He died at the age of 80 on December 17, 1836 near Silver City, New Mexico. Lilly is credited with killing the last Grizzly Bear in the Gila Forest, and in total some 500 bears and 600 mountain lions during his lifetime. More ...

Joseph Lafayette Meek (1810-1875) - Born in Washington County, Virginia on February 7, 1810, Meek was propelled westward at an early age by a disagreeable stepmother. He first went to Lexington, Missouri where he joined two of his brothers. By 1829 he had signed on with William Sublette as a Rocky Mountain trapper, and for the next eleven years he lived the strenuous life of a mountain man. By 1840, the trapping industry was waning and Meek, along with his third Indian wife, traveled to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. He worked first for various farmers before becoming the sheriff. By 1845 he was a prosperous farmer himself, and won a seat in the Legislature. Following the Whitman Massacre in November of 1847, Meek led a delegation across to Washington, D. C., asking for protection and to urge territorial status for Oregon . The following year, Congress approved his requests and Meek was appointed the territory's federal marshal, a post he held for the next five years. In 1855, he played a leading part in the Yakima War, organizing the Oregon Volunteers and winning the rank of major for his service. In June of 1875, Joe died at his home.
 

Moses Embree "California Joe" Milner (1829-1876) - Scout and frontiersman, Moses Embree Milner was born near Stanford, Kentucky on May 8, 1829. During the Mexican War, he served as a teamster for Stephen Kearney. He later married a girl from Tennessee and the couple would eventually have four sons. He drifted to St. Louis, Missouri, where he joined a trapping party and headed westward. Somewhere along the line, he was reported captured by Ute Indians but was later rescued.

When the California Gold Rush broke out, worked in the gold fields for a time before moving to Corvallis, Oregon where he established a farm and began to run pack trains to mining camps near Walla Walla, Washington. When gold was discovered in Montana, he once again tried his hand at prospecting. While in Bannack, he fought off three claim jumpers, killing one and wounding another. He earned his nickname in Virginia City, Montana where he killed another man in 1862. He was soon run out of town by vigilantes and returned to Oregon.   

He ten wandered throughout the west, spending time in New Mexico, Nevada and Texas, where he reportedly fought with Kit Carson at the Battle of Adobe Walls in 1864. In In 1868, Milner was named Chief of Scouts for George Armstrong Custer and in 1874, served as Custer's scout on the famous Black Hills expedition, in which gold was discovered. Milner soon staked out a home site near present day Rapid City, South Dakota.

He would later scout for General George Crook when the officer was pursuing the Sioux after the Battle of the Little Bighorn. On October 29, 1876, he was at Fort Robinson, Nebraska where he got into an argument with a man named Tom Newcomb, who wound up shooting California Joe in the back. Milner was Cemetery east of North Platte, Nebraska. Two years after he was murdered, his killer was also shot in the back, probably by one of California Joe's friends. 

Zebulon Pike (1779-1813) - A military man and explorer, Pike was born on January 5, 1779 in Lamberton, New Jersey.  Pike’s father was a military man and young Zeb grew up on military posts and started his own military career in 1794, at the age of 15. In 1803, when President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore the Northwest General James Wilkinson sent Pike to explore the Mississippi River to discover its headwaters. Two years later, he was sent to discover the headwaters of the Red and Arkansas Rivers, which some thought might provide a water route to the Pacific Ocean. He was also tasked with determining the extent of Spanish fortifications along the Texas - New Mexico Spanish border. This route took him across the Southwest where he first spied the 14,110 feet Mountain on the Colorado plains that would eventually bear his name.  Though he attempted to climb it, the peak proved to be too high. When he crossed over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains into New Mexico, Spanish troops arrested his expedition for trespassing and escorted them to Santa Fe. After several months of negotiation, Pike and his men were released and returned to Washington, D.C., bringing valuable information about the land and its resources. During the War of 1812, he led a successful advance on York (now called Toronto), Canada, in which he and 52 of his men were killed by a hidden mine. Pike died on April 12, 1813.

 

 

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