Episode 4

In this wild and warlike school a number of leaders have sprung up, originally in theemploy, subsequently partners of Ashley; among these we may mention Smith,Fitzpatrick, Bridger, Robert Campbell, and William Sublette; whose adventures andexploits partake of the wildest spirit of romance. The association commenced byGeneral Ashley underwent various modifications. That gentleman having acquiredsufficient fortune, sold out his interest and retired; and the leading spirit that succeededhim was Captain William Sublette; a man worthy of note, as his name has becomerenowned in frontier story. He is a native of Kentucky, and of game descent; hismaternal grandfather, Colonel Wheatley, a companion of Boon, having been one of thepioneers of the West, celebrated in Indian warfare, and killed in one of the contests ofthe "Bloody Ground." We shall frequently have occasion to speak of this Sublette, andalways to the credit of his game qualities. In 1830, the association took the name of theRocky Mountain Fur Company, of which Captain Sublette and Robert Campbell wereprominent members.

In the meantime, the success of this company attracted the attention and excited theemulation of the American Fur Company, and brought them once more into the field oftheir ancient enterprise. Mr. Astor, the founder of the association, had retired from busylife, and the concerns of the company were ably managed by Mr. Ramsay Crooks, ofSnake River renown, who still officiates as its president. A competition immediatelyensued between the two companies for the trade with the mountain tribes and thetrapping of the head-waters of the Columbia and the other great tributaries of thePacific. Beside the regular operations of these formidable rivals, there have been fromtime to time desultory enterprises, or rather experiments, of minor associations, or ofadventurous individuals beside roving bands of independent trappers, who either huntfor themselves, or engage for a single season, in the service of one or other of the maincompanies.

The consequence is that the Rocky Mountains and the ulterior regions, from theRussian possessions in the north down to the Spanish settlements of California, havebeen traversed and ransacked in every direction by bands of hunters and Indiantraders; so that there is scarcely a mountain pass, or defile, that is not known andthreaded in their restless migrations, nor a nameless stream that is not haunted by thelonely trapper.

The American fur companies keep no established posts beyond the mountains.

Everything there is regulated by resident partners; that is to say, partners who reside inthe tramontane country, but who move about from place to place, either with Indiantribes, whose traffic they wish to monopolize, or with main bodies of their own men,whom they employ in trading and trapping. In the meantime, they detach bands, or"brigades" as they are termed, of trappers in various directions, assigning to each aportion of country as a hunting or trapping ground. In the months of June and July,when there is an interval between the hunting seasons, a general rendezvous is held, atsome designated place in the mountains, where the affairs of the past year are settledby the resident partners, and the plans for the following year arranged.

To this rendezvous repair the various brigades of trappers from their widely separatedhunting grounds, bringing in the products of their year's campaign. Hither also repair theIndian tribes accustomed to traffic their peltries with the company. Bands of freetrappers resort hither also, to sell the furs they have collected; or to engage theirservices for the next hunting season.

To this rendezvous the company sends annually a convoy of supplies from itsestablishment on the Atlantic frontier, under the guidance of some experienced partneror officer. On the arrival of this convoy, the resident partner at the rendezvous dependsto set all his next year's machinery in motion.

Now as the rival companies keep a vigilant eye upon each other, and are anxious todiscover each other's plans and movements, they generally contrive to hold their annualassemblages at no great distance apart. An eager competition exists also between theirrespective convoys of supplies, which shall first reach its place of rendezvous. For thispurpose, they set off with the first appearance of grass on the Atlantic frontier and pushwith all diligence for the mountains. The company that can first open its temptingsupplies of coffee, tobacco, ammunition, scarlet cloth, blankets, bright shawls, andglittering trinkets has the greatest chance to get all the peltries and furs of the Indiansand free trappers, and to engage their services for the next season. It is able, also, to fitout and dispatch its own trappers the soonest, so as to get the start of its competitors,and to have the first dash into the hunting and trapping grounds.

A new species of strategy has sprung out of this hunting and trapping competition. Theconstant study of the rival bands is to forestall and outwit each other; to supplant eachother in the good will and custom of the Indian tribes; to cross each other's plans; tomislead each other as to routes; in a word, next to his own advantage, the study of theIndian trader is the disadvantage of his competitor.

Episodes
1 Episode 1
2 Episode 2
3 Episode 3
4 Episode 4
5 Episode 5
6 Episode 6
7 Episode 7
8 Episode 8
9 Episode 9
10 Episode 10
11 Episode 11
12 Episode 12
13 Episode 13
14 Episode 14
15 Episode 15
16 Episode 16
17 Episode 17
18 Episode 18
19 Episode 19
20 Episode 20
21 Episode 21
22 Episode 22
23 Episode 23
24 Episode 24
25 Episode 25
26 Episode 26
27 Episode 27
28 Episode 28
29 Episode 29
30 Episode 30
31 Episode 31
32 Episode 32
33 Episode 33
34 Episode 34
35 Episode 35
36 Episode 36
37 Episode 37
38 Episode 38
39 Episode 39
40 Episode 40
41 Episode 41
42 Episode 42
43 Episode 43
44 Episode 44
45 Episode 45
46 Episode 46
47 Episode 47
48 Episode 48
49 Episode 49
50 Episode 50
51 Episode 51
52 Episode 52
53 Episode 53
54 Episode 54
55 Episode 55
56 Episode 56
57 Episode 57
58 Episode 58
59 Episode 59
60 Episode 60
61 Episode 61
62 Episode 62
63 Episode 63
64 Episode 64
65 Episode 65
66 Episode 66
67 Episode 67
68 Episode 68
69 Episode 69
70 Episode 70
71 Episode 71
72 Episode 72
73 Episode 73
74 Episode 74
75 Episode 75
76 Episode 76
77 Episode 77
78 Episode 78
79 Episode 79
80 Episode 80
81 Episode 81
82 Episode 82
83 Episode 83
84 Episode 84
85 Episode 85
86 Episode 86
87 Episode 87
88 Episode 88
89 Episode 89
90 Episode 90
91 Episode 91
92 Episode 92
93 Episode 93
94 Episode 94
95 Episode 95
96 Episode 96
97 Episode 97
98 Episode 98
99 Episode 99
100 Episode 100
101 Episode 101
102 Episode 102
103 Episode 103
104 Episode 104
105 Episode 105
106 Episode 106
107 Episode 107
108 Episode 108
109 Episode 109
110 Episode 110
111 Episode 111
112 Episode 112
113 Episode 113
114 Episode 114
115 Episode 115
116 Episode 116
117 Episode 117
118 Episode 118
119 Episode 119
120 Episode 120
121 Episode 121
122 Episode 122
123 Episode 123
124 Episode 124
125 Episode 125
126 Episode 126
127 Episode 127
128 Episode 128
129 Episode 129
130 Episode 130
131 Episode 131
132 Episode 132
133 Episode 133
134 Episode 134
135 Episode 135
136 Episode 136
137 Episode 137
138 Episode 138
139 Episode 139
140 Episode 140
Episodes

Updated 140 Episodes

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117
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Episode 119
120
Episode 120
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Episode 121
122
Episode 122
123
Episode 123
124
Episode 124
125
Episode 125
126
Episode 126
127
Episode 127
128
Episode 128
129
Episode 129
130
Episode 130
131
Episode 131
132
Episode 132
133
Episode 133
134
Episode 134
135
Episode 135
136
Episode 136
137
Episode 137
138
Episode 138
139
Episode 139
140
Episode 140

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