Intermountain Histories

Cache Valley Rendezvous of 1826

2022-06-10T23:25:23+00:00

Cache Valley was the site of the second rendezvous organized in the Rocky Mountains by white fur traders. This year marked a shift in ownership of fur industry interests, as well as a shift in the atmosphere of the event.

Cache Valley is a high mountain valley in northern Utah, near the border with Idaho. Although there has been historical debate as to whether the 1826 rendezvous was held specifically in Cove or Hyrum, the contemporary consensus is that Hyrum is the accurate location. Cache Valley is named after the caches fur trappers used to store their pelts and supplies. Fur trappers referred to the valley as Willow, for the many willows which grew in the area. William Henry Ashley, founder of the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous, chose the location in part for the abundance of beavers around the banks of the Bear River. The Rocky Mountain Fur company had also held the spring hunt of 1826 in northern Utah, making Cache Valley a convenient place for the summer rendezvous. Ashley arrived with the supply train at Cache Valley on July 25 along with Jedediah Smith. In contrast to the business-focused atmosphere of the first rendezvous, the 1826 meeting was more a social gathering and celebration. It lasted for at least a month, possibly up to eight weeks. This was the first year that alcohol was present, and later rendezvous also featured spirits. In keeping with the Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790—which required a trading post for legal fur trading—fur traders built Fort Defiance, a settlement of log cabins and brush shelters to use in winter months. Traders packed the furs and shipped them to St. Louis once trading at the rendezvous concluded. Ashley had decided to leave the fur industry after a profitable winter season, and he sold his interests to Jedediah Smith, David E. Jackson, and William Sublette as they headed to St. Louis along the Bear River. The men purchased surplus supplies at 150%, to be paid over the next five years in either currency or beaver. The new firm also contracted Ashley to purchase and transport supplies for new rendezvous locations in the future. He had managed to make over $80,000 from the last two meetings, clearing his debts and giving him a small fortune. In a speech, he declared “I now wash my hands of the toils of the Rocky Mountains.” At the 1826 rendezvous, the pelts amounted to a worth of $60,000. Jackson and Sublette then took groups of trappers north to Idaho and Wyoming to begin the fall hunt.

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McKinnon, Wyoming: First Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Rendezvous

2022-06-10T22:21:52+00:00

The first annual rendezvous in Wyoming brought traders and trappers together, allowing for an exchange of furs and supplies in a centralized location.

McKinnon is a small town in southwest Wyoming, near the Utah border. Fur traders held the first Rocky Mountain Rendezvous north of present-day McKinnon, along the Henry’s Fork River. Founder William Ashley chose the site in 1825 for its proximity to a major river and abundance of open space, necessary to host such a large event with thousands of people and their horses. For this first rendezvous, Ashley wrote in his diary that he planned to leave directions for trappers buried underneath a mound of vermillion-painted rocks near the junction of two rivers.

Three years earlier, in 1822, William Henry Ashley and Andrew Henry had partnered to form the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and they advertised that they sought to hire one hundred “enterprising young men.” This call to adventure drew individuals to the mountains, some of whom later became the stuff of legends. Ashley decided that a movable meeting would be a more efficient way of trading, rather than an established trading post to which trappers would have to travel and return. Merchants journeyed from St. Louis to meet with Euro-American and indigenous trappers in their own environment, exchanging pelts for guns, knives, beads, traps, and other necessary supplies. The rendezvous were to be held annually at locations throughout the interior West in the summer, when beaver pelts were of lower quality. The location for the next rendezvous would then be shared before the current meeting adjourned.

Ashley’s first fur trade rendezvous proved a financial success: in all, there were around 120 men in attendance at the first rendezvous, including both white and Native American trappers. Jedediah Smith—a famed mountain man and explorer credited with rediscovering the South Pass—accompanied Ashley on this trip. Other famous mountain men were said to have also attended, including Etienne Provost and a young Jim Bridger. Although the rendezvous system was originally planned as a solely economic exchange, it also became a time of festivities for the mountain men. They gambled, told stories, drank alcohol, and played games. After the 1825 rendezvous ended, William Ashley packed his pelts onto horses, brought them to the Bighorn River, and shipped them off to St. Louis. That year, their load of pelts valued $50,000.

Today, McKinnon is a census-designated place with a population of less than sixty people. Near where the 1825 rendezvous was held, there is a roadside marker commemorating the significance of the event and the rendezvous system as a whole. It describes the rendezvous as a “raucous social event” where “mountain men swapped stories, tested their skills, and shared news of friends.” This event remains an important part of the area’s history, and it marked a significant moment in the history of the American West.

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Davey Jackson of the Rockies

2019-02-09T06:14:02+00:00

The Rocky Mountain Fur Trade created huge economical gain for those at the top. David Jackson played a key role, although very little is known about his role within the fur trade and afterwards.

The mountain men and the Rocky Mountain fur trade left an indelible imprint on western American history. One of the fur businesses that left their mark included the partnership of Smith, Jackson & Sublette. Jedediah Smith and William Sublette are more publicly known of this trio. While David E. Jackson’s life remains mysterious, he played a vital role in the partnership’s success by offering leadership, a woodsman craft, and diplomacy skills.
Full of wanderlust, Jackson left his wife Juliet and four children and accepted a job as clerk for William H. Ashley and Andrew Henry. Combining his mountain knowledge, his natural leadership abilities, and an uncanny knack for understanding and working within Indian politics, Jackson proved a natural leader and a primary factor for the success of the SJ&S partnership. Their fur business maintained a prominent place in the Rocky Mountain region from 1826 to 1830, and among mountain men his talents gained him the title of king of the Tetons.
The partners dissolved their business in 1830, selling their interests to the new partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. Though they left the Rocky Mountains behind, the three men’s lives remained entwined as they entered into the cargo business along the Santa Fe Trail. Jackson also invested in mining and metal business. Ironically, the man who had conquered the mountain wilderness could not readjust to civilization and he quickly squandered his fur profit. On a trip to Paris, Tennessee, with the intent to collect debts, Jackson contracted typhus. The sickness weakened him and he died eight months later on Christmas Eve of 1837, alone, in debt, in an unfamiliar tavern.
A lonely ending, fitting for a man whose name remains mostly silent throughout the history books. He had given in to his wanderlust, abandoned his family, and lost his fortune. While he was a major component to the success of Smith, Jackson & Sublette, little is known of his life. Yet his name remains, remembered in the Rocky Mountain fur trade, and in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
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Étienne Provost in Utah Valley

2018-05-28T15:27:22+00:00

Étienne Provost is the namesake of the Provo river and the modern day city of Provo.

Born in Canada in 1785, French-Canadian Étienne Provost moved west as a young man to pursue the life of a fur trader. Although he is recognized as one of the most influential mountain men during his time, his legacy hides in the shadows of more recognizable men, such as Jim Bridger. This portly, illiterate, self-made fur trader led expeditions and ventures through modern-day New Mexico and Utah before settling in Missouri. His influence lies within his namesake: Provo, Utah.
During his 1824 travels, Provost encountered some Shoshones between Utah Lake and the Great Salt Lake. Warren Angus Ferris, another trapper, included a version of their meeting in his writings, although he was not present at the time. He writes about an Indian “evil genius” known as “Bad Gocha” (an Anglicized version of the French nickname “mauvais gauche” or “the bad left-handed one”) who met with Provost. He asked Provost to smoke the peace pipe but requested that all metals be removed, as it would be problematic for the ritual. As the white men complied, the “Indians fell upon them and commenced their work of slaughter with their knives,” resulting in about fifteen dead. However, it should be noted that the number and story varies between accounts. The most likely estimate is that about eight died. Provost’s escape led to the renaming of the nearby Timpanoquint River to the phonetically spelled Provo. Later, when Mormon settlers moved into the area, the nearby city became Provo as well, although Provost likely never knew of either of his namesake landmarks.
While this story paints a picture of an unprovoked attack by ruthless, violent Indians, Peter Skene Ogden made a point of explanation when writing about the event. He noted that, not long before Provost’s company came, another group of white mountain men forcibly took horses and furs from the same group of Shoshone that resulted in a death of a Native American. Although there is not a record of a Shoshone perspective, this information helps to create a more relatable, human image instead of perpetuating the myth of the aggressive Indian.
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