On May 23, 1825, Peter Skene Ogden led a Snake River Expedition for the Hudson’s Bay Company from Flathead Post to the Bear River, thence into Cache Valley and Ogden’s Hole. Ogden was camped along the Weber River near present-day Mountain Green, Utah, when an American fur brigade leader Johnson Gardner approached him. Ogden wrote of the scene: “This morning Gardner came to my Tent & after a few words of no import, he questioned me as follows[:] Do you know in whose Country you are? To which I answer that I did not as it was not determined between Great Britain and America to whom it belonged, to which he made answer that it had been ceded to the latter & as I had no licence to trap or trade to return from whence I came.”  Ironically, neither Ogden nor Gardner had proper claim to the territory they were trapping in, as at the time it was Shoshone land claimed by Mexico, being south of the 42nd parallel. Gardner nevertheless told Ogden, “remain at your peril,” and then went to see the Iroquois (Mohawk/Metis) Freemen trapper John Grey.

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Bear Lake is a freshwater body on the Utah–Idaho border that is situated within a small valley, at an elevation of 5,923 feet. Eight miles long and twenty miles wide, calcium carbonates suspended in the lake water give it a unique green-blue hue, earning Bear Lake the nickname “Caribbean of the Rockies.” Fur trappers and traders from the 1827 rendezvous also referred to the area as “Sweet Lake.” The newly formed Smith, Jackson, and Sublette firm chose Bear Lake’s south shore for both the 1827 and 1828 Rocky Mountain rendezvous, making the site the new trade system’s first lakeside location. The site would have been a part of Mexico’s territory during that time. Today, the site is located near the city of Laketown, Utah. William Henry Ashley was not in attendance at the 1827 rendezvous, as he had sold his share in the fur company to Smith, Jackson, and Sublette the previous year. However, he was still contracted to supply merchandise for the rendezvous. Fur trappers in attendance that year complained about “exorbitant” prices of supplies that year, as described by explorer Daniel Trotter Potts in a letter to a friend. He explained the difficulty of making profits in the fur trade due to these high prices, which were inflated and known as “mountain prices.” For trappers, this was one downside of the centralized rendezvous system. In a lighter moment, when Jedediah Smith arrived at the rendezvous late, traders already present celebrated his arrival by firing a cannon. Some worried he had become lost while making the trip from California. Before he could miss the rendezvous, though, Smith met a Snake Tribe encampment north of the Salt Lake who informed him of the Bear Lake rendezvous twenty-five miles away, and he made it in time for the traders to welcome him. The Bear Lake rendezvous of 1827 was significant due to a violent skirmish with members of the Blackfeet Nation. Allegedly, the conflict began when Blackeet individuals entered camp to murder a man and woman from the Snake tribe. The white traders already had ongoing conflicts with the Blackfeet, so they allied with Snake tribe trappers in what became a violent battle. A small number of whites were injured in the skirmish, though none died, but multiple Native Americans died. The exact number of fatalities remains unknown, however. Bear Lake was opened as a Utah State Park in 1862. Rendezvous Beach on the south shore is named in honor of the 1827 and 1828 rendezvous held there. The lake has since become a popular attraction for tourists and sports enthusiasts with many recreational activities available such as fishing, hiking, waterskiing, and swimming. The area is also notable for its raspberries, which thrive in the Bear Lake valley’s climate. During the summer Raspberry Days festival, there are sometimes rendezvous events included where attendees can learn about frontier history and recreate the mountain man lifestyle.

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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 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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