List of mountain men

This is a list of explorers, trappers, guides, and other frontiersmen known as "Mountain Men". Mountain men are most associated with trapping for beaver from 1807 to the 1840s in the Rocky Mountains of the United States. Most moved on to other endeavors, but a few of them followed or adopted the mountain man life style into the 20th century.

List

Name	DOB–DOD	Years Active	Native Country	Comments
Albert, John	1806–1899	1834–1847	United States
Ashley, William Henry	1778–1838	1822–1828	United States
Baker, Jim	1818–1898	1839–1873	United States
Barclay, Alex	1810–1855	1838–1855		Barclay was a British-born frontiersman of the American West. After working in St. Louis as a bookkeeper and clerk, he worked at Bent's Old Fort. He then ventured westward where he was a trapper, hunter, and trader. [1]
Beckwourth, Jim	1798–1866	1824–1866	United States
Bent, Charles	1799–1847	1828–1846	United States
Bent, William	1809–1869	1826–1869	United States
Biggs, Thomas	1812–1855	1835–1855	United States
Beaver, Black	1806–1880		United States
Bridger, Jim	1804–1881	1822–1868	United States	[2]
Bissonet dit Bijou, Joseph	1778–1836	1812–1836	France	[3]
Bissonette, Joseph	1818–1894
Bonneville, Benjamin	1796–1878	1832–1835	France	Washington Irving wrote about him, making him famous in his lifetime. The Bonneville Salt Flats are named after him.
Brown, John	1817–1889	1841–1849	United States	Fur trapper, trader, rancher, and merchant in and around Pueblo, Colorado.
Brown, Kootenay	1839–1916	1862–1910	Ireland
Richard Campbell		1824–	United States	Led first trapper party (from Taos) to sell beaver pelts in California, 1827 [4]
Campbell, Robert	1804–1879	1825–1835	Ireland
Carson, Kit	1809–1868	1825–1868	United States	Carson became a frontier legend in his own lifetime through news articles and dime novels.
Charbonneau, Jean	1805–1866	1829–1866	United States	An American Métis, son of Sacagawea and her French-Canadian husband, Toussaint Charbonneau.
Clyman, James	1792–1880	1823–1848	United States
Coulter, John	1774–1813	1803–1810	United States	During the winter of 1807–1808, he explored the area that is now Yellowstone and the Tetons. He is widely considered to be the first mountain man. [5]
Craig, Bill	1807–1869		United States
Culbertson, Alexander	1809–1879	1829–1858, 1868–1878
Drips, Andrew	1789–1860
Drouillard, George	1774–1810	1804–1810	United States
Ebbert, George	1810–1890	1823–1836	United States
Estes, Joel	1806–1875	1833–1875	United States	Founder of Estes Park Colorado, a frontiersman, hunter, fur trader, explorer, gold prospector, and mountain man. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]
Ferris, Warren	1810–1873		United States
Finlay, Jocko	1768–1828	1806–1828	Canada
Fallon, LeGros	d. 1848	1826–1848	United States	Real name: William O. Fallon
Fitzpatrick, Thomas "Broken Hand"	1799–1854		Ireland
Fraeb, Henry	d. 1841	1829–1841
Fontenelle, Lucien	1800–1840	1819–1840
Garcia, Andrew	1853–1943		United States
Glass, Hugh	1780–1833	1800–1833
Godin, Antoine	1805–1836	1817–1836	Canada
Goodyear, Miles	1817–1849	1836–1847	United States
Graham, Isaac	1800–1863	1830–1840	United States
Greenwood, Caleb	1763–1850	1810–1834	United States
Hamilton, Bill	1822–1908
Harris, Moses	1800–1849		United States	He is also known as Black Harris, and to a lesser extent Black Squire and Major Harris.
Helm, Boone	1828–1864	1850–1864	United States
Henry, Andrew	1775–1832	1809–1824	United States
Jackson, David	1788–1837	1822–1832	United States
Janis, Antoine	1822–1890	1836–1858
Kinman, Seth	1815–1888	1849–1864	United States	American gold prospector of the California Gold Rush turn mountain man who hunted down a bear and made it into a chair for Abraham Lincoln in his present a presidential chair.
Kirker, James	1793–1852	1822–1849	Ireland
Leonard, Zenas	1809–1857	1831–1857	United States
Leroux, Antoine	1803–1861	1822–1861	United States
Johnson, Liver-Eating	1824–1900		United States	Real name: John Jeremiah Garrison Johnston
Lilly, Bill	1856–1936		United States
Lisa, Manuel	1772–1820	1789–1820
Lupton, Lancaster	1807–1885	1835–1844	United States
Medina, Mariano	1812–1878		United States	Born in Taos, New Mexico, Medina settled in the Big Thompson Valley in 1858, establishing Fort Namaqua and the Namaqua settlement, now within Loveland, Colorado. He operated a trading post, stage station, and toll bridge. [2]
Meek, Joe	1810–1875	1828–1850	United States
Meek, Stephen	1805–1889	1827–1889	United States
Moore, Bear	1850–1924	Real name: James Moore	United States	[17]
Newell, Doc	1807–1869	1829–1869
Nidever, George	1802–1883	1830–1853	United States
Ogden, Pete	1794–1854	1809–1847	Canada
Osborne Russell	1814- 1884	1834-1843	United States	Osborne Russell Russell, Osborne (1921). Journal of a Trapper: Nine Years in the Rocky Mountains (1834-1843). Boise, Idaho: Symes-York Company. p. 31.
Pattie, James Ohio	1804–1851?	1824–1830	United States
Perkins, “Moccasin Bill”	1825–1904	1860–1904	United States	William Henry Perkins (Not to be confused with Buffalo Bill. Not to be confused with Moccasin Bill, Cunning Serpent of Ojibwah")
Provost, Etienne	1785–1850	1822–1830	Canada	[18]
Rose, Edward	1780–1833	1807–1833	United States
Russell, Osborne	1814–1892	1834–1845	United States	[19]
Paxton, George	1821–1848		United Kingdom
Purcell, James		fl. 1802–?	United States	[20]
Sage, Rufus	1817–1893	1841–1844	United States
Smith, Jedediah	1799–1831	1822–1831	United States
Smith, John Simpson	1810–1871	1830–1871	United States	Uncle John, Blackfoot Smith
Smith, Pegleg	1801–1866		United States
Straw, Nat	1857–1941			[21]
Stevens, Montague	1859–1953		United Kingdom	[17]
St. Vrain, Ceran	1802–1870		United States
Sublette, Milton	1801–1837	1823–1835	United States
Sublette, Bill	1799–1845	1823–1832	United States
Tevanitagon, Pierre	?–1828	1822–1828	Canada	An Iroquois from Quebec
Tobin, Tom	1823–1904	1837–1878	United States
Trask, Elbridge	1815–1863	1835–1852	United States
Turner, John	1807	1847	United States	Turner survived three Native American massacres, one in 1827 on the Colorado River with the Jedediah Smith expedition, one in 1828 with Smith on the Umpquah River, and one in 1835 on the Rogue River. He later used his survival skills to lead the second round of the Donner Party rescue effort.
Vasquez, Lou	1798–1868	1723–1858		[2]
Walker, Joe	1798–1876	1832–1863	United States
Weaver, Pauline	1797–1867	1830–1867	United States	His given name Powell was changed to the more-familiar to Spanish speakers Paulino, which in turn was changed to Pauline by English speakers
Weber, John	1779–1859	1822–1840	Germany
Wetzel, Lewis	1752–1808	1786–1791	United States
Williams, Old Bill	1787–1849	1812–1849	United States
Wooten, Dick	1816–1893		United States
Wyeth, Nathaniel	1802–1856	1832–1837	United States
Yount, Harry	1839–1924	1866–1924	United States

References

1. "Groundbreaker: Alexander Barclay". The World Journal. October 15, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
2. Mariano Medina, Colorado Mountain Man, by Zethyl Gates (Paperback 093347251X), web:PS–1X.
3. Hafen, LeRoy R. "Joseph Bissonet dit Bijou". The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West. Vol. 9. Glendale, California: A. H. Clark Co., 1965.
4. Utley, R. M. (1997). A life wild and perilous: Mountain men and the paths to the Pacific. New York: Henry Holt and Co.
5. Zimmerman, Emily. "John Colter 1773?–1813". The Mountain Men: Pathfinders of the West 1810–1860. American Studies at the University of Virginia. Archived from the original on September 11, 2018. Retrieved May 8, 2007.
6. Cassell, Colleen Estes (August 1999). The Golden Pioneer Biography of Joel Estes.
7. Hafen, Leroy. Colorado and its People.
8. Hafen, Leroy. The Mountain Men and The Fur Trade Of the Far West.
9. Hafen, Leroy. Pikes Peak Gold Rush Guidebooks of 1859.
10. Hiatt Family History (Sidney, IA, Carter printing Co., 1960)
11. Cook, Marshall. "Joel Estes Colorado Territory Exploration 1833-1834" Colorado Early Days, a manuscript written in the early 1880s presented by his daughter, Mrs H.A. Clingenpeel], Johnstown Co., September 1932, p.132
12. Wright, Dunham. A winter in Estes Park with Senator Tellor, The Trail, July 1920
13. Estes Milton. "Memoirs of Estes Park" The Colorado Magazine, Vol XVI #4, July 1939 Estes
14. Estes, Milton. A biographical paragraph, from Rocky mountain News, File no. 101-03, Historical Notes, (U.S. Dept. of Interior, News Service.
15. Estes, Francis Marion. "First White Man in Estes Park" Rocky Mountain News, September 13, 1909.
16. Busch, Mel. Estes Park's First Born Arrived in 6th Year of local settlement, Trail Gazette, Wednesday, February 22, 1984.
17. Salmon, Dutch. Mountain Men of the Gila Archived 2012-09-23 at the Wayback Machine . SouthernNewMexico.com. Retrieved 2012–09–25
18. Nichols, Jeffery D., Fellow Trappers called Etienne Provost Man Of The Mountains. History Blazer, Aug 1995;Leroy R. Hafen, "Etienne Provost, Mountain Man and Utah Pioneer," Utah Historical Quarterly 36 (1968); Jack B. Tykal, Etienne Provost: Man of the Mountains (Liberty, Utah: Eagle's View Publishing Company, 1989)
19. Haines, Aubrey L., ed. Osborne Russell's Journal of a Trapper. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965. ISBN   0803251661
20. Baker, James H.; LeRoy R. Hafen, eds. (1927). History of Colorado. Vol. 1. Denver, Colorado: Linderman Company. p. 299.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
21. Davis, Carolyn O'Bagy. Mogollon Mountain Man Nat Straw: Grizzly Hunter and Trapper. Tucson: Sanpete Publications, 2003.

Further reading

• DeVoto, Bernard. Across the Wide Missouri. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1947. ISBN   0395924979

External links

• "Mountain Men and Life in the Rocky Mountain West". Malachite's Big Hole. Retrieved 2013-03-06.
• "Frontier Legends: Explorers, Trappers, & Traders". Legends of America. Retrieved 2013-10-01.