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<br />These fur traders seemed to be more at home in the
<br />forest solitudes than in the company of their fellow
<br />man. Their life was a rugged one, and only men of
<br />strength, intelligence, determination, courage, sharpened
<br />senses, and good instincts survived. They adapted them-
<br />selves to the ways of the natives, borrowing their
<br />clothes, their living habits, their forest lore, and in some
<br />cases, their wives.
<br />Hardy, resolute, self-confident, far-ranging human
<br />beings, calling themselves "mountain men," these
<br />trappers and traders did much to prepare the way for
<br />those to follow. They provided some tribes with guns
<br />which led to the slaughter of their wilderness enemies.
<br />Mountain men like Old Bill Williams, Jim Bridger, the
<br />Sublettes, Tom Fitzpatrick, Joe Meek, Andrew Henry,
<br />Kit Carson, and a score of others explored the West,
<br />seeking out passes through mountain barriers, investi-
<br />gating river routes to the interior, and discovering
<br />favorable agricultural sites. Permanent trading posts like
<br />Forts Pierre, Clark, and Union on the Upper Missouri;
<br />Fort Laramie, where plains and mountains met; and
<br />Bent's Fort on the Upper Arkansas achieved frontier
<br />fame.
<br />
<br />~...:' ..-.,.:\11.'11*....- y...- i;'.
<br />
<br />Navigation by steamboats on the Missouri River
<br />began in 1819, the furthest point reached during that
<br />year being the site of Council Bluffs, la. During the next
<br />10 years many steamboats plied the Missouri River.
<br />These boats were owned by the individual fur-trading
<br />companies and carried only their own merchandise. In
<br />1829 the first steamboat for transporting freight, for
<br />anyone who could pay the price, was inaugurated by
<br />Packett W. D. Duncan. It was a short line compared to
<br />those of later years, running only between St. Louis,
<br />Mo., and Fort Leavenworth, but it was a beginning. The
<br />fur-trading business continued to dominate the river
<br />traffic un til 1845, the start of significan t western
<br />migration. However, to most of the migrants, the basin
<br />was just an area to cross on their way to the West Coast,
<br />and few stayed to settle during this period.
<br />Settlers and gold seekers advanced westward. The
<br />Santa Fe Trail, which began at Franklin, Mo., was
<br />opened in the 1820's. Capt. B. L. E. Bonneville took the
<br />first covered wagons across the Continental Divide in
<br />1832. The first great migration to Oregon country
<br />occurred in 1843. In 1847 Brigham Young led the
<br />Mormons to the Great Salt Lake of Utah, and in 1848
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<br />Fort Union, American Fur Company Trading Post at the Mouth of the Yellowstone River 1833. These Early Day
<br />Trading Posts were Important Centers of Trade, Bulwarks of Protection, and a Link to the
<br />Eastern Centers of Commerce
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