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In 1830 Ashley sold out to Henry Froeb, Jim Bridger, Thomas Fritzpatrick, <br />Milton Sublette, and Jean-Baptiste Gervais. Froeb and his party worked the Routt <br />• country in 1831, but The Pocky Mountain Fur Company was dissolved in 1834 (ibid.). <br />Fort Dovy Crockett was built in 1837, Often referred to as "Fort Misery," this <br />was located in Brown's Park. It was built by Phillip Thompson and William Craig <br />because so many trappers wintered in the sheltered Brown's Park country where feed <br />for the horses was plentiful and game was abundant (ibid.:10). <br />Thomas Jefferson Farnham visited the country in 1839, guided by a trapper <br />named Kelly. He visited Fort Davy Crockett and noted: <br />Its climate is very remarkable -- while the storm rages on <br />the mountains in sight and the drifting snows mingle in the <br />blasts of ice, the ofd hunters here heed it not. Their horses are <br />cropping the green grass on the banks of the Skeetskadee, while <br />they themselves are roasting the fat loins of the mountain <br />sheep, and laughing at the merry tale and song (Farnham <br />1841:109). <br />Farnham had also made the first recorded visit to Steamboat Springs, a place his <br />guide Kelly had visited about 10 years earlier. The Farnham party ran into o group <br />of French Canadian trappers on their way to Middle Park who had been attacked by <br />a band of Sioux on the trail from Fort Davy Crockett. <br />In 1840 Henry Froeb went into partnership with Jim Bridger and headed to the <br />Little Snake to kill buffalo and trap beaver. On the way To this hunt, he met the <br />first emigrants bound for California (the 8artleson party). Froeb was attacked by a <br />large party of Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux Indians; the ensuing battle is discussed <br />in the preceding section. <br />The fur trade diminished rapidly in the 1840s and Fort Davy Crockett soon <br />folded; by 1845 the fur trade had vanished as a major economic force. <br />Exploration <br />Northwestern Colorado and Routt County were visited by many famous (and <br />some not so famous) explorers as they made their way through the West. They came <br />for a variety of purposes: exploration, science, pleasure, adventure, and profit. <br />In 1776, the Escalante expedition passed through northwestern Colorado, trying <br />To find an alternate route to California. They noted their disappointment in finding <br />• themselves in northwestern Colorado instead. Their discovery of "Canyon Pintado" <br />on Douglas Creek south of Rangely marks the first recorded archaeological site in <br />northwestern Colorado (U.S. BLM 1976:65). <br />2.8-14 <br />