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 Ashley, William Henry 1778–1838 1822–1828 Baker, Jim 1818–1898 1839–1873 Barclay, Alex 1810–1855 1838–1855Barclay 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. Beckwourth, Jim 1798–1866 1824–1866 Bent, Charles 1799–1847 1828–1846 Bent, William 1809–1869 1826–1869 Biggs, Thomas 1812–1855 1835–1855 Beaver, Black 1806–1880 Bridger, Jim 1804–1881 1822–1868 Bissonet dit Bijou, Joseph 1778–1836 1812–1836 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. Bissonette, Joseph 1818–1894 Bonneville, Benjamin 1796–1878 1832–1835 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 Fur trapper, trader, rancher, and merchant in and around Pueblo, Colorado. Brown, Kootenay 1839–1916 1862–1910 Richard Campbell 1824– Led first trapper party (from Taos) to sell beaver pelts in California, 1827Utley, R. M. (1997). A life wild and perilous: Mountain men and the paths to the Pacific. New York: Henry Holt and Co. Campbell, Robert 1804–1879 1825–1835 Carson, Kit 1809–1868 1825–1868 Carson became a frontier legend in his own lifetime through news articles and dime novels. Charbonneau, Jean 1805–1866 1829–1866 An American Métis, son of Sacagawea and her French-Canadian husband, Toussaint Charbonneau. Clyman, James 1792–1880 1823–1848 Coulter, John 1774–1813 1803–1810 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. Craig, Bill 1807–1869 Culbertson, Alexander 1809–1879 1829–1858, 1868–1878 Drips, Andrew 1789–1860 Drouillard, George 1774–1810 1804–1810 Ebbert, George 1810–1890 1823–1836 Estes, Joel 1806–1875 1833–1875 Founder of Estes Park Colorado, a frontiersman, hunter, fur trader, explorer, gold prospector, and mountain man.
Hiatt Family History (Sidney, IA, Carter printing Co., 1960) 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 Wright, Dunham. A winter in Estes Park with Senator Tellor, The Trail, July 1920 Estes Milton. "Memoirs of Estes Park" The Colorado Magazine, Vol XVI #4, July 1939 Estes Estes, Milton. A biographical paragraph, from Rocky mountain News, File no. 101-03, Historical Notes, (U.S. Dept. of Interior, News Service. Estes, Francis Marion. "First White Man in Estes Park" Rocky Mountain News, September 13, 1909. Busch, Mel. Estes Park's First Born Arrived in 6th Year of local settlement, Trail Gazette, Wednesday, February 22, 1984. Ferris, Warren 1810–1873 Finlay, Jocko 1768–1828 1806–1828 Fallon, LeGros d. 1848 1826–1848 Real name: William O. Fallon Fitzpatrick, Thomas "Broken Hand" 1799–1854 Fraeb, Henry d. 1841 1829–1841 Fontenelle, Lucien 1800–1840 1819–1840 Garcia, Andrew 1853–1943 Glass, Hugh 1780–1833 1800–1833 Godin, Antoine 1805–1836 1817–1836 Goodyear, Miles 1817–1849 1836–1847 Graham, Isaac 1800–1863 1830–1840 Greenwood, Caleb 1763–1850 1810–1834 Hamilton, Bill 1822–1908 Harris, Moses 1800–1849 He is also known as Black Harris, and to a lesser extent Black Squire and Major Harris. Helm, Boone 1828–1864 1850–1864 Henry, Andrew 1775–1832 1809–1824 Jackson, David 1788–1837 1822–1832 Janis, Antoine 1822–1890 1836–1858 Kinman, Seth 1815–1888 1849–1864 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 Leonard, Zenas 1809–1857 1831–1857 Leroux, Antoine 1803–1861 1822–1861 Johnson, Liver-Eating 1824–1900 Real name: John Jeremiah Garrison Johnston Lilly, Ben 1856–1936 Lisa, Manuel 1772–1820 1789–1820 Lupton, Lancaster 1807–1885 1835–1844 Medina, Mariano 1812–1878 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.Mariano Medina, Colorado Mountain Man, by Zethyl Gates (Paperback 093347251X), web:PS–1X. Meek, Joe 1810–1875 1828–1850 Meek, Stephen 1805–1889 1827–1889 Moore, Bear 1850–1924 Real name: James Moore Salmon, Dutch. Mountain Men of the Gila . SouthernNewMexico.com. Retrieved 2012–09–25 Newell, Doc 1807–1869 1829–1869 Nidever, George 1802–1883 1830–1853 Ogden, Pete 1794–1854 1809–1847 Osborne Russell1814- 18841834-1843Osborne 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 Perkins, “Moccasin Bill” 1825–1904 1860–1904 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 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) Rose, Edward 1780–1833 1807–1833 Russell, Osborne 1814–1892 1834–1845 Haines, Aubrey L., ed. Osborne Russell's Journal of a Trapper. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965. Paxton, George 1821–1848 Purcell, James fl. 1802–? Sage, Rufus 1817–1893 1841–1844 Smith, Jedediah 1799–1831 1822–1831 Smith, John Simpson 1810–1871 1830–1871 Uncle John, Blackfoot Smith Smith, Pegleg 1801–1866 Straw, Nat 1857–1941 Davis, Carolyn O'Bagy. Mogollon Mountain Man Nat Straw: Grizzly Hunter and Trapper. Tucson: Sanpete Publications, 2003. Stevens, Montague 1859–1953 St. Vrain, Ceran 1802–1870 Sublette, Milton 1801–1837 1823–1835 Sublette, Bill 1799–1845 1823–1832 Tevanitagon, Pierre ?–1828 1822–1828 An Iroquois from Quebec Tobin, Tom 1823–1904 1837–1878 Trask, Elbridge 1815–1863 1835–1852 Turner, John 1807 1847 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 Walker, Joe 1798–1876 1832–1863 Weaver, Pauline 1797–1867 1830–1867 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 Wetzel, Lewis 1752–1808 1786–1791 Williams, Old Bill 1787–1849 1812–1849 Wooten, Dick 1816–1893 Wyeth, Nathaniel 1802–1856 1832–1837 Yount, Harry 1839–1924 1866–1924
References
Further reading DeVoto, Bernard. Across the Wide Missouri. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1947.
External links