friend of General Ashley and also of Captain William Sublette. Ogden City and Ogden River, Utah, are named after this pioneer fur trader.

William Small, who went out with Captain Bonneville in 1832, was a trapper who had been in the mountains before and was known as a man of character and determination. He was selected to go with Walker on his expedition to Salt Lake and California in 1833. He was killed on September 9th of that year by Shoshone Indians, while setting his traps.

Fontenelle, who served many years in Wyoming as a representative of the American Fur Company and was conspicuous as a leader, committed suicide in 1837. Of the circumstances under which this occurred I am not informed. Fontenelle Creek, a tributary of Green River, was named after this pioneer fur trader and trapper of Wyoming.

Alexander Godey is spoken of by Fremont as a peerless hunter and guide and is called by the explorer a formidable rival of Kit Carson in courage and professional skill. He was well known in Wyoming and many old timers even to this day speak of him as a mighty hunter, and as a man who was never lost in the mountains.

William Sinclair was a leader of free trappers who trapped in Wyoming for many years and were often in the employ of Captain William Sublette. Sinclair had a brother, who was a member of his band, to whom he was greatly attached. They were both brave Indian fighters and successful trappers.

George W. Ebberts became prominent as a trapper in Wyoming in 1829, through his service with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. He was a Kentuckian by birth, born in 1810. Ebberts trapped in Wyoming eight years, then went to Oregon. His life was full of adventure and stirring incidents.

Tim Goodale was a noted mountain guide and a personal friend of Kit Carson. The two spent much time trapping and trading in Wyoming. Goodale was well known at Fort Laramie during the fifties.

Dripps, a partner in the American Fur Company, spent many years trading and trapping in Wyoming, and is spoken of by all trappers as a successful trader and a brave Indian fighter. He is mentioned in connection with many trapping and trading events in this volume.

George Nidever, a leader of a band of trappers, who in 1831 crossed from the North Platte to Green River, where he and his party wintered. In the spring of 1832 he partici pated in the battle of Pierre's Hole and later that season trapped southwest of Salt Lake.

Louis Vasques established a trading post on Clear Creek, in Colorado, and from that point sent numerous expeditions into Wyoming for the purpose of trading with Indians as well as trapping. He is sometimes confounded with Auguste Vasquez.

Matthieu was a partisan under Captain Bonneville and possessed the confidence of his great leader. He returned to the states with Captain Bonneville but soon after found his way back to the mountains, where he remained for a number of years.

Tulleck was an experienced fur trader connected with different fur companies, but more particularly with the American. During the thirties he commanded a post of that company on the Yellowstone.

Joseph Pappen was a well known trapper, who for many years was on the North Platte. Later he was engaged in trade along the Overland Trail.

Jennings, LeRoy and Ross, three of Captain Bonneville's trappers, were killed by Bannock Indians in the winter of 1832-33.

The rendezvous had a broad meaning with the early trappers; not only was it the place to which they carried their furs and exchanged them for all sorts of commodities, such as clothing, saddles, bridles, tobacco, whisky, bright dyes for coloring the trappings for their horses, vermilion powders, extensively used for winning the smiles of the fair ones, but it was a place to meet traders who might wish to

engage their services for the coming year. They also met here brother trappers from the various sections of the mountains, likewise men from the east who brought news of what was going on in the states and the world. They had here also an opportunity to drink the health of big-hearted leaders whom they admired. They renewed old friendships and made new ones, participated in the frivolities of the rendezvous, mingled with savage tribes, learned the language of the Indians, chose a sweetheart from among the native beauties, who came to the rendezvous to find some one to deck them in finery suited to their peculiar taste. It was indeed a place noted for business, pleasure, mirth, gambling and brawls, and the motley collection was not without interest even to the early missionaries, who have written of the things they saw and heard at this great annual gathering. Along about 1835, religious teachers became a regular feature at the rendezvous. These good men, in their trips across the continent, remained over for a week or two to rest and incidentally do a little missionary work. Rev. Samuel Parker made a number of religious talks to white men and Indians at Green River in 1835, and after that all missionaries who went out made it a point to preach to the trappers. Father De Smet made a number of his winning and pleasant talks in 1840 at this same place. I hardly think, however, it can be said that the influence of the missionaries amounted to much with the trappers. They gave a respectful hearing to all such, but their business at the rendezvous was for everything else than to listen to religion or even morality, and yet they respected that class of men who were devoting their lives to the cause of Christ.

CHAPTER XVII.

OPENING OF FIRST HIGHWAY.

1835-1843.

THE MISSIONARIES, PARKER AND WHITMAN, PASS UP THE PLATTE, SWEETWATER, AND REACH GREEN RIVER-DR. WHITMAN RETURNS TO THE STATES-A ROMANTIC WEDDING TOUR-FIRST Two WHITE WOMEN IN WYOMING-REMARKABLE FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION AT SOUTH PASS-GRAND RECEPTION GIVEN THE PIONEER WOMEN AT GREEN RIVER-ARRIVAL IN OREGON-PERILOUS RIDE OF DR. WHITMAN PASSES THROUGH WYOMING WITH A THOUSAND SETTLERS-THE INDIAN MASSACRE-THE HERO OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.

We have been passing through the days of the fur trappers and traders, and I have shown in the preceding pages the experiences of these men. There has been little in the story to remind us of the better side of civilization. God and humanity have hardly entered into the conditions which prevailed in a territory that afterwards became Wyoming, but in the year 1835, Reverend Samuel Parker and Dr. Marcus Whitman passed up the Platte River in company with Fontenelle, of the American Fur Company. The train was a large one and it was taking out goods for the Indian trade and recruits for trapping service in Wyoming. This party proceeded up the North Platte, which stream they reached about the middle of July. On the 22nd they passed Chimney Rock, and the following day Scott's Bluffs, and on the 26th they reached the mouth of Laramie River and camped at the fort, where Fontenelle remained, Thomas Fitzpatrick taking his place in charge of the train. On the 5th of August they reached the Sweetwater, and on the 7th Independence Rock, and pushed on up the river and camped one night above the Sweetwater Canon, somewhere near the spot where Lewiston now stands. The next day they continued their journey westward through the South Pass and reached the Newfork. These preachers were certainly

observing men, as they noticed the geology of the region through which they passed. They commented on the soda deposits, and Rev. Parker gives a description of the Johnstown soda lake, which he calls crystallized Epsom salts. On the 12th they reached Green River, the rendezvous of the fur traders that season. They found there about 200 white men, mostly trappers, and about 2,000 Indians. These Godly men were making observations as to the possibility of benefiting the Indians by religious teachings. They made up their minds that the field was a promising one and determined that Dr. Whitman should return to the states and procure additional missionaries to come west and spread the gospel among the red men of the mountains. Accordingly, the Doctor returned East in convoy of a fur train and laid before the board of foreign missions the necessity for religious teachers in the new field. Rev. Parker pursued his journey to the west and was escorted for eight days by James Bridger, who was going in that direction with a party of trappers. Mr. Parker, after leaving Bridger, was taken in charge by a band of Indians and safely conveyed down the Snake River, and finally reached Walla Walla, Dr. Whitman, on his return trip, brought with him two young Indians of the Nez Perces tribe. The following year, in company with Rev. H. H. Spalding and W. H. Gray and two young women and the two Indian boys, Dr. Whitman retraced his steps to the west. This man Marcus Whitman was a remarkable character and he played a conspicuous part in the history of Oregon. He was born in Russville, New York, September 4, 1802. Receiving a good education, he studied medicine and early became interested in religious matters. He was appointed a medical missionary to go to Oregon. Before starting out on his second trip westward, he married Miss Narcissa Prentis, the daughter of Judge Prentis of Angelica, New York. Rev. Spalding was married about the same time, and the two young men resolved to take their brides with them across the Rocky Mountains, thus making it a wedding tour. They went by the way of Council Bluffs, and there were joined by Mr. Gray, who