Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/20

 8 Joseph J. Hill member of that party we are at present unable to tell. & It may be considered quite probable that he was its or- ganizer and leader. This assumption is based upon the following facts: He had just returned from that region, having made a successful hunt. The party which set out for the San Juan would naturally return to New Mexico in the following spring or early summer (1825). It is known that Young returned to Missouri some time during the summer of 1825. 6 But the documents, so far, are silent concerning his activities during the fall and winter of 1824-5. The significance of the year 1826 in the fur trade of the Far Southwest The year 1826 was a red letter year in the history of the American fur trade in the Far Southwest. It was especially notable for the number and size of the trapping parties which were fitted out soon after the arrival of the caravan from Missouri in the latter part of July of that year. As the leaders applied to Narbona, Governor of New Mexico, for passports to Sonora, he soon became aware, from the lack of merchan- dise for trading purposes and from the general conver- sation among the applicants, that the principal intentions of these persons could be reduced "to hunting beaver on the San Francisco, Gila, and Colorado rivers." He, therefore, wrote to the governor of Sonora informing him of the passports he had issued and the size and character of the parties to whom they had been granted. Unfortunately his use of foreign names makes it some- what difficult to identify some of the individuals referred to. The list is enlightening, however, and gives an idea of the extent to which trapping was carried on at that time. He said that J. William (possibly refers to Isaac Williams) and Sambrano (St. Vrain) were taking 5 Augustus Storrs, Answers. . . to Certain Queries upon the Ori- gin, Present State, and Future Prospect of Trade and Intercourse between Missouri and the Internal Provinces of Mexico, Washington, 1825, p. 11 (U. S. 18th Cong., 2d Ses. Senate Doc. 7, serial 108). 6 U. S. 22d Cong., 1st Ses. Senate Doc. 90, p. 83, serial 213.