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JOURNAL OF E. WILLARD SMITH WHILE WITH THE FUR TRADERS, VASQUEZ AND SUB- LETTE, IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION, 1839-1840

CONTRIBUTOR'S NOTE

Mr. E. Willard Smith was an architect and civil engineer. He was born at Albany, N. Y., in 1814, and died at Washing- ton, D. C. He married Miss Charlotte Lansing, of Lansing, Mich. This interesting account of his expedition to the Rocky Mountain region was copied from a manuscript belonging to his daughter Margaret, who married Edwin Forest Norveil, son of Senator John Norveil of Michigan, and was obtained through the courtesy of her daughter, Mrs. E. Oliver Belt, of Washington, D. C.

J. NEILSON BARRY,

Barrycrest, Spokane.

INTRODUCTION

The journal printed below throws new light on the fur trading situation in the Rocky Mountains in its waning stages. It touches on the human, or possibly better designated in- human, rather than on the economic aspects of the operations of those engaged in the business. Specifically it is a realistic account of the incidents experienced on one of the later ex- peditions setting out from St. Louis to the Rocky Mountain posts and rendezvous. Some eleven months were used in making the trip out and back, from early August, 1839, to July 3, 1840.

The expedition was probably capitalized by one of the most distinguished of the Rocky Mountain fur traders, William L. Sublette. He was one of the young men in the employ of William H. Ashley when the Rocky Mountain Fur Company was organized in 1822. Among those who began their careers with Sublette were Jedediah S. Smith, David E. Jackson, Rob-