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1833 Green River (Horse Creek) Rendezvous: In the year prior
to this rendezvous, William Sublette and Robert Campbell formed their own
fur company, the St. Louis Fur Company with the goal of challenging the
American Fur Company along the Upper Missouri River. During
the spring, summer and fall of 1833 they erected a dozen or so trading
posts located in close proximity to American Fur Company Posts.
In early May Robert Campbell left Lexington, for the rendezvous
with supplies valued at $15,000, even though no arrangements had been made
with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company.
Sir William Drummond Stewart was
one of the notables who accompanied the pack train to the mountains this
year. In the meantime,
Thomas Fitzpatrick had sent Henry Fraeb east to meet the pack train and
make arrangements for purchase of the supplies, with authorization to
proceed to St. Louis and arrange for supplies if the train hadn’t
already left. Fraeb met up
with Campbell at Laramie Creek where the transaction was completed.
Fraeb and Campbell then proceeded up the North Platte and
Sweetwater Rivers, and thence over South Pass.
From there they traveled northwesterly to the confluence of the
Green River and Horse Creek, arriving on July 5, 1833.
Fontenelle and Drips, bringing supplies for the American Fur
Company brigades would arrive on July 8, 1833.
Although the general rendezvous would take place at Fort
Bonneville, the American Fur Company would have an encampment about five
miles below Fort Bonneville, and the Rocky Mountain Fur Company would
encamp about five miles further down from the American Fur Company.
Thus, overall, this years rendezvous would be spread out along ten
miles of the Green River. (Map) There were
250-300 trappers and a large contingent of Indians, mostly Shoshones at this
years rendezvous. After a year
of fierce and sometimes violent competition for furs, the behavior of the
men of the American Fur Company and Rocky Mountain Fur Company would be
amicable in camp. Attacks by a
rabid wolf, or wolves, would be a notable event at this rendezvous.
Over two or three successive nights, about a dozen men total were
bitten savagely on the face in both of the lower camps as well as some
livestock. At least one of
these men would subsequently die of hydrophobia over the
next several weeks. Charles
Larpenteur provides a description
of the wolf attack. The 1833 harvest
of beaver was good, with more than 165 packs of beaver taken down from the
mountains with a value of about $60,000.
However, because this was split between four companies, the
American Fur Company, the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, the St. Louis Fur
Company, and Benjamin Bonneville, profits were marginal at best.
On July 20, 1833,
the partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company would accept a new partner,
Edmund Christy. The new
company would be known as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and Christy.
At this time the Rocky Mountain Fur Company was deeply in debt for
supplies to William Sublette and Robert Campbell, who had a strangle hold
on the Rocky Mountain Fur Company as a result.
The rendezvous
would break up on July 24, 1833, with the fur companies returning to St.
Louis by various routes. On August 14th,
1833, Thomas Fitzpatrick and Milton Sublette would enter a secret contract
with Nathaniel Wyeth to provide supplies.
The deal was intended to allow the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and
Christy to break free of William Sublette and Robert Campbell.
One of the key provisions of the deal was that the Rocky Mountain
Fur Company would have to remain in business till the next years
rendezvous. During the fall
and winter of 1833, Kenneth McKenzie, who was in charge of the American
Fur Companies forts on the Upper Missouri River would financially destroy
the St. Louis Fur Company by offering as much as $12 for beaver.
Remember, the American Fur Company was equivalent to Microsoft in
early 1800’s with the financial deep pockets to utterly destroy
competition. Sublette and
Campbell decided to sell out. Because
of political considerations, they were able to sell to the American Fur
Company for a good price, instead of being ruined.
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