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During the winter
and spring of 1834 major events would take place affecting the fur trade
in the Upper Missouri River region. The
St. Louis Fur Company under William Sublette and Robert Campbell would be
sold to the American Fur Company. Finally,
John Jacob Astor would go into retirement, and would sell the Western
Department of the American Fur Company to Pratte and Chouteau.
Although this new company was named Pratte, Chouteau and Company,
it and its successor companies would continue to be known as the American
Fur Company. William Sublette
would also become aware of the secret deal between Rocky Mountain Fur
Company and Christy with Nathaniel Wyeth when a letter containing
information pertaining to the agreement and addressed to Milton Sublette
was erroneously delivered to William.
As part of the buyout agreement between the American Fur Company
and the St. Louis Fur Company, William Sublette had assured the American
Fur Company that the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and Christy would go out
of business. This aspect of
the deal would be threatened if the Rocky Mountain Fur Company was
re-supplied by Wyeth. William
Sublette determined to force the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and Christy
into liquidation. There ensued
a race to the mountains between rival pack trains to re-supply the Rocky
Mountain Fur Company. Nathaniel Wyeth
would leave Independence on April 28, 1834, with a pack train of 75 men
and about 250 horses. This
number would include Milton Sublette, Osborne
Russell, Calvin T. Briggs, Jason Lee, a Methodist missionary and his four companions,
and two naturalists, Thomas Nutall and Kirk Townsend.
Milton Sublette would return to Independence on May 8th
because of a diseased leg. William
Sublette would not leave Independence until May 5th, seven days
after Nathaniel Wyeth. William
Sublette’s party consisted of 37 men and 95 horses.
Also leaving that spring with pack trains bound for the mountains
would be Michael S. Cerre with supplies for Bonneville, and Fontenelle
with supplies for the American Fur Company.
The supply trains
would take the familiar route up the North Platte, thence up the Sweetwater and
over South Pass. William
Sublette with his long experience in packing supplies to the mountains
would easily overtake and pass Nathaniel Wyeth, who was also burdened with the
missionaries and naturalists, on May 12, just seven days after leaving St.
Louis. Wyeth would forward a
letter ahead to Thomas Fitzpatrick imploring him not to trade with William
Sublette, and telling Fitzpatrick that Wyeth’s train would be at
rendezvous no later than July 1st.
On reaching the
confluence of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers, William Sublette would
direct a number of the men from his supply train to remain at this
location and commence construction of Fort
William.
Sublette would then continue on with the remainder of his men and
supplies for rendezvous. William Sublette
made contact with Thomas Fitzpatrick on June 15th.
However, on June 19th, the combined parties would move
up to Ham’s Fork, a tributary to Black’s Fork of the Green River.
The site of this years rendezvous was again located in the
territory of Mexico. (Map) Wyeth would
arrive on June 18th at the confluence of the Sandy and Green
River’s, the agreed location of the rendezvous, to find no one present.
Traveling upstream, he found the encampment of Fitzpatrick and
William Sublette. To his
disappointment, the Rocky Mountain Fur Company broke its contract with
him, and refused his goods. It
is likely that William Sublette was able to accomplish this by calling in
the debts owed by the partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and thus
forcing it into insolvency. Wyeth
expresses his feelings in a letter dated July 1st to Milton
Sublette back in St. Louis, “…Now Milton, business is closed between us, but you will find that you
have only bound yourself over to receive your supplies at such price as
may be inflicted and that all you will ever make in the country will go to
pay for your goods, you will be kept as you have been a mere slave to
catch Beaver for others.” On June 20th,
the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and Christy was dissolved and a new company
formed, Fitzpatrick, Sublette and Bridger Company.
This company would not exist for more than a few days. Jim Bridger would
arrive at rendezvous on June 25th, and at this same time Wyeth
removed his encampment about 10 miles upstream, where he would remain
until July 2nd. Fitzpatrick,
William Sublette and the combined companies moved upstream a few miles for
better pasture on June 28th, where they remained until July 10th
when William Sublette returned to St. Louis, effectively ending the
rendezvous. Those still at the
encampment on July 12th then moved upstream and additional 15
or 20 miles. On his arrival in
St. Louis in late August, furs William Sublette returned from the
mountains were valued at $12,250, and not all of these belonged to the now
defunct Rocky Mountain Fur Company and Christy.
Those were valued at less than $10,000, less than the debt of the
new company. The date of
arrival of Andrew Drips and Lucien Fontenelle is not certain.
The American Fur Company encamped at the mouth of Ham’s Fork.
Thus on June 28th, there were three camps along Ham’s
Fork spread over about 14 miles. Both
Wyeth and Fontenelle were successful at recruiting trappers associated
with the now defunct Rocky Mountain Fur Company.
Benjamin
Bonneville was not present at this rendezvous, however, he and the
trappers working for him received supplies from Michael Cerre at a location on the Bear River.
Wyeth, after
trading as much of his trade goods for beaver as he was able, left
rendezvous on July 2nd. He
proceeded on to the confluence of the Portneuf and Snake Rivers where he
founded Fort Hall, named after Henry Hall, one
of his backers. Here he would
trade with the Pawnee, Shoshone, Nez Perce and Flathead Indians for robes
and beaver. Additionally the
men in his brigade were obligated to him for one year, and they would trap
steams in the surrounding mountains during the fall and spring hunts.
In 1836 he would sell the fort to the Hudson’s Bay Company which
would use its strategic location as an outpost for extending the “fur
desert” to discourage Americans from entering the Oregon country.
After rendezvous
was over, the old partners from the defunct Rocky Mountain Fur Company and
Christy were traveling with Fontenelle.
On August 3rd, Fitzpatrick, Sublette and Bridger Company
would be dissolved, and a new company Fontenelle and Fitzpatrick Company
was formed. Although only
Fontenelle and Fitzpatrick were featured in the company name, the partners
in the new venture also included Milton Sublette, James Bridger and Andrew
Drips. On August 7th,
Fitzpatrick and Fontenelle returned to St. Louis to make supply
arrangements for the 1835 rendezvous.
The main problem faced by the new company was they were dependent
on the American Fur Company for supplies.
The American Fur Company, in its previous takeover of the St. Louis
Fur Company had promised William Sublette that they would stay out of the
Northern Rocky Mountains in 1835. Through
a complicated three-way deal, an agreement was made whereby
Sublette-Campbell would sell Fort Williams to Fontenelle-Fitzpatrick with
a percentage of the operations going to Sublette-Campbell.
The American Fur Company would send a supply train to the
mountains, and Sublette-Campbell would cease sending supply trains to the
mountains. This would be
William Sublette and Robert Campbell’s last trip to the mountains.
From this time forward they would put their efforts into real
estate and mercantilism in Missouri.
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