1778 William Henry ASHLEY born in Powhatan County, Virginia.

ca1808 ASHLEY migrates to Missouri

1812 Ashley is a Brigadier General in the Missouri Militia during the War of 1812

1822 The U.S. government, under pressure from John Jacob Astor, discontinued its policy of only allowing government appointed agents to trade in Indian Country. 3,000 trappers go west between 1822 – 1840.

1822 William ASHLEY & partner, Andrew Henry advertise in local newspapers calling for "Enterprising Young Men... to ascend the Missouri River to its source..." The trappers who responded to this ad became legendary as they became known as the "Mountain Men of the West".

1822 William ASHLEY & Andrew Henry send fur trapping/trading expeditions up the Missouri River to the Yellowstone River

1823 William ASHLEY & Andrew Henry send another fur trapping/trading expeditions up the Missouri River to the Yellowstone River. Henry makes it and establishes Ft. Henry on the Missouri at the mouth of the Yellowstone Rivers. When the second keel boat is capsized, Ashley secures another boat and crew and leads it up the Missouri.

After initially establishing good relations with the Arikaras, a crewman causes a problem during the night and Ashley and crew are attacked by the Arikaras. Ashely sends Jedidiah Smith upriver to seek help from Henry and another message to Ft. Atkinson to let them know what had happened. As a result of this message, Congress and the U.S. Army become involved in what is the first conflict west of the Mississippi involving the U.S. Army with the Native Americans.

After the battle, the goods taken from Ashley by the Arikaras are transferred to Henry, who returns to the Ft. Henry outpost, while Ashley returns to St. Louis.

1824 Andrew Henry resigns. This leaves Ashley without his field captain and he must now organize and lead the next expedition into the Rocky Mountains. Because of the battle with the Arikaras the year before, Ashley decides to go overland.

1825 August 7, William ASHLEY reaches the Yellowstone River below Big Horn Mountian. From there, he headed down the river with his rich cargo of furs to St. Louis.

1825 William ASHLEY & Andrew Henry hold the first Rendezvous where the trappers exchanged their pelts for supplies. Trappers, American Indians and Ashley looked forward to the raucous gatherings in the wilderness held annually between 1825 & 1840 at predetermined spots in the west.

1826 William ASHLEY sends an expedition that reaches the Great Salt Lake.

1826 William ASHLEY retires a wealthy man and sells his profitable fur trading company to three of the Mountain Men and with an amble fortune, retires to the life of a politician.

1831 William ASHLEY elected as Congressman from Missouri 1831-1837

1832 The Rendezvous is held at Pierre’s Hole west of the Teton Mountains. 1,000 trappers, Indians and Merchants trade for several weeks.

1837 William ASHLEY elected to congress as a Whig for his last term. Known as an able advocate of measures favorable to western development.

1838 William Henry ASHLEY dies and, per his wishes, is buried at the top of an Indian mound overlooking the Missouri River near his home in Cooper County, Missouri. Even in death, his body remained near the river on which he found so many adventures and riches.

Mountain Men of the West

Ashley & Henry, Jim Bridger, Hugh Glass, Jim Beckworth, and the most famous of all, Jedediah Strong Smith were among the 1,000 men that opened the American West. Some were educated and some were illiterate, but all believed it possible to alter one's condition and to be able to rise from poverty to wealth through one's own efforts. Many retired as bankers, merchants, Indian Agents or great wilderness guides.

The life was a harsh one living a mostly solitary life in the wilderness with one's own wits and ingenuity providing the means to survive and prosper.

This map gives a view of the mountains in northeastern Utah near where Ashley went on his expeditions. These mountains were the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

They either lived alone, in small groups or among the local Indians. Many of the mountain men learned the ways of the Indians and sometimes purchased Indian wives to assist them in their endeavors and to provide companionship.

These men wore buckskins and furs for warmth. In learning the ways of the Indian, they learned to understand nature and their environment better.

Typical Mountain Man

Author Robert Utley in an interview with Sierra Adare says, "White traders could not have dropped into the Indian world without upsetting the balance. In total ignorance, Thomas Jefferson ordered Lewis & Clark to make peace with all peoples and among all Indian tribes. Misperceptions abounded on both sides as a result of simplistic and unrealistic objectives for dealing with Indians. The irony here is that after two crossings of the continent, Colter and the other mountain men did not have a clue about what a mess they were making for those who came later".

This Illustration of Rendezvous at Pierre's Hole, west of the Teton Range in 1832, is in the Library of Congress. William Henry Ashley started the Rendezvous in 1825 and it continued through 1840.

In the 1825 business papers, it shows that Ashley's income for the Rendezvouz was $31,500 and his expenses were $16,000, giving him a profit of $15,500 for the two week event. What would $15,500 be in 1999 dollars????

There is no doubt that the courage and the exploits of the mountain men opened the west for further settlement by the newly formed United States. The U.S. was beginnings its period of its Manifest Destiny in which everyone considered it their destiny to expand westward from ocean to ocean. Some have called the period from the early 1820's through 1850 as the 'Time of Unboundlessness' in which it seemed that all confinements that had been on man before were suddenly no longer present.

The mountain men were a loosely formed group of individuals. The most famous Jedediah Smith was known for his butcher knife in his belt and the Bible in his bedroll. Much of his geographical knowledge was recorded and published. He was also one of the first to reach the Pacific on his expeditions.