Legendary figure of the early American West

books:

	• Bill Sublette: Mountain Man John E. Sunder University of Oklahoma Press, 1981 - 176 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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Legendary figure of the early American West

Since I enjoy reading about the fur trade era, and since I live in Wyoming with a county named after Sublette, I decided to read the biography of this noteworthy man to gain a better understanding as to what part he played in the early American West. John Sunder has done a wonderful job of research and writing in this book. It was a pleasure to read. William Sublette was a man of remarkable stature, being so instrumental in all aspects of the fur trade from the early 1820's to the mid 1830's. After reading one adventure after another during these mountain years in Wyoming, the author then takes us past these formative years to when Sublette was later a prominent farmer, businessman and political affiliate in the St. Louis area. I can see why Wyoming named a county after him.

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A giant in the fur trade

William L. Sublette was one of the most important of the Mountain Men during the ten-year period 1823-1833. He was present at many of the most memorable events in the Far West during that time period and had associations with a number of the leading figures in western exploration and the trans-Missouri fur trade. Born in Kentucky, he was a member of Ashley's second expedition up the Missouri and participated in the ill-fated Arikara War that took place in June 1823 at the Arikara villages in northern South Dakota. Later that year he accompanied Jedediah Smith and Thomas Fitzpatrick to the Wind River, and then trapped along the Green before going with Smith to the Snake country. In 1826, on the Bear River, Ashley sold out his interest in the fur trade to Sublette, Jackson, and Smith. In the fall Sublette trapped the Yellowstone country (Yellowstone Lake was then known as Sublette Lake), before wintering in Cache Valley.

On January 1, 1827, he and Black Harris set off for the States on snowshoes, reaching Lexington, MO, by early March after a difficult journey. For the next few years Sublette took provisions from Missouri to the mountain rendezvous, only to return in the winter with that year's furs. In 1830, he used ten wagons, the first wagons to go through South Pass. Smith, Jackson, & Sublette sold out to the Rocky Mountain Fur Company that same year, and in 1831 he set out with Smith to Santa Fe from St. Louis with trade goods; it was on this trip that the fabled Smith was killed by Cheyennes.

He returned to St. Louis and got together another outfit for the Rockies and was at the Pierre's Hole rendezvous in 1832, where he was wounded during the Battle of Pierre's Hole by Gros Ventres Indians. He returned to the mountains again the following year, reaching the Yellowstone, but was so ill he returned to St. Louis by November. He sold his fur business to the American Fur Company, and then with Robert Campbell in 1834 established Fort William on the Laramie River (later Fort Laramie). The next year Fort William was sold and Sublette retired from the fur trade. He set up a mercantile business in St. Louis and became interested in local politics. He went back to the mountains one last time, in 1843, when he accompanied William Drummond Stewart, a wealthy Scotsman, on a "tour" of the Rockies. He died in Pittsburgh in 1845 of consumption and was buried in St. Louis.

Dale Morgan once wrote that Sublette "was probably the most consistently fortunate man ever to enter the Western fur trade," and other than being wounded at Pierre's Hole in 1832, it appears to be true. He was one of the few mountain men who retired comfortably on the money he made in the fur trade. John Sunder's biography is magnificent and captures the man, his accomplishments, and his times, especially in the mountains, perfectly. It's among the best of the mountain man biographies available, and I recommend it highly to anyone interested in the subject.

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