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Lewis & Clark Expedition - Bicentennial

Fred's Anecdotal Note

Private John Colter

Born in Virginia, his family moved to Kentucky when he was five. Colter was intelligent and amicable, but, most of all, he was a man of extraordinary courage. He was trusted by the captains with many important missions and special tasks during the journey.

On the return trip, as the Corps of Discovery neared the Mandan village, they encountered two trappers heading west. John decided to join them, and, on August 13, 1806 was the first to be honorably discharged from the Corps. As his companions of two years continued on to a hero's welcome and the comforts of home, Colter and the fwo trappers headed back into the westem wilderness. During the next five years, he trapped the Yellowstone area and, in 1807 while traveling alone, was the first white man to see Jackson's Hole, Yellowstone Lake, and the thermal hot springs and geysers. In an l8l0 visit to St. Louis, he met with Captain Clark to provide numerous new

details for a map published in 1814. John Colter was a valuable Corps member and then gained individual fame as America's first mountain man.