The First Trappers

View of the Sawtooths from Galena Summit

Although the Louisana Purchase was made in 1803, and fur companies established in the Great Northwest even before Lewis and Clark made their trek in 1805-06 no white man had ever set eyes on the Stanley-Sawtooth country before 1824. He came in the person of Alexander Ross, a Scot school teacher transplanted from Canada, and who, at the age of twenty-eight, relinquished his profession to fall in with John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company in 1811.

From the start, Ross was curious to know what lay southwest of Pierre’s Hole and Henry’s Fork. Even so, it was thirteen years later before he was able to organize a party to make the expedition. In the spring of 1824, with a mixed party of Canadians and Indians, numbering fifty-five, he penetrated from what we know as Montana over Lost Trail Pass to the mouth of the Lemhi where the town of Salmon is now located. He named this junction of the rivers “Canoe Point”. Here, he cached over 1,000 beaver pelts to lighten their load, and went on to explore much of the Lost River drainage, working his way to the Boise and Weiser areas, and eventually to Big Wood River. Near its headwaters, he was drawn by the splendor of the Sawtooth and Boulder mountains.

“What lies beyond?” he wrote in his journal, “On the Morrow we shall see.” And see they did, from Galena Summit (elevation 8,701 ft.), which he called “Simpson Mountain” in honor of the governor of Mantitoba, Canada… Date: September 18, 1824. While he stood there with with those of his party, enthralled by the wild, scenic beauty of the valley spread below, Ross calculated that by following the river (Salmon) downstream, they could surely connect back at Canoe Point by mid-October. This was important with winter near, coupled by the fact he had agreed to meet back with old Pierre when the party had split on the Lost River that spring. Therefore, he knew he could not tarry long in the Valley and Basin, but felt he must explore this enchanting region at any cost.

The party found wild game plentiful on the Valley and Basin floors. Deer and elk herds were feeding everywhere. However, Ross was most impressed by the number of grizzly and black bears. He made note in his journal of observing dozens on a four acre plot where “they were rooting like a bunch of pigs.” Note: When he spoke of the bears rooting, he was referring to the camas lilly bulbs that grow abundantly in parts of the Stanley Basin, and which were relished as food by the animals and Indians.

October arrived turning the region into a riot of color. A decided chill filled the air. Many beaver had been added to the party’s count, and it was time to go. Reluctantly, turning downstream, as they progressed through the steep-walled canyons (where Highway 93 now bends along side the Salmon River towards Clayton) travel became slow and precarious. At one point, Ross even considered back tracking their route, but time was short and they went on. After the loss of several horses packed with beaver pelts down the shaley mountain side, they finally emerged where Salmon bends northward (two miles south of where the town of Challis was located in 1878), weary in bone and body. Here they rested a day, then went on to meet Old Pierre, and back to winter quarters at Astoria Oregon.

There Ross told of their exploration of the beautiful, wild river and the region where it gathers its headwaters. Ross was soon followed by other trappers, namely; Jed Smith, John Work, Peter Skene Ogden, Nathaniel Wyeth, Captain Bonneville, and Milton Sublette.

From: Stanley-Sawtooth Country by, Esther Yarber