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Beaver Trap

Beaver Trap.jpg Whiskey KegsThumbnailsDaniel T. Potts at the Bear Lake rendezvous of 1827Whiskey KegsThumbnailsDaniel T. Potts at the Bear Lake rendezvous of 1827Whiskey KegsThumbnailsDaniel T. Potts at the Bear Lake rendezvous of 1827Whiskey KegsThumbnailsDaniel T. Potts at the Bear Lake rendezvous of 1827Whiskey KegsThumbnailsDaniel T. Potts at the Bear Lake rendezvous of 1827

For a few years after Stuart’s party disappeared up Hoback Canyon, the Tetons and Jackson’s Hole were left in solitude. Due to the hostility of the Blackfeet, the loss of Astoria in the War of 1812, and the indifference of the Federal Government, American interest in the Western Fur trade suffered a relapse. British interests now took the initiative. In 1816 the Northwest Company, licensed by the Crown to trade in Oregon, put Donald McKenzie in charge of the Snake River division. From Fort Nez Perce at the mouth of the Walla Walla, he set forth in September of 1818 at the head of an expedition “composed of fifty-five men, of all denominations, 195 horses and 300 beaver traps, besides a considerable stock of merchandise.”