2 MISC. CIRCULAR 4 7, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



on the map (pp. 10-11), which shows that by far the greater part of 

 the population of the intermoimtain region is crowded close to the 

 mountain ranges covered by national-forest lands. In central 

 Idaho, where there is a considerable population somewhat remote 

 from national forests, the two are nevertheless closely linked by the 

 Snake River, which receives the water needed by this population 

 from the mountains within national forests. 



FORESTS AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 



In tracing the history of the function of mountain lands in the 

 development of this region, it must be remembered that the areas 

 which were only " mountain lands " for so many years are now 

 national forests, and that the problems of these lands are now first 

 and foremost national-forest problems. National-forest administra- 

 tion now deals with virtually all the resources which the mountains 

 and mountain lands have furnished all through the years since white 

 men came into this region and began its development. 



FUR TRADING 



EAELY HISTORY 



After the explorers — I^'ather Escalante and his party, who came 

 up from what is now Arizona in 1776-77, and Lewis and Clark, 

 who in 1804 entered a corner of this region in passing from what is 

 now Montana into Idaho on their way westward — the first white men 

 to invade the region were the fur traders. Andrew Henry, the 

 first American to push the fur trade across the Continental Divide, 

 built Henry's Fort in the fall of 1809 below the present town of 

 St. Anthony and near what is now the Targhee National Forest, in 

 eastern Idaho. He found the traffic unsatisfactory in that region, 

 however, and retreated from his outpost the following spring. In 

 1811 the overland party of Astorians on their way to the Pacific 

 Northwest left detachments at this fort with instructions to trap 

 in the ujDper Snake River region. In 1819 Hudson Bay trappers 

 from the north worked down through much of southern Idaho, and 

 in 1824 large expeditions representing both the Hudson Bay Fur Co. 

 from the north and Americans from the east came into the inter- 

 mountain country. Gen. William H. Ashley, Jedediah Smith, Jim 

 Bridger, and other famous frontiersmen were connected with the 

 American party. After this year the whole intermountain region 

 was well covered by trappers, both American and British. 



In those days the trappers chiefly sought beaver fur, which brought 

 the highest price, and worked mainly in the mountains. To them 

 the vallej^s meant primarily easy avenues of travel or favorable spots 

 in which to rendezvous and spend the winter. In the mountain 

 forests the beaver swarmed on the creeks. The aspen tree, the 

 favorite food of the beaver, was plentiful, and trappers throughout 

 the region found the mountains a most satisfactory and profitable 

 hunting ground. 



PKESENT OUTLOOK 



The glorious days of the fur trader have long since gone, trapping 

 is now a much less picturesque pursuit, and the supply of fur-bearing 

 animals has been depleted. Even now, however, the annual sale of 



