86 BOOK OF A HUNDRED BEARS 



them was a tradition of volcanic eruptions, of 

 great fires and convulsions of nature. More or 

 less, the other Indians were superstitious about 

 the Park. Without exact knowledge as to its 

 wonders, the Great Spirit had there made him- 

 self manifest. He was still at work and they 

 avoided it. Even the Sheep Eaters inhabited 

 only the northern portion and knew nothing, 

 except by tradition, of the Geyser Basins. 



For long the Hudson Bay Fur Company held 

 this territory with its patriarchal sway until 

 John Jacob Astor and the American Fur Company, 

 following the Lewis and Clarke expedition, dis- 

 puted their title. The Astor Company abandoned 

 the field, but the Northwest Fur Company, of 

 Montreal, lawed the old company almost to its 

 ruin, until a compromise was effected, in 1821, 

 and the Hudson Bay Company held the field. 



In 1834, Astor sold his interests to Platte, 

 Choteau & Company of St. Louis, out of which 

 Choteau laid the foundation of his great fortune. 



About the same time the Rocky Mountain Fur 

 Company was established, at whose head were 



