South Pass Discovered 
107 
The inevitable was simply coming to pass: one more act in 
the world-play of continental subjugation to the European. 
Xhe United States, born in privation and blood, were grow¬ 
ing into a nation eager for expansion, and by 1815 they had 
already ventured beyond the Mississippi, having purchased 
from France all territory north of Red River, the Arkansas, 
and the 42nd parallel, as far as the unsettled British boundary 
and the disputed region of Oregon. Naturally, then, Ameri¬ 
cans wanted to know what was to be found in this vast tract 
unknown to them, and when a few bold spirits pushed out to 
the great mountains it was discovered that fur-bearing animals 
existed in multitude. In the trapping of these and the trad¬ 
ing in their pelts a huge industry sprang up. In this trade 
future millionaires laid their foundations. 
The beaver were then the most profitable of all, and they 
were the most abundant. The pelts were estimated by 
“packs,” each of which consisted of about eighty skins, 
weighing one hundred pounds, and worth in the mountains 
from three hundred to five hundred dollars. The profits were 
thus speedy and very great. In the search for the richest re¬ 
wards the trapper continually pushed farther and farther away 
from the “States,” encroaching at length on the territory 
claimed by Spain, a claim to be soon (1821) adopted by the 
new-born Mexican Republic. Trespassing on the tribal rights 
of Blackfoot, Sioux, Ute, or any other did not enter into any 
one’s mind as something to be considered. Thus, rough-shod 
the trapper broke the wilderness, fathomed its secret places, 
traversed its trails and passes, marking them with his own 
blood and more vividly with that of the natives. Incidentally, 
by right of their discoveries and occupation of the wilderness, 
much of it became by the law of nations a part of the lands of 
the United States, though still nominally claimed by Mexico. 
Two years after the return of the famous Lewis-and-Clark ex¬ 
pedition, Andrew Henry “discovered ” South Pass (1808), and 
led his party through it into the Green River' Valley. His 
* The name Green River was used as early as 1824, and was probably derived 
from the name of the early trapper. Till about 1835 it was usually called by the 
Crow name, Seedskeedee. 
