The Trappers
The fur trade was an important industry long before the Revolution, but after the Westward Movement opened up the region beyond the Mississippi, the search for furs moved to the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Northwest. Much of the Far West was first visited by the trappers, who ranged widely in their lonely and often hazardous vocation. Many of them were French Canadians or of French extraction, such as Henry Chatillon, the guide of Parkman’s party. In the following selection we have printed an episode from the early career of General Isaac Jones Wistar, who later became a general in the Union Army during the Civil War. Wistar at this time, about 1850, was running his trap lines in the Peace River region of western Canada. François is his partner. Needless to say, trapping was a winter occupation.