Harris, Burton: _John Colter, His Years in the Rockies_, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1952. Mattes, Merrill J.: “Jackson Hole, Crossroads of the Western Fur Trade, 1807-1840,” _The Pacific Northwest Quarterly_, Volume 37, April, 1946 and Volume 39, January, 1948. Mattes, Merrill, J.: “Behind the Legend of Colter’s Hell, the Early Exploration of Yellowstone National Park,” _Mississippi Valley Historical Review_, September, 1949. Mumey, Nolie: _The Teton Mountains, Their History and Tradition_, The Artcraft Press, Denver, 1947. Vinton, Stallo: _John Colter, Discoverer of Yellowstone Park_, Edward Eberstadt, New York, 1926. [Illustration: Beaver pond] THE MOUNTAIN MEN IN JACKSON HOLE. By Merlin K. Potts, _former Chief Park Naturalist_ MOUNTAIN MAN. The very term has an aura of romance, and the mountain man of the Fur Trade Era was a romantic character, as he most frequently appears in the novels of the wild Far West. He also appears as an uncouth, illiterate, morally degenerate, lazy lout, addicted to prolonged debauchery, often little better, sometimes inferior, to the savages with whom he frequently associated. Between this extreme, and the fearless, hardy, resourceful wanderer of the lonely plains and mountain highlands, lies the true measure of these men of the mountains. Some were as bad as they were painted, many were as fine as history describes them. They were the products of their time, neither better, nor worse, than any cross-section of the men of any time. They were, none-the-less, unique even among the pioneers of their day. Their chosen land was far beyond the outposts of the settlements, their fellows were few, they moved through the most remote sections of America, often alone, sometimes in the company of a handful of companions. Mountain men were the first to explore the Far West; beyond the Missouri, through the Rockies, across the Great American Desert, from the Southwest to Canada, and to the Western Sea. They came not as explorers, such intent probably never occurred to them. Their sole interest was in the quest for pelts, particularly the fine fur of the beaver. Beaver hats were the vogue during the period of the Western Fur Trade, roughly 1800-40. Until this headpiece was supplanted by the silk hat, the trappers followed the fur, their trails crossing and recrossing virtually every area where beaver were to be taken. Some were independent trappers, some were attached to various fur companies. To the organizers of the trade, the “business men” behind the enterprises, fell the financial rewards. The trappers, except in rare instances, barely made a living at their profession. Their rewards were, many times, an unmarked grave or broken health, a maimed and crippled body, or, if they survived to a ripe old age of perhaps 60 years, memories of a lifetime of adventure multiplied many times beyond the normal conception.