With only a mile remaining to the stream, he turned to run again, and managed to reach the river ahead of his enemies. Here the accounts vary, one has it that Colter plunged into the stream and swam under water to a nearby beaver house in which he took refuge. The other, and probably more likely version, says he swam to an island and hid beneath a mass of driftwood that had lodged against the shore. Although the Indians searched for him for the remainder of the day, probing the tangled mass of drift with poles and lances, Colter, in his place of concealment, avoided detection. After nightfall he made his escape and began his trek of nearly 300 miles back to Lisa’s post. Without weapons or any other means of obtaining food, he managed to reach the fort several days later, in the last stages of exhaustion, feet lacerated and torn by rocks and cactus spines, half starved and barely alive. Colter made two more trips into the area of the Three Forks. Both times he narrowly escaped death at the hands of the Blackfeet; several of his companions were killed. In 1810 Colter came to the decision that he had had enough of the Blackfeet, narrow escapes, and the repeated loss of furs, traps, and equipment. He left the country, this time to return to civilization without deviation or delay. He settled on a little farm in Missouri, married, and lived there for his remaining years. Colter died in 1813, reportedly from jaundice. The legal notice of the final settlement of his estate placed its value at $229.41. So ended, at an age of only 38 years, the career of one of America’s greatest frontiersmen, a forerunner of the famous “Mountain Men.” Nevertheless, what a lot of living and adventure Colter crammed into the short span of his 7 years beyond the Missouri. Colter’s part in the early exploration of one of the most rugged sections of America will forever stand as an heroic achievement. He was the West’s first great pathfinder, a fitting figure to set the pace for those who followed his lonely paths into the wildest areas of the Far Western frontier. [Illustration: PHOTO BY HERB POWNALL The Colter Memorial, dedicated in June, 1957, stands on the shore of Colter Bay, Jackson Lake, Grand Teton National Park.] THIS BAY IS NAMED FOR JOHN COLTER DISCOVERER OF THE TETON MOUNTAINS AND SCENIC WONDERS OF THE UPPER YELLOWSTONE. EXPERIENCED AS A HUNTER FOR THE 1804-1806 LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION, HE EXPLORED THIS REGION IN WINTER OF 1807-1808 IN THE EMPLOY OF FUR TRADER MANUEL LISA DEDICATED ON THE 150^TH ANNIVERSARY OF COLTER’S HISTORIC PASSAGE. 1957 WYOMING HISTORICAL SOCIETY PARTICIPATION Bibliography Beal, Merrill D.: _The Story of Man in Yellowstone_, The Caxton Printers, Ltd., Caldwell, Idaho, 1949.