Fur Traders Rendezvous

For two summers, this corner of Bear Lake was the center of the fur trade. The mountain men had no forts and no towns; once a year they gathered at an appointed spot to swap a winter's beaver for powder, traps, and supplies hauled from St. Louis. It happened here in 1826 and 1827. The 1827 rendezvous of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company — Sublette, Jackson, and Jedediah Smith — took in 130 bales of beaver and broke up in mid-July, after Smith returned from a brutal journey to California. Native bands gathered here too, on ground long theirs.

What the plaque says

The Rocky Mountain Fur Company, headed by Milton G. Sublette, David E. Jackson and Jedediah S. Smith, conducted a fur trading rendezvous in this vicinity in June-July, 1827, taking 130 bales of beaver furs for shipment to St. Louis by pack train. Sublette had left St. Louis in March with 60 men and merchandise, arriving via South Pass in late June. The trading was concluded and all parties dispersed in mid-July 1827, following the return of Smith from a perilous journey to California. Traders were also here in 1826. Large bands of Indians frequently gather here.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bear Lake Raspberry Shakes — 5.8 mi
  Legendary raspberry milkshakes from locally grown berries
• Bear Lake — 6.9 mi
  The Caribbean of the Rockies — a turquoise lake straddling the Utah-Idaho border
• Beaver Mountain Ski Area — 12 mi
  A family-owned ski hill that has been run by the same family since 1939
• Jardine Juniper — 14 mi
  One of the oldest living trees in the world at over 1,500 years old

More markers nearby

• The First Oregon Trail — 8.4 mi
• Old Ephraim Bear — 11 mi
• Temple Fork Sawmill — 12 mi
• Randolph Veterans Memorial — 16 mi