John Colter

The sign's 'discovered this valley' rests on a single stone. Colter left no written account; his route in the winter of 1807-08 survives only in what he told William Clark and what Clark drew on his 1814 map. In the early 1930s William Beard and his son, clearing timber on their farm east of Tetonia, dug up a lump of rhyolite shaped like a head, carved with the name John Colter on one side and 1808 on the other. If genuine it puts him over Teton Pass and in this valley. It has never been authenticated.

What the plaque says

John Colter Discovered this valley in 1808 while exploring the Yellowstone and upper Snake country in search of beaver. Setting out all by himself with his gun and a 30 pound pack, he tried to get the Indians to join in his trapping business. On his way here from a Yellowstone post 240 miles to the northeast, he came upon Colter's Hell -- some hot springs near Cody, Wyoming. On his way back, he explored Yellowstone Park. In the spring of 1810, after several perilous escapes from the Blackfeet, he returned to Missouri, lucky to get back alive. 225 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Teton Dam Site — 23 mi
  Geologists warned that the canyon walls would leak. The warnings were softened, the dam was finished, and it never held a full reservoir.
• Warm River — 25 mi
  Union Pacific built the Yellowstone Branch for tourists. At the bottom of this canyon it turned the engines that pushed them uphill.

More markers nearby

• Teton Range — steps away
• Pierre's Hole — 7.5 mi
• Teton Flood — 22 mi
• The Three Tetons — 27 mi