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.