Captain Bonneville, Soldier and Explorer
Captain Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville was born in Paris in 1796. His family immigrated to the United States, where he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1815 and entered the army. After gaining experience with the fur trade while serving at frontier posts, Bonneville obtained a leave of absence from the army to lead an expedition into the Rocky Mountains.
Captain Bonneville left for Fort Osage on the Missouri in May 1932, with 110 men. He traveled by wagon train to save the delay of packing and unpacking horses. He hoped this would discourage the Indians from stealing the horses. Wagons were also easily defended and provided good protection. He hired several Delaware Indians as hunters.
Though the route of the North Platte was unknown to him he took it because buffalo would be more plentiful on that route. His party reached the Wind River mountains on July 20, and on July 24, passed the Sweetwater and headed west. The route was too rough for wagons. So they cached most of their goods near the Green River. They were hungry and thirsty when they finally reached the upper Salmon River on September 19. They established their winter quarters on September 26.
Game was scarce that winter and they had a hard time feeding themselves. A party of five families of Nez Perce joined them on October 8. They had no food either, though they showed the captain a few wild plants to eat. On December 9, they were forced to move the camp to the north fork of the Salmon River to find game. There was lots of bunchgrass to feed the horses, and elk and mountain sheep were plentiful. On February 28, Bonneville tried trapping for the first time at the Godin River.
At the beginning of June, Bonneville tried to barter with the Indians but the local Hudson's Bay Company man had such a monopoly on them, they would not trade. He decided to go on to the rendezvous at Green River. After the rendezvous, Bonneville wanted to go west, especially to the Columbia River, to trade at Astoria. He also wanted to see the Great Salt Lake and assess its potential for trapping. So one group went one way and Bonneville went another, with the Bear River Valley being the rendezvous point.
By July 25, he had reached the Wind River mountains of Wyoming. He followed the Popo Agie River to "the great tar spring." From there they traveled through the mountains to Medicine Lodge on the Bighorn River.
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