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Show 15 discoveries which would have an impact on future exploration in the Great Basin. First: a large coastal range of mountains seemed to barricade all major river systems from entering the sea with the exception of the Columbia River; and second: the existence of a rich supply of fur-bearing animals in the Pacific Northwest. It was speculated that the Buenaventura was somehow connected with the Columbia system. This vas also the belief of the Lewis and Clark expedition which explored the Northwest from l804 to l806. The latter also believed another river broke through the mountains which emptied into the San Francisco Bay. Although neither Lewis and Clark nor Cook or Vancouver ever entered the Great Basin, their speculations of an outlet to the sea from the interior regions along with their disclosure of a rich supply of fur in the northwest induced the introduction of organized fur companies into the area which eventually pushed their way into the Great Basin, and within the two decades to follow, they would cross its breadth. The first of these ventures was Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company formed in 1810. During Astor's first expedition to Oregon commanded by Wilson Price Hunt, Joseph Miller and four companions detached themselves from the main party near present St. Anthony, Idaho and marched south to the Bear River in the previously uncharted northeast corner of the Great Basin. Because of an uncertain fur market and British initiated Indian hostilities during the War of 1812, trade was brought to a near halt in the Rocky Mountains. Interest was revived at the close of the war, however, and by 1822 several major fur operations were competing in the trans-Mississippi west. The daring Donald Mackenzie of the British Northwest Fur Company organized the first Snake Country Expedition in 1818 which ranged as far south as the Bear River in the Great Basin. In succeeding years Mackenzie made two additional expeditions into the saae area. Mackenzie was purged, |