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Show 16 the docile people with whom Escalante dealt had become far more aggressive and property-oriented than had been the case 37 years earlier. Perhaps their relationship with the whites had developed well enough that they were capable of holding their own and more in their remote area. Also, it is indicative of the fact that there was a trade relationship which had developed. The trade of 109 pelts is most interesting to the historian of the American West;.it represents the earliest fur trade known in the Great Basin. During this same era, the borders of the Utes were beginning to feel the presence of other whites. Starting with the "Lost Astorians" on the north, the Pike Expedition on the east, and soon to be followed by more of the men from New Mexico in search of fur from the south, the whites were beginning to encroach. Peaceful relations between the Utes and the Spanish were preserved with no fear lU being manifested by these Indian people. The invasive practice of the whites was to cause a good deal \ of trouble, but this developed slowly. Wihen Mexico gained her independence from Spain, and American trade paths opened routes from Missouri to Santa Fe, events on the upper Missouri forced the trappers to routes further south because of the violence of Indian opposition in the Arikara Wars. As the trappers pushed further south, they began to use Ute lands and streams from which to gather their wealth. l^LeRoy R. Hafen, The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West, Vol. 1, (Glendale, California. The Arthur H. Clark Company, 196U), pp. 62-63. |