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Show 18 Sublette, and E*tienne Provost, all of whom became intimately associated with the exploration of the Great Basin as did the Rocky Mountain Fur Company in general. Like Ogden, who entered the Basin at practically the same time, these men quickly made themselves familiar with the streams issuing from the Wasatch Range in the northeast quarter of the Great Basin. James Bridger followed the Bear River in the spring of 1825 and became the discoverer of the Great Salt Lake thinking it was an arm of the sea.3 General Ashley was particularly interested in ascertaining the truth of the Bueanaventura's supposed outlet to the Pacific, and he raised no little speculation about it. He himself followed the Green River for many miles in the spring of 1825 to determine if it was indeed the reputed Pacific stream. In 1826 Ashley made another attempt to discover the Buenaventura. Following the Bear River, which he supposed to be the headwaters of the Buenaventura, he reached the Great Salt Lake and dispatched four men in canoes to find the lake's outlet (supposedly to the sea) and locate any fur-bearing streams. In the latter they were disappointed, but as for the outlet to the sea, they believed they found it when they sighted an opening on the western shore. Shallow water prevented a close examination, however. Thus, the myth created by the Dominguez-Escalante expedition was alive and well after fifty years. Later in 1826 Ashley sold the company to Jedediah Smith, David Jackson, and William Sublette. Major Henry bad already dropped out the previous year. The three partners attempted to push their operations further westward, believing that greater profits could be made by exporting their furs from the Pacific coast. Smith, like Ashley, was a firm believer in the existence of the Buenaventura River, and he speedily organized an expedition for the unknown regions southwest of the Great Salt Lake to find the river and fur. |