Henry Fraeb, also called Frapp, was a mountain man, fur trader, and trade post operator of the American West, operating in the present-day states of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

, and

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

. __TOC__

Early life

Fraeb, of German heritage, was from

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

Mountain man

Fraeb trapped for beaver fur in the Rocky Mountain region, including

, where he is his considered one of the pioneering fur traders. He then was one of the owners of the

Rocky Mountain Fur Company The enterprise that eventually came to be known as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company was established in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1822 by William Henry Ashley and Andrew Henry. Among the original employees, known as "Ashley's Hundred," were Jedediah ...

, along with

Jim Bridger James Felix "Jim" Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old ...

Milton Sublette Milton Green Sublette (c. 1801–1837), was an American frontiersman, trapper, fur trader, explorer, and mountain man. He was the second of five Sublette brothers prominent in the western fur trade; William, Andrew, and Solomon. Milton was one of ...

, Jean Baptiste Gervais, and Thomas Fitzpatrick. They bought the company in 1830 from the previous owners for $30,000, paying off the balance in three years. Although they were great trappers, they did not have experience in dealing with savvy, wealthy competitors. For instance, they had delayed shipments of furs back east, which resulted in cash flow and credit issues. Fraeb stated that he sold his partnership for $1,000 in merchandise, 40 horses, 40 traps, and eight guns. The company folded in 1834. Fraeb became an independent trapper, until 1837, when he opened the Fort Jackson trading post near Ione, Colorado with his partner Peter Sarpy. Nearby posts and competitors were

Fort Vasquez Fort Vasquez is a former fur trade, fur trading post northeast of Denver, Colorado, United States, founded by Louis Vasquez and Andrew Sublette in 1835. Restored by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, it now lies in a rather incongruo ...

, Fort Lupton, and

Fort Saint Vrain Fort Saint Vrain was an 1837 fur trading post built by the Bent, St. Vrain Company, and located at the confluence of Saint Vrain Creek and the South Platte River, about 20 miles (32 km) east of the Rocky Mountains in the unorganized terri ...

. Their backer, the Pratte, Chouteau & Company, sold the post to Bent, St. Vrain & Company. As the demand dropped for beaver fur, Fraeb focused on buffalo fur. In 1841, Fraeb and Bridger built a log trading post, Fraeb's Post, near the Continental Divide and the Colorado-Wyoming Border. It was located at the confluence of the Little Snake River and Battle Creek at . Fraeb and four others were killed in August 1841 by Sioux warriors at Battle Creek. He had been leading a group of 23 buffalo hunters into Encampment Valley when they were attacked by 500 Sioux,

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...

and

Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho ba ...

warriors. With him was friend and fellow mountain man, Jim Baker. Baker said that the Native Americans made about 40 charges to within 10 or 15 feet of the group of hunters, who had sought protection inside a circle made of their horses. Fraeb, who led the group shouted to not shoot until they were sure they had a shot. In the end, after finding a safer place behind log fortifications, the hunters repulsed the assaults. An estimated 40 Native Americans were killed or wounded. The five hunters who were killed were buried near the battle site.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraeb, Henry 1841 deaths Mountain men People from St. Louis