Pierre Louis Vasquez also known as Luis Vázquez (October 3, 1798 – September 5, 1868) was a mountain man and trader. He was a contemporary of many famous European-American explorers of the early west and would come to know many of them, including

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 ...

Manuel Lisa Manuel Lisa, also known as Manuel de Lisa (September 8, 1772 in New Orleans Louisiana (New Spain) – August 12, 1820 in St. Louis, Missouri), was a Spanish citizen and later, became an American citizen who, while living on the western frontier, ...

Kit Carson Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman. He was a fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent, and U.S. Army officer. He became a frontier legend in his own lifetime by biographies and ...

and Andrew Sublette, besides his own father Benito Vázquez.

Family and early life

Louis was born and raised at

St. Louis, Missouri 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 ...

. He was the son of the Spanish fur trader Benito Vázquez and Marie-Julie Papin (daughter of Pierre Papin & Catherine Guichard), so was of Spanish and French Canadian (European) descent. In 1823, he became a fur trader, receiving his first license to trade with the

Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language: * Pawnee people * Pawnee language Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States: * Pawnee, Illinois * Pawnee, Kansas * Pawnee, Missouri * Pawnee City, Nebraska ...

. By the early 1830s he had shifted his operations to the mountains, becoming a popular and active mountain man and trader. Having been educated by the priests at the St. Louis Cathedral, he was one of the few mountain men that was literate. Although he signed all of his letters, as "Louis", Pierre Louis was nicknamed "Old Vaskiss" by other Mountain men. Louis was the youngest of eleven brothers.

Noted activities

In 1834, Louis Vasquez became a partner of Andrew Sublette and went back to trade on the

South Platte The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/ Mountain West. Its ...

after obtaining a trading license in St. Louis, Missouri, from

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Miss ...

, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs. In 1835 he built

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 ...

. He traveled back and forth between the mountains and St. Louis almost yearly, his reputation growing. Unable to turn a profit, they sold Fort Vasquez to Lock and Randolph in 1840, who subsequently went bankrupt and abandoned the structure in 1842. Due to the bankruptcy, Louis Vasquez and Andrew Sublette could not collect the sum owed to them for the sale. Vasquez then became associated with Jim Bridger. By 1843 they had built

Fort Bridger Fort Bridger was originally a 19th-century fur trading outpost established in 1842, on Blacks Fork of the Green River, in what is now Uinta County, Wyoming, United States. It became a vital resupply point for wagon trains on the Oregon Trail, C ...

on Blacks Fork of the

Green River Green River may refer to: Rivers Canada * Green River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Lillooet River *Green River, a tributary of the Saint John River, also known by its French name of Rivière Verte *Green River (Ontario), a tributary of ...

, which became as much an emigrant station as trading post. At St. Louis in 1846 Vasquez married a widow, Mrs. Narcissa Land Ashcraft and took his new family, her son and daughter, to

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 ...

. There they had three more children; Louis, Marianne and Sara. Vasquez opened a store at

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

in 1855. He and Bridger sold their fort in 1858, but Vasquez already had retired to

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 ...

. In 1868 he died at his Westport home, and was buried at St. Mary's Church cemetery. Years before, in 1853, Louis Vasquez gave to his good friend Jim Bridger his own rifle as a gift. From 1998 the rifle is shown at the

Museum of the Mountain Man Museum of the Mountain Man is a museum located in Pinedale, Wyoming, US that exhibits western historical pieces relating to the mountain men A mountain man is an explorer who lives in the wilderness. Mountain men were most common in the North A ...

Pinedale, Wyoming Pinedale is a town in and the county seat of Sublette County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 2,030 at the 2010 census. Pinedale is an important hunting outfitting town and a gateway to the Wind River Mountains. It is also a major g ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasquez, Louis 1798 births 1868 deaths Mountain men People of Colonial Spanish Louisiana People of pre-statehood Missouri People from St. Louis American people of Spanish descent