Osborne Russell (19 June 1814 – 1 May 1884) was a

mountain man A mountain man is an explorer who lives in the wilderness. Mountain men were most common in the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through to the 1880s (with a peak population in the early 1840s). They were instrumental in opening up ...

and politician who helped form the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. He was born in Maine.

Early life

Osborne Russell was born 19 June 1814, in the village of Bowdoinham, Maine. He was one of nine children in the farming family of George G. and Eleanor (Power) Russell. At age 16, Russell ran away for a life at sea, but quickly gave up that career by deserting his ship at New York. Afterwards he spent three years in the employ of the Northwest Fur Trapping and Trading Company, which operated in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Russell first came to the

Oregon Country Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been created by the Treaty of 1818, co ...

in 1834 as a member of Nathaniel J. Wyeth's second expedition where Russell joined Nathaniel Wyeth's Columbia River Fishing and Trading Company expedition to the Rocky Mountains. The company was contracted to deliver $3,000 worth of supplies and trade goods to Milton Sublette and Thomas Fitzpatrick of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company for the 1834 Rendezvous. Men for this venture were recruited on the frontier at St Louis and Independence, Missouri. It was in Independence that Osborne Russell joined the company. The term of service was for eighteen months at a wage of $250. In spite of his previous experience with the Northwest Fur Trapping and Trading Company, Russell was still inexperienced in the ways of the wilderness when he joined Wyeth's company. Through his journal we see Russell develop into a seasoned veteran of the mountains and a Free Trapper. When Wyeth's party arrived at the Rendezvous at Ham's Fork of

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 ...

, he found that the Rocky Mountain Fur Company had been dissolved and a new company formed. The new company defaulted on its contract with Wyeth, who was then left with a surplus of goods and supplies that he had transported to the mountains. By necessity, Wyeth had to alter his own plans to salvage his company from financial ruin. He and his party pushed on to the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...

plain, (near what would become

Pocatello, Idaho Pocatello () is the county seat of and largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the ...

) where he established

Fort Hall Fort Hall was a fort in the western United States that was built in 1834 as a fur trading post by Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth. It was located on the Snake River in the eastern Oregon Country, now part of present-day Bannock County in southeastern Ida ...

, named after one of the partners in the company, Henry Hall. Here Wyeth would trade his remaining goods with the local Indians. The fort was quickly completed, and trade with the Indians was started by the autumn of 1834. It was not until the spring of 1835 that Wyeth fielded trapping parties operating out of the fort. These trapping parties were poorly managed, and unlike many others, Russell did not desert. After his release from the Columbia River Fishing and Trading Company in late 1835, Russell joined with Jim Bridger's brigade of former Rocky Mountain Fur Company men. He continued with them even after the merger with the

American Fur Company The American Fur Company (AFC) was founded in 1808, by John Jacob Astor, a German immigrant to the United States. During the 18th century, furs had become a major commodity in Europe, and North America became a major supplier. Several British co ...

leaving it in complete control of the fur trade in the Rocky Mountains. With low prices, scarcity of beaver and declining demand for furs, rumors at the 1838 rendezvous indicated the American Fur Company was soon to abandon the Rocky Mountains. Russell would not attend the 1839 Rendezvous, as he had left the employ of the company to become a Free Trapper, once again operating out of Fort Hall. Fort Hall was now owned by the Hudson's Bay Company. He returned to the country in 1842 with the

Elijah White Dr. Elijah White (1806–1879) was a missionary and agent for the United States government in Oregon Country during the mid-19th century. A trained physician from New York State, he first traveled to Oregon as part of the Methodist Mission in t ...

party. He participated in the May 2, 1843 Champoeg Meeting, voting in favor of forming a government. In October of that year he was selected by the First Executive Committee to serve as the Supreme Judge for the Provisional Government of Oregon and served until May 14, 1844. In 1844, he was elected to the second Executive Committee of the Provisional Government of Oregon. He was unsuccessful in his run for governor of the Provisional Government in 1845, giving his support to

George Abernethy George Abernethy (October 7, 1807 – March 2, 1877) was an American politician, pioneer, notable entrepreneur, and first governor of Oregon under the provisional government based in the Willamette Valley, an area later a part of the American sta ...

. Russell eventually went to California in 1848, after the discovery of gold there. Osborne Russell died in Placerville, California on 1 May 1884. Although not published until well after the establishment of Yellowstone National Park, Osborne's ''Journal of a Trapper'' contains an early description of Yellowstone and surrounding areas.

Works

*Russell, Osborne and Aubrey L. Haines. ''Journal of a Trapper: In the Rocky Mountains Between 1834 and 1843; Comprising a General Description of the Country, Climate, Rivers, Lakes, Mountains, Etc, The Nature and Habits of Animals, Manners and Customs of Indians and a Complete View of the Life Led by a Hunter in those Regions''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Osborne 1814 births 1892 deaths Champoeg Meetings Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court Members of the Provisional Government of Oregon Mountain men Oregon pioneers People from Maine 19th-century American judges