Pierre's Hole is a shallow valley in the

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

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Idaho Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...

, just west of the

Teton Range The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It extends for approximately in a north–south direction through the U.S. state of Wyoming, east of the Idaho state line. It is south of Yellowstone National Park and ...

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 t ...

. At an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

over above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

, it collects the headwaters of the Teton River, and was a strategic center of the

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

of the northern

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

. The nearby Jackson's Hole area in Wyoming is on the opposite side of the Tetons. Today, the Idaho valley in Teton County is known as Teton Basin or Teton Valley. In 1984, it was designated a historic place as the site of the infamous events in the

Battle of Pierre's Hole Pierre's Hole is a shallow valley in the western United States in eastern Idaho, just west of the Teton Range in Wyoming. At an elevation over above sea level, it collects the headwaters of the Teton River, and was a strategic center of th ...

(below), following the well-attended Rendezvous in July 1832.

Historical overview

Explorer and

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 ...

John Colter John Colter (c.1770–1775 – May 7, 1812 or November 22, 1813) was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806). Though party to one of the more famous expeditions in history, Colter is best remembered for explorations he made ...

, a member of the earlier

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gr ...

, asserted that he passed through the valley in 1808. The Teton River flows northward through the mountain meadows of Pierre's Hole and then conjoins

Bitch Creek Bitch Creek is a stream in southeastern Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Col ...

(once known as the North Fork of the Teton) just before it turns west and into Teton Canyon. To mountain men, a large low-lying valley, such as this, with abundant

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...

and game was called a "hole". Mountain men preferred these areas of numerous beaver rich streams as they provided ample food and comfortable camping in addition to beaver pelts. Pierre's Hole was named in honor of "le grand Pierre" Tivanitagon, a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

trader said to be of

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...

descent, who was killed in a battle with

Blackfoot The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or "Blackfoot language, Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up t ...

Indians in 1827. Pierre's Hole was the site of the huge Rendezvous of 1832. Hundreds of mountain men, trappers, Indians and fur company traders met to sell furs or trade for supplies. At the end of the 1832 rendezvous, an intense battle ensued between a group of Gros Ventre and the party of American trappers aided by their

Nez Perce The Nez Percé (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning "we, the people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.Ames, K ...

and Flathead allies. After the fur trade subsided in the 1840s, Teton Basin returned to a quiet summer hunting valley for Native Americans. An Englishman named Richard "Beaver Dick" Leigh came to the Teton region sometime around 1860, and frequently trapped and hunted in Teton Basin and wintered on the lower Teton River near its confluence with the Henry's Fork of the Snake some miles below the basin. Beaver Dick guided F. V. Hayden and his geological survey through the Teton and Yellowstone region in 1872. He guided the Stevenson party in exploration of Teton Basin and the first ascent of the Grand Teton and guided the entire Hayden Expedition in Yellowstone and in Jackson Hole. In honor of his service, Leigh Lake in

Grand Teton National Park Grand Teton National Park is an American national park in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately , the park includes the major peaks of the Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Grand Teton ...

is named after Richard Leigh and Jenny Lake is named after his Indian wife. Teton Basin, was later settled by

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into se ...

farmers, who used the fertile but elevated valley to graze cattle and raise hay and other feed.

Rendezvous at Pierre's Hole

The 1832 'rendezvous at Pierre's Hole', or 'Rendezvous of 1832' was one of the largest rendezvous held in the

. The meeting was held at the west foot of the Three Tetons in

Teton County, Idaho Teton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,630. The county seat is Driggs, and the largest city is Victor. The county was established in 1915 and was named after the Teton Mount ...

. The basin was accessed from a trail that reached 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 ...

from Green River. The trail then branched off towards Pierre's Hole through a gap between the Big Hole Mountains and the Palisades range.The Story of the Trapper; VI.—The Mountaineers; A. C. Laut; Outing, The Illustrated Magazine of Sport Travel Adventure and Country Life; Caspar Whitney (ed); Vol XLI, No. 1; The Outing Publishing Company; New York, New York; October 1902; pg 100-6 Indian and mountain man camps extended from Teton Creek on the south end of present-day Driggs, north along the west side of the Teton Mountains to Tetonia. The camps covered an area of seven square miles, or more. It is estimated there were four hundred mountain men, one hundred and eight lodges of

, eighty lodges of Flatheads, and over three thousand horses.

Purpose of a rendezvous

A mountain man rendezvous was a yearly event held in the summer for American fur trappers to gather together, sell their furs, and resupply themselves for another season of trapping. Representatives of eastern fur-trading companies would arrive with pack mules loaded with trade goods to meet the needs of the trappers for the upcoming year. If trappers were employed by a particular company, they turned their furs, mainly beaver, over to the company representative and received their pay, less the amount used to cover what they would need for another trapping season. Profits could purchase additional goods, including whiskey, tobacco, and other luxury items. Free trappers, i.e. men not contracted with a company, could negotiate a purchase price for their accumulated furs.Chittenden, Hiram Martin. The American Fur Trade of the Far West, Volume 1. originally published: New York: F. P. Harper, 1902. Republished: University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1986. In general, trappers and merchants settled into a protected valley for two to three weeks. The larger group provided protection from hostile Indians and support during harsh weather. Small hunting groups traveled outward from the valley to obtain meat. The rendezvous would generally include recreation and entertainment, including contests, games and gambling. Most participants had a good time, swapping tall tales and drinking.

Trappers in attendance

The 1832 rendezvous was well-attended by trappers affiliated with fur companies, independents, and a large number of allied Indians involved in the fur trade, primarily Flathead and Nez Perce. 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 ...

had between one hundred and two hundred men, many led by William L. Sublette, gather at the basin.

Jean Baptiste Charbonneau Jean Baptiste Charbonneau (February 11, 1805 – May 16, 1866) was a Native American-French Canadian explorer, guide, fur trapper, trader, military scout during the Mexican–American War, ''alcalde'' (mayor) of Mission San Luis Rey de Fran ...

, son of

Sacagawea Sacagawea ( or ; also spelled Sakakawea or Sacajawea; May – December 20, 1812 or April 9, 1884).e., present-day Gibbons Pass A week later, on July 13, Sacagawea advised Clark to cross into the Yellowstone River basin at what is now known a ...

("Pomp or Pompey"), was also in attendance on behalf of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and participated in the Battle described below. Sublette and his caravan arrived on July 8. Men from the rival

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 ...

, under the leadership of W. H. Vanderburgh and Andrew Drips, also attended. Other small groups of trappers trickled in to Pierre's Hole, 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 ...

, known for his tall tales. Many of these companies were from the

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the 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 western edge of the ...

Rocky Mountain The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

area. Other well-known mountain men at the summer meeting included

Joe Meek Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 – 3 February 1967) was an English record producer, sound engineer and songwriter who pioneered space age and experimental pop music. He also assisted in the development of recording practices like over ...

, a veteran of 22 years, and his friend

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 ...

, brother of William. Thomas Fitzpatrick, known as "Old Broken Hand", had been in the basin earlier in the year, but had backtracked to meet William Sublette. Events turned sour for Fitzpatrick during his return when he met a party of Blackfeet. Presumed dead by his fellows, the injured Fitzpatrick managed to escape captivity and, with the aid of Iroquois "breed" trapper Antoine Godin and some Flathead allies, return to the rendezvous before the

pack train A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of ...

s headed back toward the east. Two men new to the mountains,

Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth (January 29, 1802 – August 31, 1856) was an American inventor and businessman in Boston, Massachusetts who contributed greatly to its ice industry. Due to his inventions, Boston could harvest and ship ice internati ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

and explorer Captain

Benjamin Bonneville Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville (April 14, 1796 – June 12, 1878) was an American officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer in the American West. He is noted for his expeditions to the Oregon Country and the Great Basin, a ...

(Irving, Chapter VI) made their first appearance at rendezvous that year. Wyeth led a party of Eastern tenderfeet on their way to Oregon to trade in furs and salmon. Bonneville left a description of the rendezvous: :''In this valley was congregated the motley populace connected with the fur trade. Here the two rival companies had their encampments, with their retainers of all kinds: traders, trappers, hunters, and half-breeds, assembled from all quarters, awaiting their yearly supplies, and their orders to start off in new directions. Here, also, the savage tribes connected with the trade, the Nez Perces or Chopunnish Indians, and Flatheads, had pitched their lodges beside the streams, and with their squaws, awaited the distribution of goods and finery. There was, moreover, a band of fifteen free trappers, commanded by a gallant leader from Arkansas, named Sinclair, who held their encampment a little apart from the rest. Such was the wild and heterogeneous assemblage, amounting to several hundred men, civilized and savage, distributed in tents and lodges in the several camps.'' (Irving, Chapter VI)

Battle of Pierre's Hole

The Pierre's Hole 1832 Battle Area Site in

near

Driggs, Idaho Driggs is a city in the western United States in eastern Idaho, and is the county seat of Teton County. Part of the Jackson, WY-ID Micropolitan Statistical Area, it is located in Teton Valley, the headwaters of the Teton River. The populatio ...

was the site of the Battle of Pierre's Hole in 1832. A area at the site was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1984. About July 17, the 1832 rendezvous began to break up and fur trappers gradually began to separate into smaller groups. Henry Fraeb and Milton Sublette, with a group of some 100 trappers, planned to head for an area north of the

Salt Lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre) ...

desert. Wyeth and his group of ten or eleven men from New England also set out. These and several other groups briefly traveled together for safety from the Blackfeet. While in their first night's camp, south of Pierre's Hole, the combined party was approached by a large migratory group of Gros Ventres – men, women and children with pack animals, traveling from one camping site to another. A chief in the group came forward, apparently in greeting. Antoine Godin and a Flathead Indian "breed" (i.e. a half-breed) companion, sometimes identified as Baptiste Dorian, rode forward, appearing to greet the chief. As the three met, Godin shouted for the Flathead to shoot, which he did, and grabbed the chief's red blanket. The chief fell dead and Godin and the Flathead quickly retreated to the trappers' camp. Some accounts state that Godin paused to take the man's

scalp The scalp is the anatomical area bordered by the human face at the front, and by the neck at the sides and back. Structure The scalp is usually described as having five layers, which can conveniently be remembered as a mnemonic: * S: The ski ...

. The murder provoked an intense battle between the Gros Ventres, with an estimated 250 warriors, and the party of American trappers aided by their

and Flathead allies. The badly outnumbered mountain men sent riders to the rendezvous site for aid and prepared the camp for attack. The Gros Ventres took shelter in a swampy thicket of willows and cottonwoods. The Indian women collected fallen trees, throwing them together in a crude fortress. Aid from the rendezvous camp, under the leadership of

William Sublette William Lewis Sublette, also spelled Sublett (September 21, 1798 – July 23, 1845), was an American frontiersman, trapper, fur trader, explorer, and mountain man. After 1823, he became an agent of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, along with his ...

, including additional Nez Perce and Flatheads, rushed to the scene of the impending battle. In one of five known eye witness accounts, Robert Campbell reported that the newly-arrived William Sublette (the founder of Fort William as one resultant career change because of this battle) made a speech to rouse the men, and he and some 20 trappers, including the experienced Campbell, rushed towards the Indian stronghold in the willows. Milton Sublette took another group and led them against the rear of the ad hoc fort the Gros Ventres had erected. The Flathead and Nez Perce closed on the flanks. Other trappers, including Wyeth and his party, held back and did not participate in the attack. During this initial foray, Milton Sublette was struck by a bullet, which later led to his leg's amputation and, subsequently, his death. The attackers then backed off for a time before renewing hostilities. The battle raged all day with little gain on either side. As night fell, someone within the Gros Ventres barricade shouted that they had reinforcements, "many Blackfeet", coming. The trappers somehow understood that Gros Ventres reinforcements were attacking the rendezvous camp ground and goods back at Pierre's Hole, and quickly mounted their horses and raced to Pierre's Hole to save their fellow trappers and wealth. However, no hostile Indians had attacked the remnant of the rendezvous. The following morning, returning trappers found the Gros Ventres fortifications abandoned. Thirty horses found nearby included some that had been previously stolen from Sublette's supply train and two that had been taken from Thomas Fitzpatrick during his earlier escape from the Blackfeet. In the brief but bloody battle at least 26 Gros Ventres were killed, including some women and children, and perhaps a dozen traders and Flatheads. Due to a bullet wound and a broken shoulder, William Sublette returned to the eastern US under the care of Robert Campbell. The party arrived in St. Louis on October 3, 1832.Carter, Harvey L., Robert Cambell, featured in Trappers of the Far West, Leroy R. Hafen, editor. 1972, Arthur H. Clark Company, reprint University of Nebraska Press, October 1983. p. 302 After he recovered, he returned to the east slope of the Rockies to found the trading post and fort sitting aside the gateway to South Pass and 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 ...

on what was (in 1832 already) being called the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...

References

Leroy R. Hafen LeRoy Reuben Hafen (December 8, 1893 – March 8, 1985) was a historian of the American West and a Latter-day Saint. For many years he was a professor of history at Brigham Young University (BYU). Biography He was born on December 8, 1893, in ...

, editor. 1972, Arthur H. Clark Company, reprint University of Nebraska Press, October 1983. * Hafen, LeRoy R. and Ghent, W.J., ''Broken Hand. The Life Story of Thomas Fitzpatrick, Chief of the Mountain Men.'' Denver: Old West Publishing Co., 1931. Reprinted by University of Nebraska Press, 1973. *Thompson, Edith M. Schultz and William Leigh Thompson, ''Beaver Dick, The Honor and the Heartbreak'', Jelm Mountain Press, copyright 1981.

External links

Battle of Pierre's Hole

{{National Register of Historic Places Valleys of Idaho Geography of Teton County, Idaho Pre-statehood history of Idaho Fur trade / Wars involving the indigenous peoples of North America Conflict sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Idaho National Register of Historic Places in Teton County, Idaho