They wandered the uncharted Rocky Mountains, they went in harm’s way, and they captured the imagination of Americans, then and now. But the mountain men were neither so free nor so independent as their legend insists. They toiled at the end of a long economic chain that stretched from the icy beaver ponds of the Rockies to the uncertain fashion markets of New York and London. Then in the 1840s, the supply of beaver ran out, and hat fashion changed from fur to silk. Suddenly, the day of the mountain men was done. Kit Carson became a guide, Jim Baker a rancher, and Thomas Fitzpatrick an Indian agent. Others were unable to fit in, forever of the move, always on the fringe of society, misfits to the end.

Jim Baker was born in Belleville, Illinois in 1818. He was hired as a trapper for the American Fur Company by Jim Bridger. Over time, he married into several different tribes, including the Shoshone and Sioux. In 1859, he took up a homestead near Denver on Clear Creek at about what is now 53rd and Tennyson St. Baker never felt comfortable with city life. Complaining that Denver was too crowded, he retired to a homestead near Craig, Colorado, in 1873. He died in 1898, at the age of eighty.

Jim Bridger began his career when he was eighteen years old as a member of General William Ashley’s Upper Missouri Expedition. He worked alone as a fur trapper and mountain man until 1830, when he took over the Rocky Mountain Fur Company with three other partners. He spoke English, French, and several American Indian languages. Jim Bridger married the daughter of a Flathead Indian chief, named Cora, in 1834. His marriage helped him keep up friendships with different tribes. By 1840, he had grown tired of being a trapper. He built a trading post called Fort Bridger along the Green River section of the Oregon Trail. Bridger continued to explore new routes through the West (including today’s Berthoud Pass) and served as a guide and scout.

Kit Carson was a mountain man, hunter, guide, and rancher. He first headed west on the Santa Fe Trail as a 17 year old, working for merchants on a caravan. Carson worked for  Bent’s Fort as a hunter in 1840. He met explorer John C. Frémont at Bent’s Fort in 1842 and was hired as a guide for his first expedition into the Rocky Mountains. Over the course of his life, Carson killed and contributed to the deaths of thousands of Native Americans, and destroyed their homes and livelihoods. Many racist accounts glorified this cruel and violent treatment of Native Americans throughout the West.


“Uncle Dick” Wootton headed west in 1836 and found work as a hunter at Bent’s Fort. He also drove a supply caravan to trade with the Sioux Indians. In 1866 he built a toll road through Raton Pass (south of today’s Trinidad, Colorado). In 1878, he sold the road to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, which offered him $50,000. Part of the agreement included a lifetime railroad pass for Wootton and his family and $25 in groceries each month for his wife and daughter. “Uncle Dick” Wootton died at the age of seventy-seven in 1893. The railroad made good on its promise, providing his wife with groceries and a free ride on the train until her death, forty-two years later.


Jim Beckwourth was born into slavery in 1805 in Virginia. Later, he moved to St. Louis with his father and learned to be a blacksmith. In 1822 he joined an expedition headed west for the Missouri lead mines. Two years later, he joined another expedition that set out to explore the Rocky Mountains. He became a famous fur trapper and mountain man, and was named chief of the Crow Indian tribe. He was well known for telling lore about his many adventures.

Standards for Famous Mountain Men

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework