Editing Grand Teton National Park (section)

===Fur trade exploration===
The [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] (1804–1806) passed well north of the Grand Teton region. During their return trip from the [[Pacific Ocean]], expedition member [[John Colter]] was given an early discharge so he could join two [[fur]] trappers who were heading west in search of beaver pelts. Colter was later hired by [[Manuel Lisa]] to lead fur trappers and explore the region around the [[Yellowstone River]]. During the winter of 1807/08, Colter passed through Jackson Hole and was the first Caucasian to see the Teton Range.<ref name=harris>{{cite book|last=Harris|first=Burton|title=John Colter, His Years in the Rockies|date=March 1, 1993|publisher=Bison Books|isbn=978-0-8032-7264-4|pages=73–113}}</ref> Lewis and Clark expedition co-leader [[William Clark (explorer)|William Clark]] produced a map based on the previous expedition and included the explorations of John Colter in 1807, apparently based on discussions between Clark and Colter when the two met in [[St. Louis, Missouri]] in 1810.<ref name=mattes>{{cite web|last=Mattes |first=Merrrill |title=John Colter, the Phantom Explorer—1807–1808 |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte1/chap3.htm |work=Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=March 5, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208215929/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte1/chap3.htm |archive-date=February 8, 2009 }}</ref> Another map attributed to William Clark indicates John Colter entered Jackson Hole from the northeast, crossing the [[Continental Divide of the Americas|Continental Divide]] at either [[Togwotee Pass]] or [[Union Pass]] and left the region after crossing Teton Pass, following the well established Native American trails.<ref name=daugherty>{{cite web|last=Daugherty |first=John |title=The Fur Trappers |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs3.htm |work=A Place Called Jackson Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=July 24, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108182117/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs3.htm |archive-date=November 8, 2012 }}</ref> In 1931, the [[Colter Stone]], a rock carved in the shape of a head with the inscription "John Colter" on one side and the year "1808" on the other, was discovered in a field in [[Tetonia, Idaho]], which is west of Teton Pass. The Colter Stone has not been authenticated to have been created by John Colter and may have been the work of later expeditions to the region.<ref name=daugherty/>
[[File:Colter Stone.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The enigmatic Colter Stone, with the inscription "John Colter", was found in a field in eastern Idaho in 1931.]]

John Colter is widely considered the first [[mountain man]] and, like those that came to the Jackson Hole region over the next 30&nbsp;years, he was there primarily for the profitable fur trapping; the region was rich with the highly sought after pelts of [[beaver]] and other fur-bearing animals. Between 1810 and 1812, the [[Astorians]] traveled through Jackson Hole and crossed Teton Pass as they headed east in 1812.<ref name=kelsey>{{cite book|last=Kelsey|first=Joe|title=Climbing and hiking in the Wind River Mountains|date=January 1994|publisher=Pequot Press|isbn=978-0-934641-70-8|page=56|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fEz0T7HOJZsC&pg=PA56|access-date=January 14, 2012}}{{Dead link|date=June 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> After 1810, American and British fur trading companies were in competition for control of the [[North American fur trade]], and American sovereignty over the region was not secured until the signing of the [[Oregon Treaty]] in 1846. One party employed by the British [[North West Company]] and led by explorer [[Donald Mackenzie (explorer)|Donald Mackenzie]] entered Jackson Hole from the west in 1818 or 1819. The Tetons, as well as the valley west of the Teton Range known today as [[Pierre's Hole]], may have been named by French-speaking [[Iroquois]] or [[French Canadian]] trappers that were part of Mackenzie's party.<ref name=mattes2>{{cite web|last=Mattes |first=Merrrill |title=Le Trois Tetons: The Golden Age of Discovery, 1810–1824 |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte1/chap5.htm |work=Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=March 5, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219152859/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte1/chap5.htm |archive-date=December 19, 2013 }}</ref> Earlier parties had referred to the most prominent peaks of the Teton Range as the Pilot Knobs. The French trappers' {{Lang|fr|les trois tétons}} (the three breasts) was later shortened to the Tetons.<ref name="moulton">{{cite book|last=Moulton|first=Candy Vyvey|title=Legacy of the Tetons: Homesteading in Jackson Hole|date=January 16, 2007|publisher=La Frontera Publishing|isbn=978-0-9785634-0-0|page=15|edition=2nd}}</ref>

Formed in the mid-1820s, the [[Rocky Mountain Fur Company]] partnership included [[Jedediah Smith]], [[William Sublette]], and [[David Edward Jackson]] or "Davey Jackson". Jackson oversaw the trapping operations in the Teton region between 1826 and 1830. Sublette named the valley east of the Teton Range "Jackson's Hole" (later simply Jackson Hole) for Davey Jackson.<ref name="daugherty"/><ref name="hafen">{{cite book|last=Hafen|first=LeRoy R.|title=Trappers of the Far West: Sixteen Biographical Sketches|date=October 1, 1983|publisher=Bison Books|isbn=978-0-8032-7218-7|page=85}}</ref> As the demand for beaver fur declined and the various regions of the American West became depleted of beaver due to [[Animal trapping|over trapping]], American fur trading companies folded; however, individual mountain men continued to trap beaver in the region until about 1840.<ref name=daugherty/> From the mid-1840s until 1860, Jackson Hole and the Teton Range were generally devoid of all but the small populations of Native American tribes that had already been there. Most overland human migration routes such as the [[Oregon Trail|Oregon]] and [[Mormon Trail]]s crossed over [[South Pass (Wyoming)|South Pass]], well to the south of the Teton Range, and Caucasian influence in the Teton region was minimal until the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. Government]] commenced organized explorations.<ref name=daugherty/>