MOUNTAIN MEN | “John Colter: Corps of Discovery”

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Chris Wimmer (1:11)

In the autumn of 1808, probably in September, two men paddled their dugout canoes along the Jefferson River in present-day Montana, deep in the heart of Blackfoot country. They were checking beaver traps they had set the night before. They set their traps at night, checked them in the early morning, and stayed concealed during the day. They saw no signs of the Blackfeet, but the two men knew they had likely been seen. The men were John Colter and John Potts, both veterans of the Lewis and Clark expedition. They had first seen this country three years earlier, when the Corps of Discovery passed through the three forks of the Missouri, where the Madison, Gallatin and Jefferson Rivers converge, and marveled at the thousands of beaver inhabiting the creeks and rivers. When the expedition was done, Colter and Potts went back for the beaver. By 1808, John Colter knew the risks better than almost any man alive. A few months earlier, he had been severely wounded in a major battle between Blackfoot warriors and the group of Crow and Flathead he was traveling with. Colter had dragged himself through hundreds of miles of wilderness in order to survive, and yet he returned to the same area with John Potts as soon as he recovered. At a time when beaver pelts were some of the most valuable items on earth, he judged the risk was worth the reward. A season of beaver trapping could be worth more than either man could earn in years of labor back in St. Louis, but only if they survived.

Early in the morning, as the mist hung over the Jefferson River, Colter and Potts paddled their canoes through the water when they heard a noise that Potts thought was the trampling of animals. Colter warned his friend that the Blackfoot were nearby and they needed to retreat immediately. Potts insisted the noise was caused by buffalo, and he called Colter a coward. The steep high banks on each side of the river blocked their view until 500 to 600 Blackfeet warriors appeared on both sides of the creek, beckoning the two men to come ashore.

Colter did as they demanded and paddled to the riverbank. He was immediately seized, disarmed and stripped of all his clothing. He urged Potts to surrender, but Potts refused, saying he might as well be killed at once. A warrior fired an arrow and hit Potts in the hip. Potts fell into his canoe but quickly reappeared with his rifle and shot a warrior dead. In an instant, Potts was pierced with so many arrows that he looked like a pin cushion.

The warriors pulled Potts' body from the river.

With hatchets and knives, they hacked his body to pieces. The relatives of the dead warrior were furious, and they wanted to do the same to John Colter, but others held them back. Colter stood naked on the riverbank, expecting torture or butchery or both. Then a group of chiefs gathered in council. When they finished, one of them turned to Colter, motioned toward the open prairie, and said in the Crow language, Go, go away.

What happened next, with John Colter sprinting naked across cactus-covered prairie in southern Montana while being hunted by Blackfoot warriors, would become one of the most famous survival stories of the American frontier. It was one of the first Legends of the West. But every legend starts somewhere. Before John Colter found himself in a race for his life on the banks of the Jefferson River, he was a key player in the first American adventure in the West.

From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer. In this season, we're telling two important American frontier stories. That of the first mountain man, John Colter, and one of the most famous, Jim Bridger. They were trailblazers in the truest sense of the word. Now, we start with three episodes about John Colter. This is episode one, John Colter, Corps of Discovery.