Mountain men played an essential part in opening the American West, and this place is associated especially with John Colter, George Drouillard, Jedediah Strong Smith, and Jim Bridger. Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, entered this locale in the fall of 1807, probably crossed the river east of this point, discovered "Colter’s Hell," explored the Big Horn Basin, Yellowstone Park, and Grand Teton regions, survived his legendary 1808 escape from the Blackfeet, then left the mountains in 1810 and died in 1813. Drouillard, chief interpreter and hunter for Lewis and Clark, later traveled near this spot along the Stinking Water during solitary winter journeys connected with Manuel Lisa’s fort, explored major rivers to the east for 500 miles, made an important map used by William Clark and later cartographers, and was killed by Blackfeet Indians in 1810. Smith, born in New York in 1799, joined Ashley’s trapping expedition in 1822, became a partner and then owner, helped popularize South Pass, was the first man to travel overland to California and the first to travel the coast from California to the Columbia, survived repeated dangers, and was killed by Comanches in Kansas in 1831. Bridger, born in Virginia in 1804, came west with the Ashley-Henry Expedition, discovered the Great Salt Lake in 1824, visited what is now Yellowstone Park in 1830, became a fur-trade partner, established Ft. Bridger to aid wagon trains, later served as a guide and Army scout, helped establish the Bridger Trail across the Big Horn Basin around 1864 as a safer route to the Montana mines, and died in 1881. Though only a few hundred mountain men ever lived, many perished from the hardships of the mountains and plains while seeking adventure and fortune.