From the first big beaver season in 1824 to the last Rendezvous in 1840, the Green River Valley stood at the center of the Rocky Mountain fur trade. Six of the 16 summer Rendezvous, in 1833, 1835, 1836, 1837, 1839, and 1840, were held at the confluence of Horse Creek and the Green River. For mountain men who trapped through the long cold months for the best fur, the summer Rendezvous offered a chance to sell beaver hides, resupply for the coming year, meet old friends, and celebrate. Lasting up to a month, these gatherings drew as many as 3000 trappers, traders, visitors, and Indians from hundreds of miles in every direction. The Green River Rendezvous also served as the setting for the first Catholic Mass performed in the West by Father DeSmet, the arrival of the first white women to cross the Continental Divide, the sketches of artist Alfred Jacob Miller, the adventures of Scotsman William Drummond Stewart, Wyoming’s first tourist, and stories about men such as Jim Bridger and Kit Carson.