Louis Vasquez facts for kids
Pierre Louis Vasquez (born October 3, 1798 – died September 5, 1868) was an important mountain man and trader in the early American West. He was also known as Luis Vázquez. He met many famous explorers of his time, like Jim Bridger, Manuel Lisa, and Kit Carson. His own father, Benito Vázquez, was also a fur trader.
Early Life and Family
Louis Vasquez was born and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. His father, Benito Vázquez, was a Spanish fur trader. His mother, Marie-Julie Papin, had French Canadian roots. This means Louis had both Spanish and French Canadian heritage.
In 1823, Louis started his own career as a fur trader. He got his first license to trade with the Pawnee people. By the early 1830s, he moved his trading work to the mountains. He became a well-known and active mountain man and trader.
Louis was educated by priests at the St. Louis Cathedral. This made him one of the few mountain men who could read and write. Even though he signed his letters as "Louis," other mountain men called him "Old Vaskiss." Louis was the youngest of eleven brothers.
Adventures and Trading Posts
In 1834, Louis Vasquez teamed up with Andrew Sublette. They went back to trade along the South Platte River. They got a special license from William Clark, who was in charge of Indian Affairs in St. Louis.
In 1835, Louis built a trading post called Fort Vasquez. He often traveled between the mountains and St. Louis, and his reputation grew. However, they couldn't make enough money from Fort Vasquez. So, they sold it in 1840 to Lock and Randolph. But Lock and Randolph went bankrupt and left the fort in 1842. Because of this, Louis Vasquez and Andrew Sublette never got the money they were owed.
After this, Vasquez started working with Jim Bridger. By 1843, they built Fort Bridger on Blacks Fork of the Green River. This fort became a very important stop for people traveling west, as well as a trading post.
In 1846, Louis married a widow named Mrs. Narcissa Land Ashcraft in St. Louis. He took his new family, including her son and daughter, to Fort Bridger in Wyoming. There, they had three more children: Louis, Marianne, and Sara.
In 1855, Vasquez opened a store in Salt Lake City. He and Bridger sold Fort Bridger in 1858. Vasquez had already retired to Missouri by then. He passed away in 1868 at his home in Westport. He was buried at St. Mary's Church cemetery.
Years before, in 1853, Louis Vasquez gave his good friend Jim Bridger his own rifle as a gift. Since 1998, this rifle has been displayed at the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, Wyoming.
