Photo Series – The site and legacy of the first Rocky Mountain Rendezvous, held in 1825 in what is now southern Sweetwater County.

(Sweetwater County, Wyo. – July 26, 2022) With the Fort Bridger Mountain Man Rendezvous scheduled for September 2 through September 5, staff at the Sweetwater County Historical Museum issued a reminder that the very first Rocky Mountain Rendezvous took place in 1825 in what is now Sweetwater County.

Photo No. 1 – Site of the first Mountain Man Rendezvous in southern Sweetwater County.

Photo No. 2 – Interpretive sign near the site of the 1825 Rendezvous not far from McKinnon, Wyoming.

Photo No. 3 – Map showing the location of the 1825 Rendezvous on Henry’s Fork.

Photo No. 4 – Rendezvous Near Green River, by Alfred Jacob Miller, depicting the 1837 Rendezvous near present-day Daniel, Wyoming.

Organized by fur trading companies, Rocky Mountain Rendezvous were held annually from 1825 to 1840 at various locations in present-day Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho. Mountain men, trappers, and Native Americans gathered to sell furs, trade for supplies, and socialize.

The first Rendezvous was staged on Henry’s Fork, approximately three miles northeast of Burntfork and about forty miles southwest of Green River. Mountain man James Beckwourth later described the scene:

“…there was a general jubilee among all at the rendezvous. We constituted quite a little town, numbering at least eight hundred souls, of whom one half were women and children. There were some among us who had not seen any groceries, such as coffee, sugar, &c., for several months. The whisky went off as freely as water, even at the exorbitant price he sold it for. All kinds of sports were indulged in with a heartiness that would astonish more civilized societies.”

The Sweetwater County Historical Museum’s galleries include exhibits on Native Americans, mountain men, and the frontier-era fur trade.