Private John Colter, considered one of the finest woodsmen and hunters in all of America in the first decade of the 19th century, was chosen by Meriwether Lewis to be a recon scout for his Clarks Corps Of Discovery. His story is, in itself, one of discovery and tenacity.
During the Corps' return trip home to St. Louis after successfully reaching the Pacific, Colter made a courageously bold decision. Civilization was not for him -- he was staying out west.
From Stephen A. Ambrose's masterpiece, Undaunted Courage . . .
. . . and when the expedition set off downstream, Colter turned back upstream, back to the wilderness, back to the mountains, on his way into the history books as America's first mountain man and the discoverer of the Yellowstone country.
Discovering Lewis & Clark has more on Colter here and here.
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