Henry Fraeb, also called Frapp, was a mountain man, fur trader, and trade post operator of the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is census regions United States Census Bureau As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the mea ...

, operating in the present-day states of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

, and

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

. __TOC__

Early life

Fraeb, of German heritage, was from

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

Mountain man

Fraeb trapped for beaver fur in the Rocky Mountain region, including

, where he is his considered one of the pioneering fur traders. He then was one of the owners of the

Rocky Mountain Fur Company The enterprise that eventually came to be known as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company was established in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1822 by William Henry Ashley and Andrew Henry. Among the original employees, known as "Ashley's Hundred," were Jedediah ...

, along with

Jim Bridger James Felix Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, Animal trapping, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was ...

Milton Sublette Milton Green Sublette (c. 1801–1837), was an American frontiersman, trapper, fur trader, explorer, and mountain man. He was the second of five Sublette brothers prominent in the western fur trade; William, Andrew, and Solomon. Milton was one of ...

, Jean Baptiste Gervais, and Thomas Fitzpatrick. They bought the company in 1830 from the previous owners for $30,000, paying off the balance in three years. Although they were great trappers, they did not have experience in dealing with savvy, wealthy competitors. For instance, they had delayed shipments of furs back east, which resulted in cash flow and credit issues. Fraeb stated that he sold his partnership for $1,000 in merchandise, 40 horses, 40 traps, and eight guns. The company folded in 1834. Fraeb became an independent trapper, until 1837, when he opened the Fort Jackson trading post near

Ione, Colorado Ione is an unincorporated community in Weld County, Colorado. History A post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, pro ...

with his partner Peter Sarpy. Nearby posts and competitors were Fort Vasquez, Fort Lupton, and Fort Saint Vrain. Their backer, the Pratte, Chouteau & Company, sold the post to Bent, St. Vrain & Company. As the demand dropped for beaver fur, Fraeb focused on buffalo fur. In 1841, Fraeb and Bridger built a log trading post, Fraeb's Post, near the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

and the Colorado-Wyoming Border. It was located at the confluence of the

Little Snake River The Little Snake River is a tributary of the Yampa River, approximately long, in southwestern Wyoming and northwestern Colorado in the United States. Description The river rises near the continental divide, in Routt National Forest in nort ...

and Battle Creek at . Fraeb and four others were killed in August 1841 by

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

warriors at Battle Creek. He had been leading a group of 23 buffalo hunters into Encampment Valley when they were attacked by 500 Sioux,

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

and

Arapaho The Arapaho ( ; , ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho bands formed t ...

warriors. With him was friend and fellow mountain man, Jim Baker. Baker said that the Native Americans made about 40 charges to within 10 or 15 feet of the group of hunters, who had sought protection inside a circle made of their horses. Fraeb, who led the group shouted to not shoot until they were sure they had a shot. In the end, after finding a safer place behind log fortifications, the hunters repulsed the assaults. An estimated 40 Native Americans were killed or wounded. The five hunters who were killed were buried near the battle site.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraeb, Henry 1841 deaths Mountain men People from St. Louis