Isaac Slover (1786–1854) was an American 19th century

fur trader The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

. He was one of the first American trappers officially allowed into

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, as part of the Glenn-Fowler Expedition of Hugh Glenn and Jacob Fowler. He was one of the first trappers to take up formal residence at

Taos, New Mexico Taos () is a town in Taos County, New Mexico, Taos County, in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Santa Fe ...

. Slover is known for his association with many other trappers in the American Southwest, including

Ewing Young Ewing Young (1799 – February 9, 1841) was an American fur trapper and trader from Tennessee who traveled in what was then the northern Mexico frontier territories of Santa Fe de Nuevo México and Alta California before settling in the Oregon Co ...

and

William Wolfskill William Wolfskill (1798–1866) was an American-Mexican pioneer, cowboy, and agronomist in Los Angeles, California beginning in the 1830s. He had earned money for land in a decade as a fur trapper near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he had become a ...

working the tributaries of the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

in 1824, and with

James Ohio Pattie James Ohio Pattie (c. 1804Hafen (1966), p. 232 – c. 1850) was an American Mountain man, frontiersman and author from Kentucky. Between 1824 and 1830, Pattie took part in a series of Fur trappers, fur trapping and trading Exploration, expedition ...

and his father Sylvester Pattie on the

Gila River The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of ...

and Lower Colorado River in 1828. Seeking food and water they cached their furs and went west to

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

where they were arrested and imprisoned at

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

from late 1828 to 1829. Later from New Mexico, Slover crossed the southwest into

Alta California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...

on the Old Spanish Trail, and helped open overland trading between that province and New Mexico. By 1843, Slover had established himself and his family in California, settling near

San Bernardino San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...

. He continued to trap and hunt in the region, and died of injuries received in a bear attack in 1854. Isaac Slover was just 68 years old.(Hafen, Fur Trappers and Traders of the Far Southwest, pp. 51–55) Issac Slover is also thought to be buried in the cemetery of Agua Mansa. Slover Mountain nearby where he lived was named for him.

References

;Literature *Hafen, LeRoy R., editor. ''Fur Trappers and Traders of the Far Southwest''. 1965, Utah State University Press, Logan, Utah, (1997 reprint). . ;Citations

External links

History of Slover Avenue
at the city of San Bernardino's website American fur traders 1780 births 1854 deaths American emigrants People from San Bernardino County, California History of San Bernardino County, California Colton, California 19th-century American businesspeople {{US-business-bio-1780s-stub