01Biography
William Sublette grew up in Kentucky and Missouri and went up the Missouri River in 1823 with William Ashley's fur traders. In 1826 he, Jedediah Smith and David Jackson bought Ashley's business in the mountains. In 1830 Sublette led ten wagons and two light carriages from St. Louis up the Platte River to the trappers' rendezvous on the Wind River. They were the first wagons to reach the Rocky Mountains, though they stopped east of the Continental Divide.
That summer the partners sold out, and Sublette went on supplying the mountain trade, later in partnership with Robert Campbell. In 1832 he led the caravan to the rendezvous at Pierre's Hole and was wounded in a battle there. In 1834 his men began Fort William, where the Laramie River meets the North Platte. It grew into Fort Laramie.
02Why they matter
Led the first wagons up the Platte River road to the Rocky Mountains in 1830 and founded the trading post that became Fort Laramie.
03How they died
He left the mountains for St. Louis, where he built an estate called Sulphur Springs, opened a resort hotel there and took part in Democratic politics. He died at Pittsburgh on July 23, 1845, probably of tuberculosis, aged about 45.
04Legacy
Sublette County, Wyoming, created in 1921, is named for him. The post his men began in 1834 grew into Fort Laramie, now Fort Laramie National Historic Site.