Show from the dust Utah's first citizen 11 Mike Drown County The first white L man to live year round J in Utah and establish a dwelling was Antoine Robidoux did not leave a well-ordered diary as many other mountain men did and therefore there is a mass of ting data about the man and his ac- there are a few primary sources consisting of Journals and letters from which to Antoine Robidoux was born September In St. the son of Joseph and Catherine He was one of several all of whom were quite active In the fur By the ear- ly Antoine had turned up in Taos and Santa then part of It Is possible that he may have trapped this north of Taos in 1824 along the Green Some historians think that he did Indeed venture Into the tah Basin at that early date and was en- to return Robidoux had two main areas of operation with his trading Uin- tah County and the other on the Gun- nison River in the Although no exact dates are it is thought that he established the fort on the Gunnison in the mid 1820 s. Ex- act as to when Robidoux set up his first trading post In the Basin Is ex- The French tion In Westwater Canyon In Grand County can be Interpreted as reading either 1831 or and destination can be read as either the White River or the Compounding this confusion are the theories that there were really two different Fort Uintah and Fort at two different and a multitude of other For the sake of only the Whiterocks Fort will be discussed and the generally agreed upon date of 1832 will be The earliest records of Robidoux be- ing here in the basin come from the famous Kit In his Car- son tells of spending the winter of at the mouth of the Winte on the During the and early Robidoux divided his time between his two trading posts and his home in New Taos and Santa Fe were his supply points where he would travel from the outposts and procure goods to trade with the At least once he journeyed all the way back to St. Louis and while there helped start something that changed the future of the American His generally accepted that he was the Robidoux who told John all the wonderful stories about the vegetation and rich land in Bidwell was in the first wagon the to cross the for the Pacific The most colorful account of Fort Uintah comes from a Methodist Joseph Williams was returning home from a trip to Oregon in 1842 and found his way to Fort He had to wait there a few days until Robidoux could guide him to Taos by way of Fort It Is from Williams' narrative that come the stories of debauchery and other assorted horror stories about Fort Uintah that have been passed down from genera- Hon to By Williams own the visit Was very Conditions at Fort were not much dif- according to his Here Williams tried to preach to the trappers and Indians with very little After guiding Williams to Taos and replenishing his own store of Robidoux headed back to the Uintah this time accompanied by Rufus B. mountain man and who traveled from New Sage remained at the Fort for about 10 His descriptions concern the types of trade that were carried on there with the He speaks of the superb pelts that could be procured from the Snakes and the for rock bottom Although Sage was also from New England as was nowhere does Sage mention any moral depravations that were being carried by Robidoux or trappers working for probably the last visitor to pass through Fort Uintah and leave a record Was John Charles explorer and who was returning from Shortly after Fremont left the fort in the death bell The Indians hostility that had been building for over a spurred on by the notorious moonshine culminated the leveling of the fort and the death of al the white men they could lay their hands Fortunately for he happened to be away at the This spelled the end of Robidoux's in- in Uintah He aban- his other fort and moved back to st. He ventured west once more in 1846 with General Kearny and served m the capacity of He was wounded in the campaigns and spent several years trying to get a pension from the receiving it shortly before his death of old age in August Antoine Robidoux's business career spanned the length of the fur trade In the southern and southern Green River he was the prin- cipal His impact in Uintah Coun- ty survives to this |