William Henry Ashley, an American businessman and politician, played a pivotal role in the fur trade and the exploration of the American West. As a co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and organizer of the Ashley-Henry expeditions, he helped open up the western territories for trade and settlement. Ashley's contributions to western expansion and commerce laid the foundation for the development of the American frontier.

"Some of them profess to be well acquainted with all the principal waters of the Columbia, with which they assured me these waters had no connection short of the ocean."



"Several speeches were made by the chiefs during the council, all expressive in the highest degree of their friendly disposition towards our government, and their conduct in every particular manifested the sincerity of their declarations."



"We remained at our encampment of this day until the morning of the 7th, when we descended ten miles lower down and encamped on a spot of ground where several thousand Indians had wintered during the past season."



"On my passage thither, I discovered nothing remarkable in the features of the country."



"I had the Big Horn river explored from Wind River mountain to my place of embarkation."

