John Colter’s story, like many legendary figures, is somewhat shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. However, what we do know about this 19th-century mountain man makes for a breathtaking tale of survival in the deep wilderness of the American West.
John Colter’s Early Adventures
John Colter was probably born in Virginia around 1775, but almost nothing is known about his early life. He enters the historical record with certainty around 1803 in Maysville, Kentucky.
Colter responded to an advertisement seeking “good hunters, stout, healthy, unmarried men, accustomed to the woods and capable of bearing bodily fatigue,” for an expedition into the West.
The men organizing the expedition were Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark. The United States had just completed the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the country’s size by buying land west of the Mississippi from the French. Lewis and Clark were tasked with exploring this new territory.
Colter must have had experience surviving in the wilderness, or he was convincing enough, as Lewis and Clark decided to take him on their expedition. Colter was enlisted as a private at $5 a month.
Initially, military discipline didn’t suit him. He and several other men were punished shortly after joining for visiting a local grog shop and returning to camp drunk.
Despite this, Colter traveled with the party deep into the American continent for the next few years, mapping rivers and making contact with Native American tribes.
In August 1806, the party met two fur trappers heading for the Yellowstone River in present-day Montana and Wyoming. Colter, perhaps wanting to make money selling fur, asked for permission to go with them. They agreed, and Colter set out with the trappers.
Whether they found the luck they were seeking isn’t clear. John Colter reappeared in history the following year when he met another group of trappers led by Manuel Lisa paddling down the Missouri River.
Lisa recruited Colter for another expedition up the Yellowstone River, where they began constructing a fort in the area that is now Yellowstone National Park.
The Hunt
What happened next is somewhat uncertain. In one version, Lisa sent John Colter to contact the nearby Blackfeet Native American tribe to establish trade. Before he reached the tribe, he encountered a group of Crow Native Americans. The Crow were then attacked by the Blackfeet, who were their traditional enemies. Colter joined the fight in self-defense and got wounded.
Colter spent a few weeks recovering at the fort before heading out on another trading mission. However, some accounts disagree on the exact timing of this first fight and whether Colter returned to the fort afterward.
Around 1808, Colter and John Potts, another veteran of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, were traveling by canoe along the Jefferson River in present-day Montana. While camping by the shore, a party of Blackfeet spotted them. The Blackfeet either recognized Colter or were suspicious of trappers after seeing Colter fighting with the Crow.
The Blackfeet attacked as Potts and Colter scrambled for the canoe. Potts was hit by an arrow and collapsed. Realizing they couldn’t escape, Colter suggested they surrender. Instead, Potts raised his rifle and killed one of the Blackfeet.
Potts was immediately struck by a barrage of arrows and died. The Blackfeet then mutilated his body. Colter was now alone, surrounded by hostile warriors.
Colter understood some Blackfeet language from his time with the Crow. He listened as the Blackfeet debated what to do with him. Initially, they considered using him for target practice. An elder warrior had a different idea and told Colter they were going to hunt him.
Colter was disarmed, stripped naked, and led a few hundred paces away to give him a head start. The Blackfeet told him to run as fast as he could. He did.
Colter ran across the prairie with the hunters in pursuit. Surprisingly, he began to outpace them, but he knew he couldn’t keep running forever. His only chance was to reach the river and find a hiding spot.
Colter headed back toward the river. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw a single warrior ahead of the rest, spear in hand. Hearing footsteps closing in, he stopped and turned.
The move surprised the warrior, who stumbled while trying to throw his spear. The spear hit the ground and broke. Colter grabbed the sharp end and drove it into the warrior.
As the other warriors closed in, Colter ran to the river and dove in. He swam underwater and surfaced under a pile of loose logs (or a beaver dam, according to another account). The Blackfeet searched for Colter through the night but eventually gave up and left.
Colter had escaped but was far from safe. He was naked, his feet were torn up from the chase, and he was hundreds of miles from the nearest outpost. Living on nothing but edible weeds, Colter somehow made it back to Lisa’s fort.
John Colter Becomes A Legend
After returning from his ordeal, John Colter spent a few more years exploring the Tetons and Yellowstone, areas no non-Native had seen before. In 1810, he decided to return to the East, vowing never to travel to the mountains again.
The Colter who emerged from the wilderness was not the same man who had left Kentucky seven years earlier. A friend described him as having an open and pleasing face, much like Daniel Boone. Colter was naturally built for enduring fatigue, hardship, and danger.
Colter soon settled down and married, but he only lived another three years, dying of jaundice around 1812-1813.
John Colter’s life quickly became legendary, and it’s easy to dismiss his story as myth. Many historians do, in fact. There is little evidence to support much of Colter’s story beyond a few secondhand accounts. However, one piece of evidence supports part of Colter’s tale.
Between 1931 and 1933, a family digging near Tetonia, Idaho, found a small stone carved into the shape of a head. Etched into the stone were the words “John Colter 1808.” If Colter carved the stone, it indicates he ventured deep into uncharted territory.
Today, the “Colter Stone” is displayed in a museum in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, a fitting tribute to this unique American legend.
After reading about John Colter, check out more amazing survival stories like those of cannibal mountain man Liver-Eating Johnson and Tami Oldham Ashcraft, the woman who inspired Adrift.