Hiram Scott

Hiram Scott
Born	1805 St. Charles County, Missouri, US
Died	1828 (aged 22–23) Scotts Bluff National Monument, Nebraska
Occupation	Clerk, fur trade explorer
Years active	1822–1828
Employer	Rocky Mountain Fur Company

Hiram Scott (1805–1828) was an American mountain man, trapper, and pelt trader who trapped and took part in expeditions throughout the western United States during the 1820s. Born in Missouri, Scott joined the Rocky Mountain Fur Company in 1822 and took part in the first fur trade expedition at the Great Salt Lake in Utah. He died at age 23 near a cliff along the North Platte River in Nebraska which were named in his honor. The circumstances leading to his demise have given rise to many diverse accounts and theories.

Hiram Scott was born in 1805 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Described as an abnormally towering and strapping figure with a dark complexion, in 1822 Scott was employed by William Henry Ashley and Andrew Henry's Rocky Mountain Fur Company, a pioneering enterprise which funded explorations into the western United States' wilderness. The company's Superintendent of Indian Affairs William Clark had granted Ashley and Henry a license to trade with Native Americans in Missouri, actively encouraging them to compete with the influential British fur trade in the Pacific Northwest. Scott was a member of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company's first expedition along the Missouri River between 1822 and 1823.

On June 2, 1823, Scott fought alongside fellow frontiersmen near the Missouri River who were attacked by warriors of the Arikara tribe. Fifteen trappers died during the raid; a war between the United States government and the Arikara broke out soon after. Until 1828, Scott, who served in the same capacity as a clerk, recorded transactions with Native Americans and led explorations from the Great Salt Lake frontier. He attended the first rendezvous at the fur trader post situated near Salt Lake in 1826 and participated in two other expeditions held there.

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