William Sublette

William Sublette
Born	William Lewis Sublette September 21, 1798 Stanford, Lincoln County, Kentucky
Died	July 23, 1845 (aged 47) St. Louis, Missouri
Resting place	Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri
Nationality	American
Other names	William Sublett, Bill Sublette, Cutface
Occupation	frontiersman, trapper, fur trader, explorer
Employer	Rocky Mountain Fur Company
Known for	Being a co-owner of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, with Andrew Henry, after buying out the company shares, of William Henry Ashley
Relatives	Milton Sublette (brother), Andrew Sublette (brother), Pinkney Sublette (brother), Solomon Sublette (brother) Laurel Seberg (grandchild)

William Lewis Sublette also spelled Sublett (September 21 1798 - July 23 1845), was a pioneer, frontiersman, trapper, fur trader, explorer, and mountain man, who, with his four brothers, after 1823, became an agent of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and later, one of its co-owners, exploiting the riches of the Oregon Country, which helped settle and improve the best routes, along the Oregon Trail.

William Sublette was born near Stanford, Lincoln County, Kentucky. He was one of five Sublette brothers, prominent in the western fur trade: William, Milton, Andrew, Pinkney, and Solomon.

Sublette was one of the key leaders among the American mountain men, pushing hard into disputed territory, held by the dominant, joint British-Canadian fur companies; the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, and against their chief rival, the American Fur Company trappers, who were also in the high Rockies and the Unorganized Territory of the western United States.

He retired from high-risk, trapping activities, venturing near hostile Amerindians, after being wounded at the Rendezvous of 1832 in the Battle of Pierre's Hole, which some accounts claim he hotheadedly triggered in his actions prior to the gun battle. After recuperating over a year back in St. Louis, he returned to the uplands and founded Fort William, later Fort Laramie, in the foothills east of the South Pass; the fort commanded the last eastern stream crossing at the foot of the last ascent to the floor of South Pass. That was the only route readily navigable by wagons over the continental divide.

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