Mystery of the Colter Stone #443: Merrill J. Mattes Papers

Published November 26, 2024 at 6:00 AM MST

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Photograph of the front of the “Colter Stone”. Box 7, Merrill J. Mattes papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

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Photograph of the back of the “Colter Stone”, engraved with John Colter’s name. Box 7, Merrill J. Mattes papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

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Letter from W.R. Beard to the Secretary of the Interior regarding Beard’s discovery of the “Colter Stone”, May 29, 1939. Box 2, Merrill J. Mattes papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

Was mountain man and explorer John Colter the first white man to visit Jackson Hole? Perhaps.

In 1931, an Idaho homesteader clearing scrub timber near the Idaho-Wyoming border dug up a large gray rhyolite rock, fashioned in the shape of a face. Carved into the rock was the name “John Colter” and the date “1808”. Did Colter leave the rock behind to mark his passage through the area? We can only speculate.

Records show that John Colter was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition from 1803 to 1806. Then Colter was hired by a Spanish fur trader to scout for Native Americans interested in trading.

As winter of 1807 was beginning, Colter set off from the trading post known as Manuel’s Fort in what is now south-central Montana. By 1808, it seems likely that Colter found himself in the region we now know as the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. It was during this time that Colter may have carved what is called the “Colter Stone”.

Learn more by reading the Merrill J. Mattes papers UW’s American Heritage Center.

For more information, visit the American Heritage Center site.