Many of the great icons of western American history left their mark on Carbon County while living in or traveling through the natural byway that is Montana's Clark's Fork Valley. The Apsalooke, or Crow, people called the valley home for centuries. The Lewis and Clark expedition recorded and named the valley's river in 1806. In 1807-1808, John Colter, the discoverer of Yellowstone Park, explored the southern end of the valley. The Rocky Mountain Fur Company and adventurers like Jedediah Smith, Joe Meek, and Thomas Fitzpatrick soon followed. In 1864, Jim Bridger blazed the Bridger Trail through the valley. Chief Joseph and his band of Nez Perce followed the valley north from Yellowstone Park during their 1877 flight toward Canada. Calamity Jane and Caroline Lockhart, a noted author and literary rival of Zane Grey, once called the valley home, and Buffalo Bill Cody and John "Liver-Eating" Johnston visited it frequently.
