According to the artist, “In their relentless quest for profitable fur, American trappers explored new territories and blazed trails throughout the Rocky Mountains. But tantalizing reports of plentiful beaver lured expeditions further west to the promising hunting grounds of California. By the mid-1820s, groups of mountain men were entering the Mexican province of California, both legally and illegally.

“In this painting a brigade of American trappers from the Rocky Mountains reach the shores of the Pacific near Monterey, California. They have traveled across an uncharted and inhospitable desert. With little regard to Mexican authority, they will trap, trade and partake of the area’s rich bounty.”

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