Background
He was born c. 1782 in Canada, the son of Albert and Marianne (Menard) Provost. There appears to be no trace of his early life.
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Etienne Provost
Edit ProfileEducation
There is no information about his education.
Career
While generally known as a "free trapper, " he was at times connected with William Ashley and the Western Department of the American Fur Company. In 1823 he journeyed from St. Louis to the Green (Colorado) River. In 1825 he had a trading post in the Rocky Mountains with Sublette.
He was in the service of Ashley from 1822 until 1826, when the latter sold out to Smith, Jackson, and Sublette, and at that time the two men had some disagreement. Provost tried to organize a rival expedition through negotiations with Bernard Pratte & Company. Ashley followed him to St. Louis, arriving September 9, 1826, and offered Bernard Pratte & Company a share in his 1827 expedition. They accepted and abandoned the Provost project.
In the fall of 1828, Provost was sent by Kenneth Mackenzie to search for trappers of the American Fur Company. If there was ever a difficult job to be done, Provost was usually chosen to carry it through. In 1830 he was one of the hunters at Fort Union, and in 1831 was listed as a boatman on the roll of the American Fur Company. In 1834 he guided Fontenelle and Drips to Bayou Salado (South Park, Colorado). In the spring of that year he led a party for the American Fur Company and was at Ham's Fork on the Colorado in July 1834. In 1843 Provost served as guide for Audubon in his expedition into the upper Western country.
His last trip to the mountains was probably in 1847, after which he settled down in St. Louis. His died July 3, 1850.
Achievements
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Etienne Provost is supposed to have been the first white man to visit the Great Salt Lake. It is also possible that in the same year he discovered the South Pass in the Rocky Mountains, supposing that the Astorians missed the pass proper on their return in 1813. A city, river, and valley in Utah have been named for Provost, the name being abbreviated to Provo. South Dakota also has a town of that name.
Connections
Provost was married in St. Louis, on August 14, 1829, to Marie Rose Sallé dit Lajoie, daughter of Lambert and Madeleine (Delor) Sallé dit Lajoie; one child, Marie, lived to majority. His will, probated on July 24, 1850, gave all his property to his wife, including lands in Iowa Territory and St. Louis.
