John Colter was one of the thirty-one men of the Corps of Discovery that went to the Pacific Ocean with Captain Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1803-1806. Colter explored the west as a hunter and trapper, and was a guide for early traders. He was the first white man to see the beauty and wonders of Yellowstone National Park. He reported the possibility of wagons crossing the "Stoney Mountains". His courage sustained him through Indian encounters, animal attacks, severe weather, loneliness and the opportunity to improve his financial status. His triumphant return to the St. Louis District of the Louisiana Territory was marred by territorial politics, death of companions, Indian depredations, the account of his travels that were too fantastic to believe, and his premature death. The marker (below) designates his final resting place on a bluff overlooking the Missouri river east of New Haven, MO.