This firm, in the eager pursuit for furs, had dispatched Captain Lee to these remote frontiers in New Mexico.
Bands of energetic trappers were penetrating streams and valleys, over distances thousands of miles in extent.

Many of the Indians also, seeking lucrative trade with the white men, had purchased steel traps and had become quite successful in the capture of beavers.

Captain Lee had obtained a large number of mules.

These he was to load with packs, containing such goods as he thought would be the most eagerly sought for by the trappers.

Then with a cavalcade of perhaps forty or fifty mules, horses for his party to ride, and spare horses to meet any accidental loss, he was to set out on a long tour of hundreds of miles, climbing the mountains, threading the valleys, crossing the prairies in search of these widely wandering bands.
In exchange for his goods he received furs; and the mules returned with their freightage of very rich treasure.