In this episode of History of the Saints we are going to talk about the shaping of the great American West; the fur traders, mountain men, and explorers who first mapped and explored these valleys of the mountains. We will look at those dealings among nations by war and diplomacy that continually changed the borders. When the LDS went west they were not the first and would not be the last. They did not blaze the trail. They were a part of a much larger story. In order to better understand the Mormon migration to the West we look first at those who came first.