One day, there being no one handy of whom this shipping clerk might inquire, he marked a number of bales and boxes destined for "Fort William on the Laramie," simply for "Fort Laramie," remembering only the river on which the fort was situated. Campbell, observing this, liked the idea and he changed the name as it would prevent confusion in future. This incident occurred some time after Sublette and Campbell had sold the fort, and while it was the property of the American Fur Company, who were extensive dealers at the Campbell commissar}'.

It was in 1835 that Sublette and Campbell sold Fort William to a syndicate of famous trappers headed by Jim Bridger. And about the same time Lucien Fontenelle, with a large force of trappers for the American Fur Company dropped down from the Big Horn country, into the rich fields for beaver along the North Platte and its tributaries.

Both he and Bridger had been too long in the mountains not to know the ruinous effect of stiff competition, and after some preliminaries the fort became a part of the American Fur Company, and Bridger and his associates became members thereof. Fontenelle was made general manager, and after that date they had practically all the fur trade of Wyoming and western Nebraska.

In later years there were many smaller establishments that ran for a time, but the bulk of the business went to the well established American Fur Company.

Among these smaller concerns was Adams and Sabylle who built Fort John in 1836, and who later built another fort on what finally became known as Sabylle creek. The latter fort