In April 1837, the steamboat St. Peter’s left St. Louis and headed up the Missouri River to deliver supplies to the trading posts of Pratte, Chouteau & Company. No one had an inkling the voyage would change the history of the Great Plains. In addition to trade goods, the steamer also carried one of the deadliest pestilences known to man: smallpox. Physicians know it by its scientific name, the virus variola major. The Indians called it “rotting face.” Unbeknownst to the boat’s

True West May/June 2025
In This Issue:
Features
- Historic Hotels of the American West
- A Journey Through Wyoming’s Outlaw History
- A Journey Through Washington’s Wild Frontier
- Blazing The Oregon Trail
- Journey Through Time
- Did Brigham Young Order a Massacre?
- Mountain Meadows Scapegoat John D. Lee VS. A Firing Squad
- Mormons in the Movies
- An Indigenous Consultant Ensures Accuracy
- The Battle Axe And A Raw Deal
- Showdown: Bridger VS. Brigham
- The Mountain Man and the Mormon Moses
- The Ghosts of Mountain Meadows
- The War Before the War
- Mountain Meadows