Left to Die: The Mystery of Hiram Scott

About this episode

In 1828, fur trader Hiram Scott disappeared somewhere along the North Platte River.The story most often told says Scott became gravely ill, was abandoned by his companions, and somehow traveled nearly 60 miles across the plains before dying near the massive Nebraska landmark that would eventually carry his name — Scotts Bluff.But that isn't the only version of the story.Some early accounts place Scott much closer to the bluffs when he was abandoned. Others describe a bullboat journey down the North Platte. One says his companions claimed he was already dead. Another says papers found with a skeleton helped identify the remains as Scott.And that raises an even bigger question:How certain are we that the bones discovered near Scotts Bluff were actually Hiram Scott's?In this episode of Wild West Deep Dives, we go back to the earliest surviving accounts of Scott's life and mysterious death, from his years with William H. Ashley and the early Rocky Mountain fur trade to the conflicting stories recorded by Warren Angus Ferris, Captain Benjamin Bonneville, Washington Irving, Rufus B. Sage and Edwin Bryant.We then examine historian Merrill J. Mattes's detailed reconstruction of what he bel