James Beckwourth was born in the time when there were slaves in the United States. His father taught him to respect others no matter what their skin color.

Jim was born on April 26, 1798 in Fredricksburg, Virginia. His mother was a black slave and his dad was white. Jim was one of 13 children.

His family moved to Missouri and started a settlement when he was 7 years old. When he was ten he went alone to St. Louis to go to school. He was 14 when he quit school to work for a blacksmith.

In 1823 James Beckwourth became a mountain man. He spoke several Indian languages and liked to be with the Indians. Five years later he was adopted by the Crow Indians. He married the Crow chief's daughter and he even became chief of the tribe himself.

In 1850 James Beckwourth found an easy way to get through the Sierra Nevada Mountains to California. They named the pass after him. In 1852 he and his wife started a trading post in the valley near Beckwourth Pass. A few years later they moved to a ranch near Denver, Colorado.

He died in 1866. The way he died is a mystery. Some think he was poisoned by the Crow Indians and others think his former wife poisoned him.

We got our information from:
Mountain Men by Rick Steber
Jim Beckwourth, Adventures of a Mountain Man by Louis Sabin
and from the James Pierson Beckwourth web site.