location of Colter's Hell have fueled much of the scholarly disagreements surrounding Colter's Route. Colter's Run The following year, Colter teamed up with John Potts, another former member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, once again in the region near Three Forks, Montana. In 1808, Colter and Potts set out from Fort Raymond to negotiate trade agreements with local nations. While leading a group of 800 Flathead and Crow Indians back to the trading fort, Colter's party was attacked by over 1,500 Blackfeet. The Flatheads and Crows managed to force the Blackfeet into retreat, but Colter suffered a leg wound from either a bullet or arrow. This wound was not serious as Colter quickly recuperated and left Fort Raymond with Potts once more the following year. In 1809, another altercation with the Blackfeet resulted in Potts' death and Colter's capture. While going by canoe up the Jefferson River, Potts and Colter encountered several hundred Blackfeet who demanded they come ashore. Colter went ashore and was disarmed and stripped naked. When Potts refused to come ashore, he was shot and wounded. Potts then shot one of the Indian warriors and was instantly pierced with arrows so numerous, that, to use the language of Colter, "he was made a riddle of." His body was brought ashore and hacked to pieces. After a council, Colter was told to leave and encouraged to run. It soon became apparent that he was running for his life pursued by a large pack of young braves. A fast runner, after several miles the naked Colter was exhausted and bleeding from his nose but far ahead of most of the group with only one assailant still close to him. He then managed to overcome the lone man: Colter took a blanket from the Indian he had killed. Continuing his run with a pack of Indians following, he reached the Madison River, from his start, and hiding inside a beaver lodge, escaped capture. Emerging at night he climbed and walked for eleven days to a trader's fort on the Little Big Horn. In 1810, Colter assisted in the construction of another fort located at Three Forks, Montana. After returning from gathering fur pelts, he discovered that two of his partners had been killed by the Blackfeet. This event convinced Colter to leave the wilderness for good, and he returned to St. Louis before the end of 1810. He had