a center of fur trade, with Sublette for a short time. Jackson returned to the fur country for the 1828 rendezvous, after which he traveled with a party to the Flathead Lake, Montana region, where they wintered. The next spring, Smith found him along the Flathead River. The two partners and their men trapped down to Pierre's Hole, where they joined Sublette. The rendezvous that year (1829), was held near present-day Lander, Wyoming. Jackson is thought to have returned afterward to the upper Snake River region in northwest Wyoming, then traveled east to spend the winter with Smith and Sublette along the Wind and Powder rivers. Jackson returned to the upper Snake in the spring of 1830, then returned to the Wind River Valley for the annual rendezvous. At the rendezvous, Smith, Jackson and Sublette sold out their interests in the fur trade to a group of men who called the firm the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. The three partners returned to St. Louis, having made a tidy profit in their enterprise. Trip to Santa Fe By early 1831, Jackson was in southeast Missouri's lead belt, attending to his personal affairs and those of his brother George, who died on March 26, 1831. On April 7, he returned to St. Louis to meet with his partners for a trade trip to Santa Fe, which was controlled by the Spanish. The caravan of wagons left St. Louis on April 10, 1831, traveling down the Santa Fe Trail. To save time, the group decided to take the "Cimarron cutoff," at the risk of not finding water for two days. Smith went missing while looking for water, but the caravan continued on, hoping he would find them. Upon reaching Santa Fe on July 4, 1831, the members of the trading party discovered a Mexican merchant at the Santa Fe market offering several of Smith's personal belongings for sale. When questioned about the items, the merchant indicated that he had acquired them from a band of Comanche hunters. Smith had encountered and been killed by a group of Comanche. His death resulted in Jackson and Sublette reorganizing their partnership. California While in Santa Fe, Jackson partnered with David Waldo, to journey to California to sell the merchandise he had transported from Missouri. Waldo convinced him of the viability of traveling to California to purchase mules, and to drive them back to Missouri to sell,