Etienne Provost was born in 1785 in Chambly, Quebec but by 1814 he began exploring, trapping and trading in what would become the western United States. He made his home in St. Louis, Missouri, and worked for a number of different exporing and trapping companies but most of his business was out in what would become Utah and New Mexico. Provost generally had several enterprises going at once.

Tykal, Jack B. Etienne Provost: Man of the Mountains (Liberty, Utah: Eagle's View Pub. Co., 1989).

Chittenden, Hiram Martin. The American Fur Trade of the Far West (New York: The Press of the Pioneers, 1935).

Creer, Leland Hargrave. The Founding of an Empire (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, [1947]), pp. 44-49.

Moffitt, John Clifton. The Story of Provo, Utah. (Provo: J.C. Moffitt, 1975), pp.