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In the early days, Ashley's Hundred worked the lands around the upper Missouri River. As the company considered building outposts along the river, Ashley soon discovered that the [[Missouri Fur Company]] had already done so. Eventually Ashley and his company moved farther west to the mountain range for which it was named.<ref>{{Cite book|title = A Majority of Scoundrels : an Informal History of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company|last = Berry|first = Don|publisher = Harper|year = 1961|location = New York}}</ref>
Forging new paths and discovering landscapes unknown to whites, the Rocky Mountain Fur Company pioneered a new style in the fur trade, albeit it was ultimately an adaption of the methods of the [[Northwest Company]] and [[Hudson's Bay Company]] to the central Rockies.<ref name=Barbour/> Known as the brigade-rendezvous system, Major Henry's system was formed in part as a reaction to a July 1822 law prohibiting the sale of alcohol to Indians. Prior to this point, the fur trade had relied on Indians to do the actual trapping and hunting that produced the furs; they were then brought to trading posts where, with increasing frequency, the Indians were given liquor both as an actual medium of exchange, and in order to render them pliant and easily cheated. The pattern was so firmly established that it was difficult to conduct business without a substantial supply of alcohol. Henry's plan made Indian trappers and trading posts unnecessary; he trained white men and [[Métis
Ashley and his men had mixed success. By the middle of the decade, the company had a firm grasp of the Rockies. Headquartered in the Green River Valley, trappers found numerous spots to collect valuable pelts. Some of these locations included: Horse Creek, La Barge Creek, Fontenolle Creek, and Black Fork. Two popular trading destinations were Pierre's Hole in Idaho and Fort Bonneville (also called Fort Nonsense) in Wyoming. In some cases, however, the company took heavy losses. Losing supplies and even men, some expeditions ended in catastrophe. On two occasions, trappers were killed by Blackfeet and Arikara Indians. Another blow was when Major Andrew Henry, considered the most experienced trapper, left the company in 1824. Two years later Ashley followed suit to embark on a political career. In 1826 he sold his company off to a group of his employees. Nonetheless, the Rocky Mountain Fur Company continued for eight more years. None of these setbacks spelled the end for Ashley's Hundred, but soon the company confronted the same set of problems that faced the entire industry.<ref name=":1" />
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