MOUNTAIN MEN

compiled by Stephenie Flora

 



In order to survive the harsh wilderness.
mountain men adopted the ways of the
Indians as shown in this painting by
Frederic Remington entitled
"I Took Ye For An Indian"

The mountain men became a legend in their own time.  Dime novels about their adventures became standard fare in the east where their reputations as invincible heros grew with every story told.  In order to survive the harsh wilderness in which they resided they adopted the ways of the Indians.  Most were solitary individuals and even many of those who worked in brigades or with partners had an "every man for himself" attitude.  Their skin was browned from the sun and the elements and not unlike leather;  their clothing was made of the skins of whatever animal was available.   The work was hard and the dangers many.  So hard was the mountain man's life that he often bought an Indian wife to help him, paying as much as two horses for her, or six pounds of beads, or if she was a chief's daughter, perhaps $2,000 worth of furs.  This expense was best handled by the "free trapper", who owned his own equipment and sold his pelts wherever he chose, rather than the "hired hand"  trapper who worked for the fur companys and was given horse and traps and paid a fixed price for his skins.  The bride found such a match prestigious--from then on she rose high in her tribe's esteem.  She also received gifts of jewelry, bangles, cloth, ribbon and, equally important, modern utensils such as metal cooking pans. 

The mountain man traps from the spring thaw to midsummer, when the beavers molt, and again in autumn until the water freezes.  He camps in sheltered groves close to his traps and moves his home almost weekly to new beaver runs.  His tepee is a cover of buffalo hides stitched with sinews and wrapped around a conical frame of poles, slightly tilted for more rear headroom.  The cover is pegged down and closed with lodge pins except for an entrance hole with a door flap.  With smoke flaps for ventilation, the tepee is cool in summer and, facing away from gales, is windproof in winter.  In November the fire is moved inside, and buffalo robes help to keep the trapper and his wife warm.  During the winter when trapping was almost impossible, the trapper often wintered in the Indian village of his wife's people.  Some trappers spent their time gathering at the various forts in their area to share stories and wait out the winter with other trappers.

Although the standard image of the mountain man depicted him as illiterate, there were many who were well educated.  Jedediah Smith, one of the more famous of the mountain men was well read.  He was also a religious man and never went anywhere without his bible.  Many of these men wrote legal documents and letters for those who were not able to do so themselves.

As the mountain man moved deep into new territories, he explored and discovered new trails and improved those previously made by the indians.  They brought news of the new lands to the east.  In the early 1840s the market for furs had deteriorated and the mountain man found himself adrift in a new world.  Settlers were moving westward in search of land and his way of life was seriously threatened.   Some of these men continued to seek out desolate locations away from the crowds. It was all they knew and they could not adapt to the new world. Others went to live with the Indian tribes of their wives.  And some, hired out to wagon trains as guides.  Many moved to areas where they had lived as trappers, took up land and became ranchers, farmers and business men. 

The Trapper
       

Illustration by David K. Stone
 presented in Story of the Great American West,
 Readers Digest Association, IN, Pleasantville, NY 1977

A pipe stuck into the beaded hatband, the trapper wears a buckskin hunting shirt, leggings, and moccasins, all ornamented with beads and porcupine quills.  Fringes help shed the rain.  From a shoulder thong hang his bullet pouch, powder horn, and wooden castoreum bottle.  At his belt are a pistol, a beaded pouch for fruits, pemmican, and jerky; and a sheathed knife, which he wipes on his clothes to add to the grease used for their waterproofing.  His Hawken rifle has a shorter barrel and larger bore than a Kentucky rifle.  The powder of its heavier ball can kill a grizzly or buffalo at up to 200 yards.  A percussion rifle, it is ignited by a copper cap--better in rain that the flintlock of a Kentucky rifle.

His arms, legs and feet are sopping wet and chilled from repeated immersion in icy streams, and he aches from the trappers' main complaint, rheumatism.



 

 


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