Fur+Traders

=American Mountain Men and Western Fur Trade: Trapping and Trading =

Essential Questions:

Why did the fur traders stop going out in big brigades?

What were some of the dangers of being a mountain man?

Why did mountain men live such a dangerous life even though they didn’t make much money?

What was a rendezvous like and why was it better than a brigade?



The hunting parties of the first fur trading years were called brigades. Ads in St. Louis newspapers called for some 100 "enterprising young men" to be employed for one, two, or three years at a salary of about 200 dollars per year. These men were taken to some remote fort where they would camp for a few days. The operator of the fort would then sell them supplies like guns, traps, leather pants, sugar, coffee, knives, bullets, and maybe a frying pan. They would charge around ten times the St. Louis price for these items. Usually the men ended up in debt. The trappers also bought things like beads, mirrors, or fusses (pistols) which they, in turn, traded to Indians for meat, services, or additional furs.
 * Hunting Brigades **




 * A Years Worth of Pain **

Usually, men who had worked in the mountains for a few years led these brigades. Jedediah Strong Smith, Jim Bridger, and John Colter were among the men who followed up on those early newspaper ads. All three became well-known mountain men. As hunting parties pushed further into uncharted wilderness, they came under increasing attack from Indian tribes hostile to American expansion, particularly the Blackfoot. Sometimes an entire year's worth of supplies and furs were lost. Leaders soon decided to reform the brigade method of trapping. They were losing all their profits. The Rendezvous replaced the brigade, and here is where the real mountain man lifestyle is born.

Mountain men, who were free traders, began to venture out on the spring and fall hunts alone or with just a couple of partners. This way, if individual trappers were either unsuccessful or killed, the entire trapping season was not lost. Most of these areas were fierce country. They lived on diets of meat. Some of them became sick due to a lack of fresh vegetables. Often, the meat was either "green"- still warm from the heat of the live animal- or else, if not properly cured, or was rotten. They brewed thistle-root soup. They drank "buffalo cider," a fluid found in the stomach of the buffalo, to quench their thirst. They learned to survive from watching and living with Indians or more experienced trappers. Mountain men lived tough lives fighting off bear, hunger, and even other men. But the trappers didn't journey west to get rich. They did it because they loved the land and couldn't imagine a more magnificent place to live. Most mountain men could understand one or two Indian languages at least well enough to trade with them. They would spend the entire spring and fall on the hunt, setting traps and trading with Indians. Then, during the summer, they gathered for Rendezvous.
 * The Mountain Men **

The first Rendezvous was held in 1825. Supply trains (these weren't actually railroad trains) came out to bring the few goods that mountain men might need or want. Free traders brought their furs to barter for supplies or money. Organizers of the Rendezvous then took the furs to sell back East. The Rendezvous was a wild and raucous event. The men held horse races and shooting matches. They wrestled, fought, talked, and drank. After a week or two everyone disbanded and went back to the hills. The winters passed by slowly. While the creeks and ponds were frozen, little hunting was done. Free traders were not usually welcome in established forts over the winters. If game and firewood could be found, winters were pleasant times. Some men taught themselves to read over the winter season.
 * The Rendezvous **

Many of the old trappers became guides for the Army or for settlers coming west. They would guide people on how to survive in the rugged wilderness. They passed on knowledge of weather patterns, of edible plants, of animal habits, and of Indian traditions. Before the fur trade ended, the entire northwestern United States had been mapped. Routes for wagons and trains had been surveyed. But more importantly, the West had evolved in people's minds from a savage wilderness into a livable area. Children in the East grew up reading the journals of Lewis and Clark and other western figures. They dreamed of becoming wilderness heroes themselves. They wanted to head west. And head they did. Following the fur trade, men and women moved in search for gold, to homestead farms, to harvest timber, and to find a new way of life.
 * The End Result **