THE MOUNTAIN MEN

MOUNTAIN MEN• Prime period 1820-1840

• Only about 200-300 a year

• Lured by the west

• Opportunity

to make

money

CHARACTERISTICS OF A MOUNTAIN MAN

• Illiterate

• Uneducated

• Primitive

• Relatively young

• Reckless

• Adventuresome

• In need of money

• Conglomerate group (France, GB, Canada, America and Mexico)

• Canibalized --used up resources

• However, some had college degrees and were very refined

DESCRIPTION OF MT MEN• Many were very large-Natives looked at them

with awe and superstition

• Eventually occupation developed lifestyle, conduct and habits, a culture of their own– Harsh language– Smelly and dirty– They never laundered their buckskin suit and

seldom removed it (Just to put it on an ant pile)

• http://www.coon-n-crockett.org/cnc~glos.htm

DESCRIPTION

• Many mountain men were more

savage than Natives

• Little concern for family or

comforts

• Not materialistic

• Traveled with a rifle,skinning

knife, horse, traps and utensils

Beaver Skin Hats

DESCRIPTION• Ate well at times and poorly at others

– Cut off horses tail and ears to make stew– Tapped into horses veins – Ate moccasins, ants, black crickets, deer excrement

soup, bark and berries

• Explored trails & helped name the west• Traders gave Indians the whiskey trade, small

pox, diphtheria and cholera• Trapped themselves out of business by the 1840’s

TRAPPERS• Trappers were divided into three categories

– Free trapper-Unaffiliated, unfettered, most colorful and romantic

– Company trapper-Affiliated with a company

– Fur trader-Did not trap, but traded with Indians (The whiskey trade was his bonanza)

Where trappers sold pelts

• Either in Taos, New Mexico

• Caravan that

brought supplies

to annual “rendezvous”

Taos

• A wild city, north

of Santa Fe Trail

• Pelts were sold

• Supplies purchased

• Gambling, whiskey,

women

• Taos Lightning, a potent brew made by mountain men near Taos since 1825, using a wheat base and such legendary ingredients as pepper, tobacco and gun powder

Tarantula Juice, Red Eye, and

Coffin Varnish

Rendezvous

• Different location each year in Wyoming or Utah

• Fur companies brought boats and wagons filled with supplies

• Weeklong party, dancing, story telling, trading• Mountain men left penniless

MOUNTAIN MEN• 1840’s saw the end of the Mountain Men

• Silk hats had replaced the beaver skin hat so there was no longer a market

• The rendezvous had been replaced by the trading post

Legacy of Mountain Men

Discovered trail & passes

Established relations with Native Americans

Established trade Routes and trails west

TRADE• Santa Fe Trail was in its prime from 1820-1870

• Preceded the Oregon Trail, the 49ers and the 59ers

• Manufactured goods from the east sent west for pelts, blankets and whiskey

• Tough trip because of long stretches without contact with civilization, natural barriers and Indian problems

BENT’S FORT• Charles (25 and a West Point graduate) and

William (15) headed west to find their future

• To enter the fur trading business-

carried trinkets to help trade

• Located along the Arkansas River

(wood and water available)

• Established a good relationship

with Indians, purchased pelts

BENT’S FORT• 1833-Chose a site on the Arkansas River

– Ceran St. Vrain suggested the Spanish style– Chose the high ground– Adobe instead of wood because:

• Wood was scarce• Did not burn • Warm in the winter and cool in the summer

BELLTOWER

NORTHEAST BASTION

SOUTHWEST BASTION

ARKANSAS RIVER FROM SW BASTION

BENT’S FORT• Tried to provide eastern culture (White

tablecloths, imported china and a wine cellar)• Permanent employees-Blacksmiths, carpenters,

gunsmiths and hunters• Six different languages spoken-French, Spanish,

German, English, Comanche and Arapaho• Called “a perfect babel of a place”

BILLIARD ROOM

PRIVATE QUARTERS

TRAPPERS QUARTERS

ST VRAINS QUARTERS

BENT’S FORT• Famous people-Son of Sacajawea and Kit Carson

• William Bent married a Cheyenne woman-Good relations with Indians

• US annexed Texas in 1845 –Mexicans viewed this as an act of war

• Bent’s Fort was used as an advance base and rendezvous for General Kearney (1650 troops); because of this trade stopped

BENT’S FORT• Charles Bent had been appointed governor of newly

annexed New Mexico• He was killed by the Mexicans and the Pueblo

Indians• St Vrain sold his interest in the fort to William• Army wanted to buy it from him• The fort was burned to the ground

– Did not like the price– Possibly cholera

• Built a second fort 38 miles away

OTHER TRADING POSTS• Ft Robidoux• Ft Davy Crockett (nw colorado)• Ft Lupton (S. Platte)• Ft St. Vrain

• Forts died out – Indian trade fell– Silk Hats– Buffalo robes were plentiful

FIRST SETTLEMENTS• First settlements began during this time period• The San Luis Valley is the first permanent

settlement• Pueblo (“town”) was established because of

trapping and trading• Christmas Day Massacre in 1854 ended the first

period of Pueblo history• Hardscrabble-30 miles west of Pueblo-Did good

in the wet years but was doomed by the dry years