THE MOUNTAIN MEN

1. THE MOUNTAIN MEN

3. MOUNTAIN MEN • Prime period 1820-1840 • Only about 200-300 a year • Lured by the west • Opportunity to make money

5. Illiterate Uneducated Primitive Relatively young Reckless Adventuresome In need of money CHARACTERISTICS OF A MOUNTAIN MAN

6. Conglomerate group (France, GB, Canada, America and Mexico) Canibalized --used up resources However, some had college degrees and were very refined

7. 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

11. 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

12. Beaver Skin Hats

13. 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

14. 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)

15. Where trappers sold pelts • Either in Taos, New Mexico • Caravan that brought supplies to annual “rendezvous”

16. Taos • A wild city, north of Santa Fe Trail • Pelts were sold • Supplies purchased • Gambling, whiskey, women

18. 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

19. 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

21. 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of the Mountain Men • Silk hats had replaced the beaver skin hat so there was no longer a market • The rendezvous had been replaced by the trading post

22. Legacy of Mountain Men Discovered trail & passes Established relations with Native Americans Established trade Routes and trails west

24. 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

25. 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

29. 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

33. BELLTOWER

35. NORTHEAST BASTION

36. SOUTHWEST BASTION

37. ARKANSAS RIVER FROM SW BASTION

38. 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”

39. BILLIARD ROOM

40. PRIVATE QUARTERS

41. TRAPPERS QUARTERS

42. ST VRAINS QUARTERS

43. 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

44. 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

45. 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

47. 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