INTRODUCTION
Mountain men were amazing people of the wilderness. From Jeremiah “Liver Eating” Johnson to Jim Bridger, mountain men had a mission: beavers.
THE BEAVER TRADE
Like today, there were fashion trends many years ago. One of these trends was top hats, made from beavers. That was the fashion trend of the 19th century. In 1824, 16 trapping rendezvous started. 6 of those rendezvouses were held in the Green River Valley in Wyoming. The whole reason for all of this was the beaver top hat. Beaver top hats were soft and waterproof, made of the underhair of the North American beaver.
FUN FACT!
The phrase “mad hatter” was made because the mercury that hatters used to make hats made them crazy!
THE GREEN RIVER RENDEZVOUS
From 1824 – 1840, 16 rendezvous were held. A Rendezvous is where many mountain men spent the winter trapping. They often told tall tales and told where they caught many beavers, and bragged of their profits. 6 of the 16 rendezvouses were held in the Rocky Mountains, Green River Valley in Wyoming. The rendezvous was held 8 miles west of Pinedale, Wyoming, near Daniel, Wyoming. 3 famous mountain men, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, and Thomas Fitzpatrick, all went to this rendezvous.
FUR PACKAGES
Mountain men had a specific way of packaging skins. These packages were called fur packages. 1 package could contain 44 beaver pelts, 12 otter pelts, 5 bears, or 6 fisher.
TRAPPING
Mountain men used many different strategies for trapping. One set they used was putting a trap in a hole then covering it with dirt. Another set is putting a trap underwater for beaver or mink. The usual foot-hold trap was the double longspring trap, which had two springs on either side of the jaws. Each trap was different in some way. Some had teeth, some did not.
There were many dangers that went with trapping. From Grizzlies to Indians, the pelt was something the Mountain Men thought was worth dying for. The Mountain Men were up in the mountains in the elements. Wind and snow killed many. The cold was one of the worst enemies of these men. Bears also were a huge threat. One Mountain Man, Jedediah Smith, was almost killed by a grizzly bear. His friend had to sew up his ear, it was so bad! Yes, trapping had its hardships, but the mountain men profited from it!
PELT PRICES
You could trade beaver pelts for equipment. For example, 11 beaver pelts could get you a musket, for 4 beaver pelts you could get a pistol. With one beaver pelt, you could get 20 fish hooks, one pair of breeches, 8 knives, 2 pounds of sugar, 2 shirts, 1 blanket, 2 hatchets, 1 pair of shoes, 12 dozen buttons, 2 yards of flannel, 1 gallon of brandy, 1 brass kettle, ¾ lbs of beads, or 1 ½ lbs of gunpowder.
CONCLUSION
Mountain Men had a tough, but amazing life. Though they faced many hardships, they got to live in what I think is the most amazing and beautiful places on earth – the Rocky Mountains.
I found this piece just fascinating! Even though it was factual, your voice came through beautifully, like with “Liver Eating” Johnson. Your spacing and organization made it easy for your reader to read and understand your flow. I learned some great and interesting information, and it was clear that you used your own words to digest the research you did. Well done!
G’day Noah,
What a great piece of research! Would you be allowed to add some images to this piece of writing? I love the way you have divided it into paragraphs with sub headings.
As you have done so much research, you might want to add the Sources (books, websites, videos) where you found the information in case your readers want to find out more about the topic.
Noah that was an awesome post! This is actually the first post that I have seen which was formatted in the fashion you formatted it. You also had lots of quality information about the “mountain men”. Although I really enjoyed learning about them I was wondering what made you choose to write about them?
Nice post noah and good luck with the rest of the challenge! If you want to check out my blog heres the link: http://www.blog44.ca/owenc/