Exhibits
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Living with the Land: our lands, our lives. |
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Trappers and Mountain Men |
Trappers and Mountain Men
| "Fear Finds Within Them No Resting Place" In 1822, an advertisement appeared in a St. Louis newspaper: "To Enterprising young men: The subscriber wishes to engage one hundred men, to ascend the river Missouri to its source, there to be employed for one, two, or three years." General William Henry Ashley, the lieutenant governor of Missouri, was recruiting men to trap beaver for the lucrative fur trade, which up until then had been dominated by the French, British, and Spanish. Those who heeded his call became the first of the "mountain men," the intrepid explorers and colorful characters who scoured the rivers of the west looking for beaver. Some of these men disappeared into the wilderness; others became legends. Men like John Coulter, Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger, Jim Beckwourth, and Joseph Meek all helped shape the myth of the wild west and also created the reality of westward expansion. During the decade that the demand for beaver hats raged in Europe, the mountain men diligently traveled, trapped, and met with the fur company's representatives every summer for a wild rendezvous. The trappers sold their furs and bought whisky, cloth, food, and tobacco in exchange, usually at wildly inflated rates. They spent a week whooping it up, then returned to their lonely lives, broke but happy. Soon enough, fashions changed, and the demand for their wares disappeared. The mountain men, unemployed, but in love with the lands of the west, turned their hands to other trades. Many found gainful employment in leading homesteaders across the dangerous desert lands. Jim Bridger founded a trading post on the Mormon Trail, which he later lost during the war between the Mormons and the United States (now Fort Bridger State Park on I-80 in western Wyoming). Joe Meek, who had led so many to the lush lands of the Oregon Territory, ended up settling there himself and having eight children with his Nez Perce wife. Jim Beckwourth became a horse thief in California. Many others lost their lives in the wilderness, killed by unfriendly Indians, bears, cold, and disease. Although their lives were brutal and impoverished, these men revelled in traveling through the wild lands, and seldom if ever looked back wistfully at the civilised world they had left behind. Yet their lust for unexplored lands paved the way for the United States to conquer, then settle what had once been terra incognita. Bridger country-- the Green River basin-- was explored by many, including Jedediah Smith and John Coulter, but Jim Bridger was the one who left his lasting mark. At Names Hill, just west of the river, you can still see where Jim Bridger carved his name 150 years ago. His trading post is just west of here, as well, where he proved to be a good friend and trustworthy guide for those journeying in hope of salvation, refuge, and a better life. Later, he became an advocate for the Native Americans, and tried (unsuccessfully) to persuade gold seekers to travel up the Bighorn Basin to the gold fields of Montana, avoiding the hunting grounds of the Plains tribes. Had his advice been heeded, the bloody Indian War might have been averted, and a sad chapter in American history never written. |
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) See Jim Bridger's signature at Names Hill. Courtesy BLM Wyoming State Office. ) Floating the Green River today. Courtesy USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Region. |
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