Mountain Men and the Fur Trade in Utah History

1. Bell Ringer 11/19 • What is a mountain man? What do you picture when you think of a mountain man?

2. The Fur Trade Searching for Beaver and Expanding the Nation Westward into Utah

3. Mountain Men • After the Dominguez-Escalante expedition, the next group of people to come to Utah were mountain men. • In the early 1800’s trappers started heading west. • They traded metal objects and blankets with the Natives in exchange for furs. • Before long, trappers began trapping for themselves.

4. Mountain Men • These mountain men worked for American, British, and Mexican fur companies. • Nearly 3,000 men, women, and children went west to trap. • Mountain men were business men • They would eat raw buffalo liver, roasted steaks, and other animals and plants off the land.

5. Why Trap Beaver in America? • For over 100 years European gentlemen were never seen in public without a beaver hat. • Americans in cities liked the hats and paid a lot of money for them. • In Europe almost all of the beavers had been killed.

6. High Fashion Beaver Hats A beaver hat didn't look anything like a beaver. It was made of beaver fur that had been rubbed until it was smooth. Abraham Lincoln in a beaver hat

7. The Fur Trade • Utah streams were loaded with beaver • Utah center of the fur trade 1820-1830. • Large fur companies hired trappers.

8. The Cache The word 'cache' comes from the French word cacher meaning to conceal or to hide. • If trappers had too much to carry they would hide furs in holes or caches until the summer.

9. Bell Ringer 11/20 • What are you thankful for? Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary

10. Rendezvous • Trappers and Natives decided a place the year before and would meet up to rendezvous and trade. • Managed by large fur trading companies. • Brought supplies to sell to mountain men. • A “wild event” with “mirth, songs, dancing, shouting, trading, running, jumping, singing, racing, target-shooting, and frolic”.

11. Rendezvous cont. • After the first day of fun, the men bargained with the traders. • Men would get $10 for each fur ($100 today) • Traders charged high prices for flour, bullets, knives, sugar, and other supplies.

12. Native-Trapper Conflict • Often Natives were friendly to trappers • Served as guide • Offered their lodges in the winter • Some Native women married trappers • Other Natives would attack mountain men to keep them off their lands.

13. The Fur Trade • A resourceful Mountain Man could trap 400 to 500 pounds per year. • At that time, pelts brought trappers an average of $4 to $6 per pound. • If $10 = $100 in today’s money. How much is $2,000? 400 lbs X $5 per lb = $2,000 per year

14. Is this how you pictured them? Peter Skene Ogden Jim Bridger James Beckwourth Joseph R. Walker Etienne Provost Antoine Robidoux

15. Trapper Action Figure • Pg 68 – 71 • 1 – Peter Skene Ogden • 2 – Jim Bridger • 3 – Jedediah Smith • 4 – James Beckwourth • 5 – Etienne Provost • 6 – Antoine Robidoux • 7 – Joseph R. Walker Mountain Men Write a Description Draw a picture of your trapper

16. End of an Era

17. Cultural Exchange