Primitive Existence
To a greater extent than any other group
of pioneers, the mountain men reverted
to the most primitive existence. For
much of his life the fur trapper lived in
an environment completely cut off from
all contacts with civilization: in order to
survive, he was forced to adapt himself
to the environment of nature and not of
man. Enemies were everywhere and the
trapper had to be constantly on the
alert. He was completely on his own.
His food and water supply depended on
his ability to secure them, and any
injury which he or his animals might
sustain had to be treated by the
mountain man himself. He had to
provide his own clothing, repair his own
equipment, build his own shelters, and
gather his own firewood in a country
often barren of timber.
In order to survive in the
wilderness, it is often said the fur
trapper was forced to adopt the way of
life of the Indian. It is true that the
trapper did adopt many of the Indian's
techniques for survival and some of the
Indian’s beliefs and customs. Many
trappers took Indian wives. But the life
of the average mountain man was far
more primitive than any Indian.
Despite dislocations and deprivations
caused by the white man, the Indian
was part of a community. He had a
medicine man to attend him when he
was sick: he had neighbors whose work
contributed to his comfort: he had a
family and friends with whom to share
his hopes and fears and imaginings: he
had tribal elders to advise him, praise
him, or rebuke him when he did not live
up to his responsibilities. He had an
ancient tradition that defined his
spiritual relationship to his environment
in addition to giving him the tactical
knowledge to survive there., He was, in
short, a civilized man, a member of an
organized society-although that society
lived closer to nature than the white
man's. The mountain man, on the other
hand, had left civilization behind. There
was no one to help him, no one to judge
him. Much of what he had learned as
proper or decent behavior in the East
proved unsuitable in the West, so he
dropped it. He seldom attempted to
replace the white man's notions of
civilized behavior with the Indian's
notions of civilized behavior. As a
result, the mountain man's personal
habits and his treatment of other people
and animals were often shocking to
white men and Indians alike.
In leading a war party of Crow
Indians against a party of Blackfoot
Indians, a trapper was seen cutting off
the hands of the wounded enemy and
gouging out their eyes. In more than
one instance trappers who were starving
were known to have resorted to
cannibalism.
The story is told of
“Cannibal Phil” who was lost in a
winter blizzard but reappeared in camp
with the leg of his Indian companion
packed on his mule: throwing the leg to
the ground. Phil was reputed to have
said: “There, I won’t have to gnaw on
you any more.”
A mountain man was as expert in
taking scalp as any Indian warrior.
Taking a firm hold of the scalp with one
hand, he would make two semicircular
incisions on either side, loosen the skin
with his knife, and place his feet against
the dead man’s shoulders until the scalp
pulled loose.
A battle took place at Pierre’s
Hole in 1832 when a large number of
trappers who had just left the
rendezvous ran into an entire village of
Gross Ventre Indians, who were on their
way to the country of their allies, the
Blackfoot Indians. During the battle
both sides “forted up” and neither
group could dislodge the other. The
mountain men decided that the best
way to take care of the Gros Ventres
was to set fire to the surrounding dry
grass and brush. But Indian allies of the
mountain men argued against burning
the enemy to death, not because of any
feeling of humanity toward their enemy,
but because too much valuable loot
would also be burned up in the process.
In this one instance practicality won out
over savagery.
The mountain men gorged
themselves on meat when the hunting
was good. When they had plenty, they
ate the best pieces first for fear “of being
killed by some brat of an Indian before
we have enjoyed them......” The best
pieces of the buffalo were the hump ribs
which were given a peppery flavor by
being roasted over a fire of buffalo
chips. Warm buffalo blood reminded
the mountain men of fresh milk. The
liver, flavored by the contents of the full
bladder, was eaten raw. Bones were
cracked, and the marrow extracted.
Meat was pulled of the ribs and gulped
down with grease dripped off the
trapper’s chin and ran down his
clothing. From time to time he might
wipe his hands on his clothing of his
long hair, but he would continue eating
until he had devoured about eight or
nine pounds of buffalo meat.
When food was scarce “meat was
meat, “ as the trapper said, and he
would eat anything-boiled beaver tail,
his own moccasins, a puppy dog, or the
ears off his own mule. During “starving
times” a trapper might bleed his horse
and drink the blood. One trapper held
his hands over an ant hill until they
were covered with ants, then “greedily
licked them off.” And, like the Indians
of the Great Basin, trappers sometimes
gathered large black crickets, threw
them into a kettle of boiling water, and,
when they stopped kicking, ate them.
Cummins and White, The American Frontier
p74-75
Their hour of glory was brief: the trade flourished only between the mid1820's and the early 1840's. But during those years the fur trappers played
a heroic role in opening the land to more permanent settlers. Theirs was
the task of spying out fertile valleys that needed only man's touch to yield
bountiful harvests, of spreading word of the West's riches throughout the
Mississippi Valley, of pioneering routes through mountain barriers, and of
breaking down the self-sufficiency of the Indians by accustoming them to
the firearms and firewater of civilization. When their day was done all the
Far West was readied for the coming of the pioneer farmers.
Page 96
The environment influenced the trader and trapper, but what
influence did these early frontiersmen have upon the course of national
development? Chittenden emphasized the following influences: The
traders and trappers were the real “pathfinders” of the West, and they
were the first explorers and they established the routes of travel. Their
knowledge of the West aided Brigham Young in selecting the Great Salt
Lake Valley as the home of the Mormon people. They guided the military
forces of the United States into New Mexico and to Santa Fe, which had
been virtually won to the Americans as a result of years of trade. They
guided the emigrants’ trains to Oregon and the forty-niners to California,
and they acted as guides for government exploring parties.
As he adopted the ways of the Indian, so too did the mountain man
influence the Indian’s destiny. This influence was according to Chittenden,
"profound and far-reaching."
If the traders brought with them corrupting vices and desolating disease,
they also brought to the Indians his first lessons in the life that he was yet to lead.
They mingled with his people, learned his language, and customs, understood his
character, and when not impelled by business rivalry, treated him as a man and as
a brother..... It was only in these early years that the white man and the Indian
truly understood each other.
Questions from Primitive Existence
1) Discuss the mountain men in terms of involvement with other mountain men.
2) Discuss the Indian in terms of involvement with other Indians.
3) Describe the mountain man with respect to treatment of other humans.
4) Describe the mountain man with respect to eating.
Questions from Cummins and White, The American Frontier p74-75
5) List 5 major contributions of the Mountain Men
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Questions from Cummins and White, The American Frontier p96
6) Describe the mountain man’s relationship with the Indians.