As a
child, I fantasized about the mountain men of the old West. I have always felt that had I been born in
that era …
One man
against the wilderness, running trap lines, bringing furs to rendezvous,
independent of the world.
But it wasn’t
that way.
When I
graduated from high school, I had no money and no future, so at age nineteen, I
enlisted in the military.
It was much
the same for mountain men: Travel to Missouri; enlist with one of the fur barons;
be outfitted and transported in groups of hundreds into wilderness areas ripe
with beaver; spend the winter trapping, and in the spring return to a
designated area and be paid by the pelt by the company.
Not as glamorous
as is made out to be.
You wore the
same clothes all winter, didn’t bathe, subsisted on a meager diet, and endured
harsh weather. From daylight to dust you ran traplines, and prepared
skins; all the time in danger from the local Indian tribes. If you
survived the winter, you got paid a fraction of what your skins were worth –
then the option of signing up for another winter.
Mountain men
opened the hostile environment of the West, which led to the Western expansion.
If you are interested in the real history of the mountain men, then Throne of Grace is a must-read: a history laced with adventure, and a story of amazing men of endurance and bravery.
 |
| Kid Carson |
No comments:
Post a Comment
COMMENT: Ben Franklin said, "I imagine a man must have a good deal of vanity who believes, and a good deal of boldness who affirms, that all doctrines he holds are true, and all he rejects are false."