Museum Exhibits Mountain Men

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		General William Ashley and Andrew Henry’s Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Company fur trappers started coming to western Wyoming in 1825. The Green River became the center of the Mountain Man area. Ashley hired 100 young men and sent them to acquire pelts. The pelts were exchanged for supplies at a summer “rendezvous” near where the trappers were working. The rendezvous system lasted from 1825 to 1840. The first rendezvous was held in the valley of the Henry’s Fork (near the present town of Burnt Fork) in the summer of 1825. In 1834, another rendezvous was held on Ham’s Fork (near the present town of Granger). Six of the other rendezvous were held on the Green River (most near the present town of Daniel, Wyoming). Trappers and Native Americans brought pelts to trade for traps, blankets, knives, guns, ammunition, coffee, sugar, flour, trinkets, tobacco and liquor. A flintlock rifle found near the Green River is displayed with items in the museum's mountain man exhibit. A beaver skull sits on top of the mountain man showcase. Children (and adults) are welcome to touch it and a fur pelt. The Mountain Man Era: 1825-1840 General William Ashley and Andrew Henry’s Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Company fur trappers started coming to western Wyoming in 1825. The Green River became the center of the Mountain Man area. Ashley hired 100 young men and sent them to acquire pelts. The pelts were exchanged for supplies at a summer “rendezvous” near where the trappers were working. The rendezvous system lasted from 1825 to 1840. The first rendezvous was held in the valley of the Henry’s Fork (near the present town of Burnt Fork) in the summer of 1825. In 1834, another rendezvous was held on Ham’s Fork (near the present town of Granger). Six of the other rendezvous were held on the Green River (most near the present town of Daniel, Wyoming). Trappers and Native Americans brought pelts to trade for traps, blankets, knives, guns, ammunition, coffee, sugar, flour, trinkets, tobacco and liquor. Most trappers were between the ages of 20 and 30 and few stayed in the business longer than a year or two. Many were killed by grizzly bears, hostile Indians, accidents, or disease. The work was hard – lugging 6 or 8 five-pound traps, wading into ice-cold water, setting traps at just the right place so the captured animal would drown before it could chew off its own foot, skinning the victims in freezing temperature, or carrying the heavy wet animals back to camp. Most trappers married Native American women primarily from the friendly Shoshoni, Nez Percé and Bannock tribes. The whites who later came west often looked down upon the trappers who had married Indian women and derisively called them "squaw men." Their children, called “breeds,” also suffered discrimination by American society. By the end of 1840 the trappers had hunted the beaver almost to extinction. At about the same time beaver hats went out of fashion in favor of those made with silk. With the collapse of the fur market, the era of the mountain man came to a close. Some of the trappers became very famous frontiersmen (Kit Carson, James Beckworth, Joe Meek, Jedidiah Smith, Jim Baker, Joe Walker, and Jim Bridger are just a few).
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