Setting Up a Mountain Man Camp
Mountain man camp 1837. Via wikicommons.
Learning about the realities of a mountain man camp can reveal more details about their lives.
Rocky Mountain trappers are remembered for many reasons. Some celebrate these rugged men because they were some of the first Anglo Americans to head into the vast expanses of the American West. Others remember them for the exciting adventures they lived and told the world about. Still, others appreciate the role the men played in what would later be called Manifest Destiny. While there are numerous reasons the mountain men have become legends in American history, one can also learn practical lessons from them on how to survive in the wilderness for long periods of time.
By necessity, mountain men became what we would today call “expert survivalists” although most didn’t compare to Native Americans of the same time and place. During the early 1800s, beaver lands of the Rocky Mountains were far from American civilization, and the epic expanses of the West required almost continual movement from place to place. As a result, trappers had to travel light and get by with a mix of manufactured goods and wilderness skills. When teaching about the mountain men, I often tell my students the mountain men basically got to go shopping once a year. After their annual shopping spree, they had to carry everything they owned on two horses for thousands of miles. These constraints restricted them to a handful of manufactured goods and often forced trappers to look for resources the land provided. If you want to learn how to live in the woods for long periods of time, they are a great example to study and emulate.
One thing you’ll notice by studying mountain man camps is their Spartan simplicity. They couldn’t afford themselves many luxuries for reasons already discussed. If we want to learn more about how to live simply in the woods, one place to start is by studying mountain men camps. We can learn about these camps in a few ways. One is by looking at paintings created by people who stayed in them. The most famous of these is Alfred Jacob Miller.
Alfred Jacob Miller Camp Scenes
Below are a handful of mountain man camps scenes created by Alfred Jacob Miller. If you look closely you will see several things. One, there is always a fire burning in the center of camp. Fire was, and is, essential to wilderness living. Secondly, a tripod often is shown suspending a kettle over the fire. Mountain men didn’t use Dutch ovens and cooking was a simple affair. Roasted meat was often their best and only means of cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The third thing you might notice is the absence of tents. While many Miller paintings do show tents, most of those paintings depict the trip to rendezvous, rather than trapper’s camps. Mountain men generally slept under the stars with nothing overhead but God’s twinkling stars.
Notice the tripod and the ribs cooking over the fire. Each man has a tin cup which likely contains either coffee or just plain water. Via wikicommons.
Again, notice the burning fires around the camp. Also, on the right side of the photo a man appears to be taking down a tipi. Via wikicommons.
Journal Entries
While Miller paintings are one good way of learning about mountain man camps, journal entries also give us insight into how they looked. Here are a few entries commonly referenced by mountain man aficionados.
“…I proceeded to join the encampment without the state line. It was nearly night before I reached my destination, and the camp-fires were already lighted, in front of which the officiating cook was busily engaged in preparing the evening repast. To the windward were the dusky forms of ten or fifteen men, —some standing, others sitting a la Turk, and others half-reclining or quietly extended at full length upon the ground, —watching the operative of the culinary department with great seeming interest.
Enchairing myself upon a small log, I began to survey the surrounding objects. In the back ground stood four large Connestoga waggons, with ample canvass tops, and one dearborn, all tastefully drawn up in crescent form. To the right a small pyramid-shaped tent, with its snow-white covering, disclosed itself to the eye, and presented an air of comfort. To the left the caravan animals, securely picketed, at regular distances of some fifteen yards apart, occupied an area of several acres. Close at hand a crystal streamlet traced its course, murmuring adown the valley; and still beyond, a lovely grove waved its branches in the breeze, and contributed its willing mite to enliven and beautify the scene. The camp-fires in front, formed a kind of gateway to a small enclosure, shut in as above described. Here were congregated the company, or at least, that portion of it yet arrived. Some had already spread their easily adjusted couches upon the ground, in readiness for the coming night, and seemed only awaiting supper to forget their cares and troubles in the sweet embrace of sleep.
Every thing presented such an air of primitive simplicity not altogether estranged to comfort, I began to think it nowise marvellous that this mode of life should afford such strong attractions to those inured to it.”
He later goes on to note:
“The bed of a mountaineer is an article neither complex in its nature nor difficult in its adjustment. A single buffalo robe folded double and spread upon the ground, with a rock, or knoll, or some like substitute for a pillow, furnishes the sole base-work upon which the sleeper reclines, and, enveloped in an additional blanket or robe, contentedly enjoys his rest.”
“Up to this period, we encamped without order, helter-skelter, just as it happened, allowing our horses to run loose night and day; but now, when we halted for the night, our camp assumed a somewhat martial appearance. The order of its arrangement was this, - a space of fifty yards square was marked out, one side of which was always along the brink of some stream. Four of our tents occupied the corners, and of the remaining four, one was placed in the middle of each side. The intervening spaces between the tents were barricaded by a breast‑work formed of our baggage and horse furniture. The space within the square, was dotted with the iron heads of nearly two hundred hard wood pins, each one foot in length, and one and three‑fourths inches in diameter, drove into the ground, to which our horses and mules were fastened. Each man was provided with a wooden mallet to drive the pins with, and when, just before sunset, all were put into requisition, such a din as they created, would be a caution to Paganini. Immediately after sundown, the words "catch up," resounded through camp, all hands flew to the horses, and all was noise and bustle for some minutes. Forty odd of us 'cordelling' our stubborn mules, - who the more you want them to go, the more they won't - into camp, with oaths and curses, not only loud, but deep - it was wicked, but, poor fellows they couldn't help it! - might have been seen, if one could for laughter have kept his eyes open, upon any such occasion. A few moments and all was quiet again, horses and mules securely fastened to their respective pickets, and the men at their tents, seated around kettles of boiled pork and corn, with pans, spoons, and grinders in motion. Keen hunger made us relish the repast, which else the very dogs had refused, - however all contented themselves as well as they might with such fare, looking forward with a sort of dreamy delight to the time when rich heaps of fat buffalo meat, should grace and garnish our encampments.”
Trade Invoices
Finally, if you want to know what a mountain man camp looked like, you can gain a better understanding by looking at the trade invoices they left behind. These trade invoices show detailed accounts of what goods were sold at rendezvous that year. If you want to try camping for a night like the mountain men look at these lists. They will tell you what gear the mountain men had access to. Also, it might be more interesting to see what they DIDN’T have access to. Either way, trade invoices are a great resource to learn what gear the mountain men bought to live for extended periods in the wilderness.
Click this link to access a number of mountain man trade invoices.
People interested in learning what a mountain man camp actually looked like might appreciate this video put out by a member of the American Mountain Men. It shows a few members of a brigade settling into camp for the night and using only equipment and tools used by mountain men from 1820 to 1840.
If you want to try a living history experience, try spending a night using the same equipment the trappers used. You might be surprised at how much you end up learning about the lives of these intrepid figures of the American frontier.
