After the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806, white men headed into the vast unknown territory west of the Mississippi. With pack horses or canoes filled with trade goods from suppliers in St. Louis, They followed the rivers west. Once they made contact with the Indians, they spent months trading their goods for furs, primarily beaver for the insatiable hat industry. With luck, the traders would come out ahead and with their fur packs intact. They would then make the arduous journey back east to sell their furs, pay off debts, re-supply, and hopefully make a little money. All the while, they were exploring, mapping rivers, trails, mountains and prairies.
No one knows exactly when the white man started trapping beaver on their own, and thus ending the fur "trade". However, accounts confirm William H. Ashley and Andrew Henry leading a group of men in 1822 up the Missouri Rivedr, down the Yellowstone and into the mouth of the Powder River (Montana). There they would trap till the freeze came and then they would hold up for the winter, trap again in the spring and then head back to St. Louis for re-supplying.
With Stories of unending beaver, the feaver took hold and many adventurers headed west. Not only did they bring back furs, they brought back stories of encounters with grizzly, vast buffalo herds, beautiful landscapes, friendly and not so friendly natives. To the entrepreneurs who hired many of these men, there was a problem with the system. The problem was "down time".
Trappers were spending too much valuable time delivering the furs back to St. Louis, restocking supplies and heading back west again. That time could better be used for exploring and trapping more beaver. In September of 1823, Jedediah Smith led Ashley's second group west. They met Henry's men, wintered with them and the Crow Indians in the Wind River Valley in Wyoming. In the spring of 1824 the trappers headed west to the Green River country and into beaver paradise. Completing the spring hunt, two of the trappers took the furs back east while the remainder stayed in the mountains to trap. The reports these trappers brought back with them got Ashley brainstorming once again about the down time problem.
Rendezvous
So in November of 1824, Ashley headed west with the first supply train to the Rockies, to meet the trappers by mid summer. On July 1, 1825, with about 120 trappers in attendance at the rendezvous site, a new system of business was born. No more depending on native trade, no more down time, no more supplying trading posts. For now rendezvous could distribute supplies AND procure the beaver pelts. The fur companies from St. Louis made a handsome profit on the goods sold to the trappers, bought the furs for less than they had been paying in St. Louis, and the trappers could stay in the mountains.
Between 1825 and 1840, once each summer, hundreds of trappers, along with many natives, came from all over the western continent, to a pre-destined rendezvous location. There they traded furs for whiskey, traps, guns, horses, tobacco, salt, sugar, beads, lead, cloth, knives, coffee, mirrors and more. They exchanged information about who "went under", new beaver areas, and what natives were not so friendly to their encroachment. They held competitions of shooting, horsemanship. They told lies and tall tales. It was a blow out of pure freedom in the finest sense of the word. 1836 they saw the first white women at rendezvous, wives of missionaries heading to Oregon. This brought a chill to many mountaineers because it meant civilization was encroaching on them much of it due to the exploration and mapping they had done over the past 20 years. In fact, some former trappers were serving as guides to these immigrants. In 1840, with almost no demand for beaver because of the popularity of silk hats, the last official rendezvous was held. Less than 100 mountain men attended. (Down from a high of nearly 1000 participants including natives).
A chapter of the American history closed only to be revived by a few historians and romance novel writers and Modern Day Reenactors! Today, thousands of folks work hard at recreating this time frame. They are modern day mountain men, women and children of all ages. As in the past, word gets around about where the rendezvous will be held and when. A few arrive by horse or canoe, but most arrive by modern transportation. Once there, every effort is made to reconstruct rendezvous. They set up teepees, wall tents and lean-tos. They don their buckskin or cloth clothing, reproductions of what was available in the 1820-1840s. They hide their coolers in wood, canvas or rawhide boxes. Candle lanterns are used for light, fires are made using flint and steel and meals are cooked over open fires. Traders bring out their plunder, goods not unlike what the trappers traded for 170 years ago. There are horsemanship contests, shooting, tomahawk, knife, liars contests, seminars, kid's games, and evening "socials" to participate in.
But most important, is the atmosphere in which these people play. It is one of self confidence and independence. Yet they are always willing to lend a hand like when a car breaks down, or to pack up a camp that has to leave in a hurry because of an emergency. Honesty is the utmost important aspect of modern rendezvous. If something is found, it is turned in to lost and found. If something is left in a camp, it is cared for till the owner comes looking for it (many guitars have found a new home for a night). If wind or hail tears up a camp tent everyone helps sew it back together. Kids play freely because their rules are simple and clear, and there is always someone keeping them out of harms way. Youngsters get educated in history and manners they don't even realize they are being schooled.
They put away the modern trappings, and for several days reenact a simpler time, when a man's word was true, and where folks knew the meaning of brotherhood. It's where your friends may know you as Many Ponies, Rookie or Stumpy, but not always your given name. it is a time when they understand the unwritten laws of man and make them part of their day to day lifestyle.
Many of the reenactors come from livelihoods such as doctors, plumbers, or butchers, to name a few, but at rendezvous there is little prestige in your regular job. Honor comes from how you act, and how you handle the tough stuff. To these people, rendezvous and the history it encompasses aren't just a hobby or a reenactment... it's a way of life. These folks keep alive the spirit of those men who truly "Opened up the West".
Mark Roster, better known as "Rooster" has been recreating the life of the early American explorers for over 20 years. Leaving the security as a dairy research technician for NDSU in 1986, he turned his hobby into a viable business, supplying his hand-crafted accouterments to fellow re-enactors. He and his family live in Davenport, North Dakota when they are not at rendezvous.
This article was first printed in The American West Magazine Vol. 1, No. 3 October-November 2000. It has been reprinted here with the express permission of Mark Roster to be a permanent part of the Coon 'n Crockett Muzzleloaders web site. The images are displayed here by permission from Gordon Snidow, Artist and his wife Grace Snidow. Please visit their web site to see more of his wonderful western art.
