Item Number: WSP-43
Item Name: Teamster with Whisky Mule
Description: A mountain man was an explorer who lived in the wilderness. They were instrumental in opening up the various Emigrant Trails (widened into wagon roads) allowing Americans in the east to settle the new territories of the far west by organized wagon trains traveling over roads explored and in many cases, physically improved by the mountain men and the big fur companies originally to serve the mule train based inland fur trade.Mountain men were most common in the North American Rocky Mountains
from about 1810 through to the 1880s (with a peak population in the
early 1840s). Approximately 3,000 mountain men ranged the mountains
between 1820 and 1840, the peak beaver-harvesting period. While there
were many free trappers, most mountain men were employed by major fur
companies. The life of a company man was almost militarized. The men had
mess groups, hunted and trapped in brigades and always reported to the
head of the trapping party.
This man was called a "boosway", a bastardization of the French term
bourgeois. He was the leader of the brigade and the head trader.
The
large fur companies put together teamster driven mule trains which
packed in whiskey and supplies into a pre-announced location each
spring/summer and set up a trading fair- the Rendezvous.
Not only was the Rendezvous a place where the trappers could sell
and trade their furs for all sorts of commodities, such as clothing,
saddles, bridles, tobacco, and whiskey, but it was a place to meet
traders who might wish to engage their services for the coming year.