Living Like a Mountain Man

Handicapped by winter's deep snows, the mountain man had to trap in the spring thaw to midsummer, when beavers molted and again in the fall until the water were frozen. 

He camped in sheltered groves close to the animals haunts and moves his home almost weekly to new beaver's areas. 

His family's tepee is a cover of buffalo hides stitched with sinews and wrapped around a conical frame of poles, slightly titled for more headroom in the back.  The cover is pegged down and closed with lodge pins except for an entrance hole with a door flap.

With smoke flaps for ventilation, the tepee was cool in the summer and facing away from the gales, wind-proofed in the winter.  In November the fire is moved inside and buffalo robes and blankets keep the trapper and his wife warm and cozy in the lodge until spring when it was time to move on again.

While camping under the stars is great for a day or two...living this way for my entire life would be quite tedious!

Next time...The Great Plains Indians

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This Day in Pioneer History: "On April 14, 1775, The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, the first American society dedicated to the cause of abolition, is founded in Philadelphia. The society changes its name to the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage in 1784.