Artist on the Frontier

In June of 1837 in Green River Valley in Wyoming territory, over a 100 trappers gathered for the 13th annual trading rendezvous, one long festival which legend says was a "mountain man's Christmas, county fair, harvest festival and carnival" all rolled into one.  (Mardi Gras in New Orleans?)

Among those attending that year were a Scot aristocrat, William Drummond Stewart. Stewart, a veteran of Waterloo, spent four summers hunting in the Rockies, and spent his winters in New Orleans where he traded in cotton.  History says that he brought his favorite trapper, Jim Bridger, a gift that year all the way from Scotland - a suit of armor which Bridger put on and rode around the rendezvous.  This incident is recorded in a painting by our next attendee...

Also in attendance was the man who painted that strange incident, Alfred Jacob Miller.  Stewart hired
Miller in New Orleans for the specific purpose of accompanying him to the west that year, making a permanent record of the expedition for his castle back in Scotland.  Miller was constantly sketching, painting and taking notes.  He painted Indian trappers, business traders, and the party spirit that gives us a colorful picture of this period in history.

Miller writes "At certain specific times there is a 'Rendezvous' for trading with Indians and trappers.  Here they congregate from all quarters.  The first day is devoted to 'High Jinks' in which feasting, drinking, and gambling form the prominent parts.  Sometime a man becomes so excited with 'Fire Water' that he runs amok - is pursued and secured.  Affairs of Honor are adjusted between rival trappers, one of course receiving a complete drubbing, all caused evidently from mixing too much alcohol with their water.  Night closes this scene of revelry and confusion.  The following days exhibit the strongest contrast.  The buyer's tent is raised, the Indians erect their white lodges.  The accumulated furs are brought forth and buyers are besieged and busy.  Now the women come for their share of the ornaments and finery."

Next time...Epilogue to an Era

___________________________
Today in Pioneer History: "On May 12, 1832, the fur trader William Sublette leads a pack train out of Independence, Missouri, heading west for a disastrous rendezvous at Pierre’s Hole, Idaho where he was wounded by Indians.