Where'd the Beaver Go?

Like most things in history, greed took its toll on the wildlife in the new American West.  The beaver was declining at a rapid rate.  Too many competing trappers and trading companies, along with the desire for beaver pelts for fashion were decimating the wild beaver population.

Increased Indian hostility toward the over 600 trappers now in the western mountains were also increasing.  The invasion of tribal lands, dwindling number of buffalo, and thinning herds made even the friendly tribes on edge.

The American Fur Company under John Jacob Astor had moved west, establishing trading posts at Fort Union on the Yellowstone River and Fort Piegan on the Marias, and breaking up or buying out smaller firms that got in their way.  The company even considered arson to discourage any competitors!

By the mid 1830s the "writing was on the wall" so to speak concerning the beaver trade.  The mountain men were so successful and so efficient in tracking and trapping the critters that the streams and rivers were almost denuded of beaver.  Trappers had to travel much farther distances to find even less beaver to trap. 

The worth of beaver pelts was also declining from $6 a pelt in 1830 to scarcely $1 a pelt a few years later.  Fashion now favored silks from China, or coonskin caps for the Russians and Eastern Europeans. 

The last great trapper rendezvous was held in 1837...we will visit that party next time.
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Today in Pioneer History: On May 9, 1887, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show opens in London, giving Queen Victoria and her subjects their first look at real cowboys and Indians.