Dressed in Fur, But not Furry

By: Peggy L Henderson

When I say the words “mountain man,” what’s the first mental image that comes to mind?  Robert Redford as Jeremiah Johnson, or perhaps Dan Haggerty as Grizzly Adams. What about Fess Parker as Davy Crockett?

What do the first two have in common that the other one doesn’t?

Jeremiah Johnson and Grizzly Adams had scraggly hair and scraggly beards, and dressed in thick furs and animal hides. Davy Crockett was rather well-groomed for a “mountain man”, with his short hair, shaved face, and clean buckskins.

I write romance novels about mountain men, and certainly the image of a dirty, unkempt man with a bushy beard just doesn’t strike an image of a romantic hero. Was I wrong in my description of fur trapper Daniel Osborne, the first hero I ever wrote?

Her eyes poured over his clothing and appearance. He wore a dark-colored breechcloth and leather leggings with fringes on the sides.  His faded red flannel shirt had been poorly patched in a few places. Several leather pouches were draped around his neck, and over one broad shoulder dangled a powder horn made from the horn of a mountain sheep. 

A tomahawk and large hunting knife hung from the wide leather belt around his waist. He wore un-decorated leather moccasins. His raven black hair fell to his shoulders, with some unruly strands tumbling over his forehead.

Aimee’s eyes moved to his deeply tanned face, his square jaw line shadowed by a day’s growth of stubble, and dark brown eyes that betrayed none of his thoughts as he moved ever closer.

Her pulse quickened as she met and held his hard gaze. She couldn’t help but stare. Those penetrating dark eyes drew her in. She blinked, but couldn’t look away. Dear God, she couldn’t recall ever seeing a painting or drawing of a mountain man that looked like this guy. Images of rough looking, bearded wild men came to mind.

The man in front of her was quite simply . . . stunning. The feral, masculine virility he projected took her breath away, leaving her head spinning dizzily, and not from dehydration this time.

What did a real mountain man, or fur trapper, in the early 1800’s look like?

If you answered Fess Parker to my initial question, you were more correct than if your image of a mountain man looks like Grizzly Adams. At least when it comes to facial hair, which is the focus of this article.

Probably the most common image of a mountain man is one with a heavy beard, someone who hasn’t shaved since the day he left civilization behind to head into the mountains and trap for beaver.

George Frederick Ruxton, a British explorer and writer in the 1800’s, states in his novel, Life in the Far West, “The elder of the company was a tall gaunt man, with a face browned by a twenty years' exposure to the extreme climate of the mountains; his long black hair, as yet scarcely tinged with gray, hung almost to his shoulders, but his cheeks and chin were cleanly shaved after the fashion of the mountain men.”

While most modern paintings and images of mountain men show them with beards, the artists of the time depicted mountain men as being clean-shaven. The Swiss artist, Rudolph Friederich Kurz painted Indians and trapper/traders in the 1840’s, and only a very small number of the “white men” had any kind of facial hair. Only two men were depicted in paintings by Kurz as having unkempt hair and beards, and one of those men was a traveler on his way to California, not a fur trapper.

Artist Alfred Jacob Miller, who painted scenes from the 1837 rendezvous also portrayed the mountain men without beards.

 

“Typically the free trapper was young when he went to the mountains. He was single, poor, farm-reared, and he had long hair, but kept his face shaved, except perhaps for a moustache.

The items he used daily, firestarting equipment, spare flint, usually a straight razor for, contrary to common belief, most mountain men shaved”.( Quote from The Mountain Men, by George Laycock, a book I use a lot for research.)

Why would these men, so far away from civilization, decide to keep their faces clean-shaven? Why not simply let the beards grow long?

Beards weren’t in fashion at the time of the fur trappers. Not until the 1850’s and 1860’s were they in vogue in America and Europe.

Another reason why shaving was preferable to letting a beard grow was hygiene. Although mountain men were not known for cleanliness, and didn’t bathe for months at a time (a fact I definitely left out in my romance novels), head lice were a very real and common problem in those days. Having a beard only gave those critters more room to roam.

Finally, except for when they partied it up at rendezvous, the mountain men traded with the local Indians the rest of the year. Native Americans did not have facial hair, and considered men with full beards to be barbarians, and gave a man with a beard colorful names such as “dog face.” It was advantageous to the trapper to be on good terms whenever possible with the natives, not only for trading, but also if they wanted to marry an Indian woman.

Straight razors were known from the inventory lists of the time, and were used to shave off stubbly facial hair. Using a straight razor becomes more difficult the longer the hair grows. Most likely, the trapper didn’t shave every single day, but at least regularly before a beard became too difficult to manage.

Peggy L Henderson is a laboratory technologist by night, and best-selling western historical and time travel romance author of the Yellowstone Romance Series, Second Chances Time Travel Romance Series, and Teton Romance Trilogy. When she’s not writing about Yellowstone, the Tetons, or the old west, she’s out hiking the trails, spending time with her family and pets, or catching up on much-needed sleep. She is happily married to her high school sweetheart. Along with her husband and two sons, she makes her home in Southern California. 

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A Fur Trapper's Wife

By: Peggy L Henderson

Life in the early 1800's was extremely difficult for both men and women. The life of a fur trader was even more difficult as he tried to survive in the uncharted wilderness to make a living as a trapper. Women of European descent were virtually unheard of in the fur trade. The very few women, usually wives of managers of fur companies such as the Hudson’s Bay Company or the Northwest Company, who accompanied husbands to remote outposts, were considered “tender exotics.”

Because of society’s class structure in those days, most of these women didn’t last longer than a year on these posts before suffering from mental health problems or returning to cities in the east. Wives of managers were expected to associate only with other wives of other managers, and in those remote posts, these were far and few between. The women were not allowed to associate with Indian women or half-breed women, even if they could communicate somehow. Servants (Indian women) were usually available to perform domestic duties, so there was nothing for a wife to do to even relieve her boredom. Her only duty was to her husband and family, and most of the time the husband wasn’t even at the post, traveling for months at a time.

 

Fur trappers in the Rocky Mountains often took Indian women as wives. An Indian woman’s primary responsibilities in her tribe was that of housekeeping, which included child rearing, butchering, cooking, the labor-intensive task of tanning hides, collecting firewood, preserving food for winter, setting up and maintaining camp, and sewing clothing.

A man who wanted to take a bride would have to provide the woman’s father (or oldest male relative if the father was dead) with certain trade goods such as horses, guns, blankets, etc., in exchange for the woman. The bride price was determined by the father based on the value he placed on his daughter’s loss of productivity around his lodge.

Many Indian women considered it an honor to be chosen as the wife of a fur trapper. It offered the woman a different way of life which was often easier physically and offered her more material things. An Indian woman married to a trapper either remained at her village, or moved to the fort or trading post with her husband. She might also accompany him on his wanderings. If a woman remained with her village, her life probably didn’t change much, except that she had access to many luxury items which were not available to the other women.  Items such as kettles, knives, awls and wool and cotton fabrics greatly eased the domestic burdens of the women.

Because there were no preachers or priests to perform wedding ceremonies, marriages were “after the customs of the country,” or a la facon du pays. This arrangement met both the needs of the Indian and the trapper. By making their women available to trappers and traders, the Indians were able to forge trade alliances and social bonds, and expected access to trading posts, provisions, and trade goods.

Trappers also realized the benefits of marriage to an Indian woman, especially the daughter of a chief or highly respected hunter. Such an arrangement provided the trapper with a translator and cultural liaison within the tribe. The domestic chores the wife performed freed the trapper to spend more time trapping and trading.

Marriages were easy to terminate by either the man or the woman. A man could simply “turn off” his wife by leaving her behind, and a woman who wanted a “divorce” would indicate this by leaving the man’s belongings outside their lodge. Statistically, most marriages lasted up to 15 years, and most ended with the death of one or the other spouse.

Anyone who has read any of my Yellowstone Romance Series books knows that I fudge with the  historical accuracy quite a bit. My mountain men heros live in the remote Yellowstone region year round, which most likely never happened, and even more far-fetched is it that they would marry a white woman and raise a family there. My new trilogy of books is set a little south of Yellowstone in the Teton/Jackson Hole region, and I introduce a new mountain man hero, and the woman who proves herself strong enough to endure all that the wilderness (and the people of the era) can throw at her. 

Story of Survival - Hugh Glass

By: Peggy L Henderson

A few days ago, my husband asked me, “Have you ever heard of Hugh Glass?”

I looked at him, and answered, “Of course I have. I write about mountain men.”

He gave me a look of pure incredulity. “You have?”

Well, apparently he’d just finished watching a documentary on the history channel or one of the science channels about Hugh Glass. I pulled out one of my favorite resource books, The Mountain Men, by George Laycock, and opened it to one of many dog-eared pages.

I have wanted to use some aspect of Hugh Glass’ incredible tale in one of my novels, but the story is so fantastic, I don’t think it would even work in a work of fiction.

The story of Hugh Glass has to be one of the most amazing stories of survival in the history of the west. The man practically became a legend in his own time.

    He’d led a life as a pirate before he decided to become a fur trapper in the early 1820’s at the age of 40. He signed on with William Ashley and Andrew Henry, who led an expeditions up the Missouri River in 1823. When they reached the Grand River near today’s Mobridge, South Dakota, they left their boats to head toward the Yellowstone on land.

During this journey, in which many of Ashley’s men were killed by Arikara Indians, Hugh Glass surprised a grizzly sow and her two cubs. He was away from the rest of his party at the time, and the grizzly attacked him before he was able to shoot his rifle. He fought the bear with his bare hands (no pun intended) and a knife, and nearly killed it, but he was badly mauled during the fight.

His companions heard his screams and came running. They found a bloody and badly maimed Glass. He was barely alive, with the grizzly lying on top of him. They killed the bear and pulled Hugh’s body from underneath her.

Everyone knew that there was no hope for their friend. They bandaged him as best as they could, and waited for him to die. The danger of Indians discovering them was a constant fear, and Hugh’s moans and cries of pain would certainly give them away. William Henry decided their group needed to move on. It wasn’t worth risking their lives for one dying man. He asked for a couple of volunteers to stay behind and bury Glass properly once he died.

 John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger agreed and immediately began digging the grave. They waited. Three days later, Glass was still alive. Fearful of Indians, Fitzgerald persuaded Bridger that they should leave and follow their comrades to the Yellowstone.

Fitzgerald picked up Glass's rifle, knife and other equipment and dumped him into the open grave. They threw a bearskin over him and shoveled in a thin layer of dirt and leaves, leaving Glass for dead.

    But Glass did not die. It’s not known how much time passed, but he regained consciousness. He was alone and without weapons in hostile Indian territory. He had a broken leg and his wounds were festering. His scalp was almost torn away and the flesh on his back had been ripped away so that his rib bones were exposed. The nearest help was 200 miles away at Ft. Kiowa. His only protection was the bearskin hide.

    Glass set his own broken leg and began crawling toward the Cheyenne River about 100 miles away. Feverish and fighting infection, he was often unconscious. It is said that he used maggots to eat away his infected flesh. Then, according to legend (or tall tale at this point, take your pick) he woke up to find a grizzly licking his maggot-infested wounds which could very well have saved him from further infection.

Glass survived mostly on wild berries and roots. On one occasion he was able to drive two wolves from a downed bison calf and eat the raw meat.

    According to Glass's own account he only stayed alive to seek revenge,  that he wanted to kill the men who had left him for dead.

    It took Glass two months to crawl to the Cheyenne River, where he built a raft which carried him downstream to Ft. Kiowa on the Missouri.

    After he was nursed back to health over many months, Glass set out to kill the two men who had left him for dead. He found Bridger at a fur trading post on the Yellowstone River but didn't kill him because Bridger was only 19 years old, and just following Fitzgerald’s orders. Glass later found Fitzgerald but changed his mind about killing him because Fitzgerald had joined the Army.

    Glass eventually returned to the Upper Missouri where he died in 1833 in a battle with hostile Arikaras Indians.

    The story of Hugh Glass has been made into a movie "A Man in the Wilderness" in 1971 staring Richard Harris and John Huston, a moderately accurate film. A novel, "Lord Grizzly" also recounts and embellishes the story.

    

A Fur Trapper's Wife

By: Peggy L Henderson

Life in the early 1800's was extremely difficult for both men and women. The life of a fur trader was even more difficult as he tried to survive in the uncharted wilderness to make a living as a trapper. Women of European descent were virtually unheard of in the fur trade. The very few women, usually wives of managers of fur companies such as the Hudson’s Bay Company or the Northwest Company, who accompanied husbands to remote outposts, were considered “tender exotics.”

Because of society’s class structure in those days, most of these women didn’t last longer than a year on these posts before suffering from mental health problems or returning to cities in the east. Wives of managers were expected to associate only with other wives of other managers, and in those remote posts, these were far and few between. The women were not allowed to associate with Indian women or half-breed women, even if they could communicate somehow. Servants (Indian women) were usually available to perform domestic duties, so there was nothing for a wife to do to even relieve her boredom. Her only duty was to her husband and family, and most of the time the husband wasn’t even at the post, traveling for months at a time.

 

Fur trappers in the Rocky Mountains often took Indian women as wives. An Indian woman’s primary responsibilities in her tribe was that of housekeeping, which included child rearing, butchering, cooking, the labor-intensive task of tanning hides, collecting firewood, preserving food for winter, setting up and maintaining camp, and sewing clothing.

A man who wanted to take a bride would have to provide the woman’s father (or oldest male relative if the father was dead) with certain trade goods such as horses, guns, blankets, etc., in exchange for the woman. The bride price was determined by the father based on the value he placed on his daughter’s loss of productivity around his lodge.

Many Indian women considered it an honor to be chosen as the wife of a fur trapper. It offered the woman a different way of life which was often easier physically and offered her more material things. An Indian woman married to a trapper either remained at her village, or moved to the fort or trading post with her husband. She might also accompany him on his wanderings. If a woman remained with her village, her life probably didn’t change much, except that she had access to many luxury items which were not available to the other women.  Items such as kettles, knives, awls and wool and cotton fabrics greatly eased the domestic burdens of the women.

 

Because there were no preachers or priests to perform wedding ceremonies, marriages were “after the customs of the country,” or a la facon du pays. This arrangement met both the needs of the Indian and the trapper. By making their women available to trappers and traders, the Indians were able to forge trade alliances and social bonds, and expected access to trading posts, provisions, and trade goods.

Trappers also realized the benefits of marriage to an Indian woman, especially the daughter of a chief or highly respected hunter. Such an arrangement provided the trapper with a translator and cultural liaison within the tribe. The domestic chores the wife performed freed the trapper to spend more time trapping and trading.

Marriages were easy to terminate by either the man or the woman. A man could simply “turn off” his wife by leaving her behind, and a woman who wanted a “divorce” would indicate this by leaving the man’s belongings outside their lodge. Statistically, most marriages lasted up to 15 years, and most ended with the death of one or the other spouse.

The Language of the Mountain Man

By: Peggy L Henderson

I’m saving a post about specific mountain men and fur trappers, and their colorful stories for another time. Today, I simply want to introduce you to the language of the mountain man. Like the old west cowboys, the mountain men created their own unique language and terms. Today, if someone overheard a conversation by a couple of mountain men, it would most likely be completely incomprehensible. Not only because of the words used, but also because many of the activities and items back in the 1800’s no longer exist in our modern times. Fur traders came from all over. There were Frenchmen, English, Spaniards, and Europeans. Mix those up with several native Indian tribes, and a colorful new language soon developed that was a blended hybrid soup of all of the above.

Listed below are some of the words and phrases used by the mountain men during the fur trade era of 1810-1840.

"ABSAROKEE" also Absaroka. The Crow Indian word for their tribe meaning "children of the hawk" or "children of the crow."

"AH'LL SWAR BY HOOK" I'll swear to it.

"APPOLAS" sticks sharpend at both ends, stuck in the ground around a fire, on which are jabbed chunks of meat to roast slowly.

"ARWERDENTY" whiskey, from the Spanish words "agua ardiente", which means "fiery water".

"AUGE FIT" a fever, which comes and goes (not uncommon for men who spent a lot of time in waist deep water setting traps).

"BACCER or BACCY" tobacco.

"BALDFACE" alcohol.

"BANK BEAVER" beaver that makes a burrow on the bank of a fast moving river.

"BLACK YOUR FACE AGAINST (TO)" to go to war with, as in the Indian custom of blackening a face with paint before riding out on a raid.

"BOUDIN" delicacy of stuffed buffalo intestines. Also "boudie".

"BRAVE AS A BUFFLER BULL IN SPRING" a brave man.

"BUFFLER" buffalo. The favorite food of the trapper and Indian alike.

"BUFFLER WOOD" buffalo chips, dried buffalo dung. Used for fuel in cooking fires.

"BUG'S BOYS or BEN JOHNSON'S BOYS" blackfoot warriors.

"BUSHWAY or BOOSHWAY" From the French word "bourgeois." A company man who supervised and indentured trappers who were forced to work for a fur trapping company. At the buckskinner's rendezvous these days a booshway is the person in charge of a rendezvous.

"BY A LONG CHALK" better or worse by a long shot.

"COLD DOIN'S" frigid weather.

"CONSARNED" expression of exclamation.

"COMPANY MAN" an employee of a fur trapping company, looked down upon by the free trappers.

"CORNCRACKERS" contemptible term used for farmers back East.

"DAB" castorium. The extract of the two perineal glands of the beaver. Used as a scent to attract beaver to a set trap. Strong and musky smelling, it is thick and yellow in color.

"DARE TO SET?" used in gambling or betting meaning "care to bet?"

"DIGGINS" home.

"DURST" dare, as in "Durst yeh?" ("Do you dare?")

"EUKER" an old time card game.

"FEEDBAG" eating a meal, also the stomach or abdominal area of the body.

"FEELING RIGHT PERT" feeling pretty good.

"FLATLANDER" Term of contempt for someone that was green or new to the mountains.

"FOOFURAH, FO FARRAW, FOO FURAW" trinkets, trade goods, doodads, etc. From the French "fanfaron". Every trapper carried a supply of these items as trade goods.

"FOTCH" knock or hit another man as in a fight.

"FREE TRAPPER" the ultimate mountain man. A trapper who was his own boss, a free man not endentured to or working for a fur trapping company.

"FREEZE INTER HIT" go to it.

"GALENA PILL, GALEENY PILL" lead bullet made from galena lead.

"GONE UNDER" one who had died or was killed.

"GRAININ A SKIN" scrapin a skin clean of flesh and fat.

"GREASEWOOD" sage.

"GREENHORN" a term to describe the unexperienced newcomer to the mountains.

"GREEN IS WEARED OFF" when a greenhorn becomes a mountain man.

"GREEZ HUNGRY" hungry for meat.

"HAF FROZE FER HAR or HAF STARVED FER HAR" desire to lift a scalp.

"HAR YER STICK FLOATS" what you do and what you are.

"HAWK" a tomahawk.

"HE'S GOT A TOUGH BARK" a man has a tough hide, refuses to be killed.

"HE'S NOT OPENED HIS HAND" not any presents or gifts.

"HEAP" plenty of something.

"HEAVY IN HORN" a big bull, buffalo or elk.

"HENYWAYS YE LAY YER SIGHTS" any way you look at it.

"HIT WON SHINE IN THIR CROWD" something won't do by mountain man standards.

"HIT WON WASH" it won't do.

"HITS BETTER TER COUNT A HORSES RIBS EN TER COUNT HIS TRACKS" trappers adage: better to keep an animal penned up and hobbled than to chase the animal when run off by Indians.

"HIVERNAN or HIVERNANT a man who had the experience of wintering over in the mountains a year or two. No longer a greenhorn. They were also known as "winterers".

"HOLE" a secluded mountain valley.

"HOLLOW WOODS" Indian name for the small kegs used to haul alcohol.

"HONEYDEW" or "OL VIRGINNY" terms for tobbaco.

"HUGGIN" wrestling, usually meaning the wrestling for fun and rendevous.

"HYARS DAMP POWDER AN NO WAYS TER DRY HIT" a bad situation with seemingly no way out.

"JACK OF LIKKER" a leather sack of fire water.

"JOHN BARLEYCORN" alcohol, whiskey.

"KALLATE" calculate or figure.

"KINNIKINIK" Indian word for smoking material made from inner bark and leaves of red willow, sumac, dogwood, and other common trees and bushes. Often mixed with tobacco.

"KNOW FAT COW FROM POOR BULL" expression used to mean a smart trapper.

"MANGEUR DE LARD" French, meaning "eater of pork". An inexperienced man. Term came from the fact that men from the settlements ate pork. The diet of the mountain men was buffalo and elk.

"MED BEAVER FER" lit out for, headed for.

"MEK AN INJUN COME" to kill an Injun.

"MEKKIN MEAT" the killing of an animal or a man.

"NAYBOBBIN" chattering or talking.

"NO MORE SIGN EM A SQUAWS HEART" very little sign of enemy or game, expresses it's very hard to tell what's in a woman's heart.

"OLD EPHRAIM" also "Bar", "Grizzly". A Grizzly Bear.

"OLD HOSS" a term to describe someone ("Bill, you ole hoss, I hain't seed you since last ronnyvoo!").

"ON HIS OWN HOOK" on his own or by himself.

"ON THE PERAIRA" "on the prairie", used to mean something is for free.

"ON THE TRAMP" on the move.

"PAINTER MEAT" something good doings.

"PAINTER or PANNER" panther, mountain lion.

"PAUNCH" the stomach or meatbag.

"PALAVER" a corruption of the Portugese "palavra" meaning "to talk".

"PANNER PISS" also called "panther piss". A name given to cheap whiskey.

"PARFLECHE" rawhide for making containers, moccasin soles, shields, and a sort of suitcase. Usually decorated with painted designs. From the French.

"PEMMICAN" Indian word for pounded dried meat combined with dried berries or currants, mixed with melted fat and stored in cakes. It could be eaten as it was or turned into a rich soup by adding water and heating over a fire.

"PILGRIM" a term of contempt to describe someone new to the mountains. Much the same as "greenhorn" or "flatlander".

"PIROGUE" a canoe made by hollowing out a log. French.

"PLEW" a beaver pelt. from the French word for "plus". Also, the Hudson Bay Company used to mark each "made beaver" or pelt with a + in their accounting ledgers.

"PLUCK" courage, guts.

"POPO AGIE" from the Crow language meaning "main river" or "head river". It is located north of the Sweetwater and south of the Big Horn and Wind Rivers. The site of the 1829, 1830, and 1838 rendezvous.

"PORK EATER" a term of contempt to describe the "company man" who usually ate salt pork as part of working for a fur company. (Why would anyone eat pork when they could have elk or buffler?) See: Mangeur de Lard.

"POSSIBLES" small, but highly important collection of valuables the trapper kept by his side in his shooting pouch, which could mean the difference between life and death when put afoot without a rifle. (Read the book "The Saga of Hugh Glass" by Myers)

"PUNCH THE FIRE" stoke up the fire.

"PUPS" children.

"QUEERSOME" funny or odd.

"QUIT THIS ARRER OUT'N ME" cut the arrow out of me.

"REAL BEAVER" the real thing, the best.

"REES" Arikara Indians.

"REGLAR HAWKEN" the very best of something.

"REZZED SOME HAR" lifted a scalp.

"RIGHT THE FIRST WHACK" right on the nose, right on the first try.

"ROBE SEASON" winter.

"ROBE WARMER" an Indian woman.

"RONNYVOO or RONDYVOO" rendezvous. The annual summer get-together when the trappers came down out of the mountains to trade furs, swap gossip, and generally have a good time. This was also when the trappers would buy supplies for the coming year in the mountains. These were held annually from 1825 until 1840 except for 1831 when the supply wagons failed to arrive on time.

"RUNNING MEAT" running game down on horseback.

"SEAL FAT AND SLEAK" animal pelt or horse that is smooth and well fed.

"SHINES" "that shines" means something is suitable or good. Also something very special. ("Thet there flinter of yourn shines, it truly does.")

"SHININ TIMES" a good and memorable experience, prime trapping, something special.

"SHOOT CENTER or PLUM CENTER" a trustworthy rifle.

"SHOT IN THE LIGHTS" shot through the lungs. ("Lights" was what the lungs used to be called.) Here's a note from Shoshone Woman on that very same subject: "I was talking with one of the HBC members one day about the Haggis recipe that they use to make the annual Haggis pie to be eaten at the Ft. Nisqually Bobby Burns Day celebration. They said it was made of liver, lights, and oatmeal all cooked in the paunch of the animal. So I ask what is the lights? and was told that it was the lungs. So there you go."

"SIGN" anythings that tells the trapper something about the country he's in.

"SKELP LOCKED ON TIGHT" expression meaning a trapper good enough to keep his hair.

"SKY PILOT" a preacher.

"SLIK AS SHOOTING" something done very well by trapper standards.

"SNORTIN WITH FUNK" horse animal or man wheezing and coughing after a hard run.

"SOME PUNKINS" something or somebody extraordinarily nice.

"SOURS MY MILK" upsets me.

"SQUAMPSHUS LIKE" nervous or anxious feeling.

"SQUEEZED HIS PRESENTS TWEEN HIS FINGER" gave his gifts grudgingly.

"TAKE A HORN" take a drink.

"THE WHOLE CONSARN" the whole thing.

"THROWING BUFFLER" to shoot a buffalo with one clean shot dropping in his tracks.

"TRAPPERS OATH" pledge of truth in what a man says, taken by placing the muzzle of a rifle in his mouth to signify that he is telling the truth or promises to do something.

"UP TO GREEN RIVER" plunge a knife up to the trade mark on the blade near the handle (Russell Green River Works knives).

"VOYAGEUR"French for traveler. French-Canadian conoe handler. They were thought of as cowards and held in contempt by the free trappers.

"WAAH!" also Waugh! or Wagh! Exclamation of surprise or admiration. Sounded like a grunt.

"WADE INTER HIS LIVER" stab an enemy in the gut.

"WAL, AH'LL BE ET FER A TATER" I'll be damned!

"WATER SCRAPE" the travel though a dry country without water.

"WHOLE SHITEREE" the whole shebang, the whole works.

"WINDIGO" among the French-Canadian voyageur, this was thought to be a creature who stood 20-30 feet tall and who roamed the woods in search of prey. The windigo was described as an eater of human flesh. It was used as a sort of 'boogieman" and probably had its origin amongst the Indians.

"WINTERER" someone who has spent some years trapping in Indian country and who has "wintered over". Also called a "hivernan".

"YABBERIN YAHOOS" screaming Indians or noisy companions.

"YE KIN SLIDE" you're crazy or you can go to hell.

When I was researching mountain man lingo for my book, Yellowstone Heart Song, I thought I would use some of these terms to add authenticity to the story. The more I thought about it, however, the more I decided not to. Here’s why. I wanted to portray my mountain man, Daniel Osborne, as not so much backwoods in the way he spoke, and I justified my logic with the fact that the story takes place a little before the mountain man era was in full swing, so this type of language would not have been around yet. Since he was raised mainly by a native tribe, and educated in the east, he would not have had much exposure to the cruder language of the time. Did it work for my story? Did it take away the “authenticity”? So far, I haven’t heard any negative comments from my readers. I know it’s always good to infuse as much authenticity into our stories, especially when we write historicals, but quite frankly, I’ve read several romance novels with mountain men, where this sort of language was used, and for me, I could never warm up to the characters when they spoke that way. Especially when it was completely overdone. Okay, readers, let me have it . . . but in the meantime, here is a little excerpt from Yellowstone Heart Song.

Daniel’s hard stare told her she wasn’t going to get anywhere with her question. So she decided to change the subject. “For a mountain man, the way you talk is quite . . . refined. You don’t sound like an uneducated dimwit.”

“Dimwit?” Daniel’s eyebrows pulled together.

It was her turn to grin. “Someone who’s not too bright in the head,” she offered, tapping her index finger against her temple.

“My father’s upbringing. He is always honoring my dead mother in some way, and he knew she would not want me to be without an education She certainly wouldn’t stand for it if I spoke like a . . . dimwit. He taught me to read, write, and cipher numbers during the winters when we were snowed in. Then I spent two years in Philadelphia with my father’s sister and her family. I attended Philadelphia University.”

Aimee was rather surprised that Daniel divulged so much information about himself. “Wow! I think you’ve just set a record,” she said incredulously.

“Set a record?” Daniel looked confused.

She giggled. “I’ve never heard you talk so much all at once.”

Daniel looked at her blankly.

“From your tone, I gather you didn’t like living in Philadelphia much.” Aimee was eager to keep the conversation going, glad he was finally talking to her.

“My father thought it would be good for me to live among civilized people and learn some culture.” His voice was filled with contempt.

“I can’t picture you anywhere but here.” She looked him up and down, admiring his profile. He walked gracefully, as if on air, with light, fluid movements. He carried himself tall and erect, always alert to his surroundings. His rifle was cradled casually in the crook of his arm, but she didn’t doubt for a second that it was ready to fire at a moment’s notice.  “You must have been like a fish out of water back east.”

“This has always been my home. I was born in these mountains, and I don’t wish to live anywhere else.” Daniel’s face had gone hard again as he scanned for any danger in the distance.