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Fort Buenaventura - A Trip to the PastBy Bill Housley
As you drive past the ballpark, the road disappears into a bowl where the nearby homes and warehouses disappear behind the obscuring trees and geography. Tall cottonwoods tower overhead and the Weber River, swollen with spring run-off from the Rocky Mountains, can be heard rushing along nearby as it flows towards the Great Salt Lake. Past all the parked cars, modern campground and picnic areas and the log ranger station, the road becomes a paved trail with a narrow bridge. You walk ahead into the trees, the path turns first left… and then suddenly backwards in time. Odd smells quickly assault your nostrils; wood smoke, sweat, and leather. The smells of the city, so recently with you, are gone. They seem to have become lost in the trees around you, and then to vanish entirely. You see canvas tents by the trailside, and a sign reading "Black Powder equipment". "Where am I?" you wonder. You turn to look behind you and find that all evidence of the 20th century has vanished. The road beneath your feet, asphalt just moments before, is now earth. All that you thought you were, all evidence of modern life has disappeared into the trees and tall brush. You are startled by distant gunfire, but the sound seems strange somehow, hollow and deep. You hear shouting, and Indian drums and flute music. Through the trees by the trail, you glimpse children, some dressed in white or tan colored leather, running and playing between Native American tipis. In your mind, an unusual sensation begins to arise. It tugs at your conscienceless, nagging for notice. It seems strangely familiar, like an old memory that accompanied you quietly last year sometime while you walked through a forest glade, camped by a lake, or smelled venison cooking. That unusual feeling that makes you want to stare into the trees or distant mountains and block all evidence of modern achievements from the picture. Feelings that you usually put away again as soon as modern, more practical concerns distract your notice. But never before has this feeling been so strong or lingered for so long. With each step you take into this strange place the feeling grows stronger until it begins to overwhelm you. That primeval feeling that swells up from your genetic memories, the sensation that you are drawing closer to man’s origins with the earth than you have ever been.
Then the trees end in a clearing, and a scene from the past unfolds before you. Ahead of you are tents of ancient design, many are Native American tipis like those seen in the movie "Dances with Wolves". Strange tools and other goods are displayed for sale that look like they belong in a museum or an archeological dig, except that these are all fresh and new. Not a scrap of nylon or a hint of florescent color can be found anywhere. To your right is a small, almost cube shaped fortress made of tall cottonwood logs stripped to the bare wood. The gates stand open to reveal several tiny log cabins hugging the interior walls of the fort as if they were it’s offspring, hiding under it's wings. As you walk past you see people all around you dressed in tanned deerskin, or cloth clothes of colonial design. You have to look…really look, to find anything made of modern materials. Most everything you see is made of wood, cotton, flax, hemp, hide, or iron. You look at your own 20th century clothes and you feel somehow out of place, like your presence offends this reality while trying in vain to distract from it. Thoughts of your modern life fade to the back of your mind and are forgotten, almost as a dream that is lost to memory when the dreamer awakes. Don’t call the X-Files, this is a Fort Buenaventura Mountain Man Rendezvous, pre-1840 American living history of the western fur trade, reenacting a period of the west somewhere between Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase through to about the California Gold Rush. This was a time when the United States expanded across one of the largest and wildest regions on earth in a very short time, to tie the coasts together as one. A time when the west was truly wild as the frontier folded away to make room for the success of a nation. For the American Indian it was a bittersweet time when the coming of the white man brought them steel, canvas, horses, and wealth…followed by sickness, poverty, starvation, war, and disaster. The business was furs. Back then; the fur trade was the next "big, great opportunity" where fortunes were waiting to be had for a risk. This vast wilderness, uncut by farms, fences, roads, or telegraph had been inhabited and hunted only by the various Native American tribes, who’s impact on the land was, for the most part, minimal. Louis and Clark paved the way by providing scientifically detailed information on the land and Indian cultures up the Missouri River to the Mandan Indian villages in present day North Dakota, where they spent the winter of 1804. The next spring, before continuing west, they sent back to Jefferson in Washington, D.C. a keelboat containing a map surveyed and drawn by William Clark, made from personal observations as well as carefully verified information from the Indians and white traders. They also sent along numerous drawings, specimens, and journals accumulated up to that point. While that region that the expedition had traveled had already been previously mapped, it had never been dissected and promoted with anywhere near such thoroughness. Also, the map and supplemental letters that they sent to Washington included second-hand information on places never before traveled by white men. Then, as Lewis and Clark proceeded on to what is now the state of Oregon and back, Thomas Jefferson in Washington published the information that they had sent him and triggered a fervor of interest in the western wilderness. In 1806, on their return trip down the Missouri, the Lewis and Clark expedition met some of the first fur trappers on their way up, and even released the now famous John Colter from their service to join the trappers and serve as their guide. What followed was a short and often bloody period of history during which many men, some working in groups, some working alone, boldly trapped beaver in the Rocky Mountains and elsewhere. They trapped during most of the spring, winter, and fall when the beaver furs were "prime" and explored and gathered at "Rendezvous" during the summer months. They discovered much of the key routes, resources, and useful geography in the west that are still in use today. Competition with the Indians was very dangerous and costly with entire expeditions sometimes losing most of their horses and equipment and having to turn back. Other trapping expeditions were successful, bringing back a king’s ransom in precious furs from the Rockys for export to Europe. This way of life pretty much ended around 1840 when white civilization began to traverse the plains, the Indians became more hostile, and the beaver became scarce. Also, an invention in far off England began to be used to make the felt "Beaver" hats out of much less expensive furs. The fur trade industry went on, but it’s economic and historic prominence in the west was then eclipsed, first by settlers beginning to cross the plains and later by the California gold rush, Indian wars and the Civil War. Fur trappers became guides, prospectors, scouts, and military advisors. Some became founders of trading posts like Fort Bridger, Fort Buenaventura and others to provide support for the many military and immigration expeditions. With the coming of settlers and the Army to protect them, came the beginning of the end of the Native American way of life as well. During the height of the fur trade, the Rendezvous were events held somewhere in the mountains as an opportunity for the trappers to sell off their furs in exchange for goods needed the next year without having to travel to distant St. Louis, Vancouver or other cities. Today these events are reenacted around the country, where in some places there is a rendezvous held within driving distance every weekend during the summer months. Many "traders" make a living traveling from rendezvous to rendezvous selling furs, authentic equipment, clothing and various crafts goods to participants and visiting onlookers, mostly from about March through October. Included in the activities to see and participate in are shooting competitions (using weapons of similar design to those of that time period), knife and tomahawk throwing competitions, cooking competitions, foot races, and other activities. The participants are often called "Mountain men" (or women) or "Buckskinners" (from their practice of wearing Indian style clothing made from deer hide leather), and the hobby is called "Buckskinning".
Now these events vary in the authenticity of the goods sold, the equipment used by the participants and in how much involvement is allowed by folks not in primitive clothing. But almost all of these events are full of folks who are heavily studied in the history of the period and are very willing to share what they know with anyone who shows an honest interest. To those who think themselves a good shot with a firearm, these events present a new type of challenge with these weapons’ slow re-load times and sometimes inconsistent ignition delays. For those interested in history, social studies, and wilderness survival there are many things to learn from the equipment, literature, and the examples of various cultures found at these events. Lastly, for those into arts and crafts, there are replica works of Native American and early white settler style available to both see and enjoy.
The Internet has become an interesting support for these activities with much historic and reenactment information available. There are personal web pages dedicated to the fur trade, chat lines, newsgroups, email lists, web rings, "traders" selling reenactment products online, and event lists like RondyList.com. Those of us who attend these events while frequenting and building the Internet sites concerning them are often playfully referred to as "CyberSkinners". The Easter Rendezvous at Fort Buenaventura, as well as other events held there are usually open to the public. Such "doins" serve good food and can be fun outings for couples, individuals, and families of all age groups and walks of life. The Easter Rendezvous starts on Friday, April 18th and costs $20 for "primitive style campers and $35 for non-primitive campers (also called "tin tipis"), and tents. Some of the activities include black powder rifle shooting, knife and tomahawk throwing, Dutch Oven cooking competitions and much more. There is also another rendezvous at the fort on Memorial Day weekend, and other events on several dates throughout the year. Even when there is not a Rendezvous, the park is often open for fishing, camping, or various group events by reservation.
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