Mountain Man Rendezvous- October 18th-19th-20th-21st

Full encampment. Traders set up shop and hawk wares from black powder rifles to Lewis and Clark beads, tomahawks, moccasins, knives, tanned leather, furs and more. Mountain man Music, Blacksmithing, Archery and possible black powder shoot. Pre 1840 Event with primitive camping. Tee Pee’s and period Mountain lodging. Possible Cannon displays. Period demonstrations on site. Located in Loberg Park, this three day event is admission free and open to the public. There is plenty of free parking. This is a kid friendly event. No Alcohol, No Drugs, No Bad Attitudes, All dogs must be leashed. Contact Cheyenne@ 208-553-3322 or Rawhide @ 417-372-1252

In the early 1800s, as beaver hats were becoming all the rage back East and across Europe, adventurers made out for the largely unexplored, empty (of whites, at least) and beaver-plentiful American West. These mountain men and trappers would spend all fall and winter hunting beaver and preparing the hides. Spring and summer were reserved for the 1,000-mile (one-way) journey to St. Louis where they could sell their furs. But then in 1824, a St. Louis trading company came up with a novel idea: instead of the trappers coming to them, they, along with supplies, would go to their trappers. The first rendezvous was held in 1825 near the present southern Wyoming town of Burntfork.Before the mountain man/trapper life died (starting in the late 1830s, beaver hats were replaced by silk ones in fashionable circles), a total of 16 rendezvous were held, one a year from 1825 through 1840. Ten of these 16 were in Wyoming. Each was attended by hundreds of fur trappers and traders, mountain men, thousands of Native Americans and the occasional missionary or two. There’d be socializing, contests of skill (tomahawk throws, shooting, skinning), trading, tall tales told, and more than a little drinking. These lasted anywhere from weeks to months.

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