The Consequence Is That The Rocky Mountains And The Ulterior
Regions, From The Russian Possessions In The North Down To
The
Spanish settlements of California, have been traversed and
ransacked in every direction by bands of hunters and Indian
traders;
So that there is scarcely a mountain pass, or defile,
that is not known and threaded in their restless migrations, nor
a nameless stream that is not haunted by the lonely trapper.
The American fur companies keep no established posts beyond the
mountains. Everything there is regulated by resident partners;
that is to say, partners who reside in the tramontane country,
but who move about from place to place, either with Indian
tribes, whose traffic they wish to monopolize, or with main
bodies of their own men, whom they employ in trading and
trapping. In the meantime, they detach bands, or "brigades" as
they are termed, of trappers in various directions, assigning to
each a portion of country as a hunting or trapping ground. In the
months of June and July, when there is an interval between the
hunting seasons, a general rendezvous is held, at some designated
place in the mountains, where the affairs of the past year are
settled by the resident partners, and the plans for the following
year arranged.
To this rendezvous repair the various brigades of trappers from
their widely separated hunting grounds, bringing in the products
of their year's campaign. Hither also repair the Indian tribes
accustomed to traffic their peltries with the company.
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