On a day like today in the 1830’s...
After abandoning the old custom of fixed trading posts where trappers brought their packs of pelts, the fur companies held an annual rendezvous in early summer. Trade goods from St. Louis were exchanged for furs. Trappers, traders, and Indians feasted and celebrated together in what some observers described as a “bacchanal.” In this scene a tomahawk-throwing contest is under way.
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