Zenas leonard mountain man clothing

Leonard accompanied Walker as a clerk, traveled with him to the Pacific Ocean, wintered in the Spanish settlements, and returned with the party to rendezvous with Bonneville in July He spent one more winter trapping in the Rocky Mountains for Bonneville, then accompanied his employer back east in Leonard began to write a narrative of his experiences based on the journal he kept during his travels.

The editor of the Clearfield Republican in central Pennsylvania published the early chapters in his paper, then published the entire narrative in book form in It was also a revelation of the potential value of exotic California to the Union and a warning of the threat to US interests in the West posed by the British, the Spanish, and the Russians.

Through his book, Leonard joined a small but growing number of voices demanding the effective US occupation of the Pacific Coast. By the time the book was published, Leonard had again left Pennsylvania. Fort Osagenear present Independence, Missouri, was established in as a US military post and factory, that is, an Indian trading post. The factory was closed in and the military abandoned the post inbut a small civilian settlement had already grown up around it.

For a few years the settlement was the staging site for westering expeditions such as those of Gant and Blackwell or Bonneville. Early inArchibald Gamble and William Russell gained control of the site and laid out the town of Sibley named after the former government factor and first civilian resident, George C. In Leonard returned to Independence, Missouriwith enough wealth in furs to establish a store and trading post at Fort Osage.

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He continued to trade along the river for the rest of his life. Leonard's journal was published in book form by D. Moore of Clearfield, Pennsylvaniainafter being serialized in the Clearfield Republican. It includes many details of the different tribes with which his parties interacted. As it is in the public domain, there are numerous reprints.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Moore of Clearfield, Pennsylvania inafter being serialized in the Clearfield Republican. It includes many details of the different tribes with which his parties interacted. As it is in the public domain, there are numerous reprints. Genres History Nonfiction Travel. Loading interface About the author. Zenas Leonard 11 books 1 follower.

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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews. Avis Black. Zenas Leonard was a member of the Joseph Walker Expedition that inadvertently discovered the Yosemite Valley as it hunted and trapped its way from across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean during its 4-year trek in the s. I've said before that the s in America was a very small world, socially speaking, and all the old explorers back then seemed to know each other.

Walker's Expedition was arranged by Captain Bonneville, who had discovered part of the Oregon Trail, and Walker himself had surveyed and helped lay out the route in the s for what soon became known as the Santa Fe Trail. John C. Fremont published some later remarks about Walker's Expedition in his own works, because he also knew Walker. Leonard's work is filled with pretty much what you would expect.

Horses drop dead of starvation, and men eat their horses, or cured beaver skins, or acorns which they think a treat when they get them or whatever else is handy. Men perish from cold as they tramp though deep mountain snow and later slake their thirst on horse blood as they trek though deserts without water. Bravely, they plunge into new lands without the least notion of whether they can survive there or not.

They are attacked by grizzly bears and a whole ethnographical catalogue of Indian tribes, repeatedly. Zenas has an especial distaste for the warlike Blackfeet, whom he considers to be a simply maddening bunch of scoundrels. The Indians wait until the white men have acquired an entire season's worth of furs, and then steal them all in one night. Whole herds of horses are stolen right and left, and precious supplies are constantly being swiped or destroyed in accidents.

Everything that could go wrong goes wrong, and if I were living back then, I'd head straight back east to settled lands and stay there. Leonard's narrative, drawn from diaries he recorded during the expedition, is a very readable and straightforward account, and it lacks the mannered verbiage of Irving's own writing about Bonneville. Leonard can be quite eloquent in a simple way, and one of the best examples of this occurs when he describes staying with the Crows and watching a great battle between them and Blackfeet tribes, the aftermath, and the Crow ceremonies and way of life.

All in all, this book is a very solid piece of work. Author 6 books 37 followers. This is a fascinating book, in particular for the insights into the rough lives of the hunters, trappers, settlers and North American Indian tribes encountered in the early s. Books like these are valuable because of the authentic voices that sound across the barrier of time.

A sad example of that concerns the vast numbers of animals killed, and not just by the hunters who form the core of the book. One Indian tribe related how they killed seven hundred buffalo in one day. The hunters, explorers and native Americans assumed there would always be a plentiful supply of these animals, and we know what happened due to over-hunting.

The narrative follows the exploits of Leonard as he and the large company of hunters and trappers trekked across North America in search of buffalo and beaver, with the aim of making a living out of selling hides and pelts. He describes methods they employed to stay alive and healthy, and how the different societies they encountered, the zenas leonards mountain man clothing varied Indian tribes, Spaniards and other Europeans, adapted to the often hostile terrain and extremes of weather.

The hunters are at the forefront of exploration meeting many dangers in the territories they passed through, including attacks by bears and occasionally, hostile tribes of Indians. The majority of encounters with other humans were peaceful and mutually helpful, but sometimes misunderstandings created problems, like the practice of a few tribes in stealing horses.

It must have been completely alien to the hunters. The terms most frequently used historically were dressed, Indian dressed, or simply buckskin. The reason being that it is not technically considered a real tanning process. This is not only a modern day opinion 5, 6but one that was had back then as well. Buckskin could be obtained in the West a number of ways.

Surely the most economical method would have been to trade with the Indians. Finely dressed skins could often be had for a few trinkets and foofaraw, such as beads and awls.

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In addition to trading with the Indians, there are accounts of selling skins at the various trading posts, such as Fort Hall. The last resort would be for them to produce it themselves. How did they know how to dress skins? Did they learn it from the Natives, or was it a common skill on the frontier? During my research I have seen no specific mention of learning from the Indians.

Many of the references talk of just stopping over for a short time to dress some skins, leading me to believe it was a common occurrence and widely known skill. Starting from the early expeditions into the Rocky Mountains we have the Lewis and Clark expedition of — According to Lewis, all men were "leather dressers and tailors. This was especially true during the winter at Fort Clatsop where they spent much time preparing elk hides to make moccasins for the return trip.

During that winter they were able to make pairs of moccasins in addition to shirts, overalls, capes, and more dressed leather. Following on the heels of the Lewis and Clark expedition were the Astorians in — There were two overland parties associated with the Astorians. The first was the Westward journey led by William Price Hunt in The second was led by Robert Stuart and was a party of 7 men heading Eastward in Their journey was faced with many challenges which forced them on foot for most of the way back to St Louis.

This hardship required them to dress skins to mend and replace clothing similar to Lewis and Clark. From there we jump to the hey-days of the rendezvous period and look at the men that were part of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade. After learning they needed a license to do so, they changed their plans to instead go to New Mexico with Sylvester Pratte.

In early August ofwhile waiting to meet with Pratte, Pattie recorded:. He later recorded another instance on April 10th, Further north we have Zenas Leonard who was with a party trapping along the Laramie River in present day Wyoming. In Novemberthey were preparing for winter quarters west of the Laramie Mountains.