1. Searching for Beaver and Expanding the Nation Westward into Utah
The Fur Trade
Searching for Beaver and Expanding the Nation Westward into Utah
Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary

2. Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary
Mountain Men
After the Dominguez-Escalante expedition, the next group of people to come to Utah were mountain men.
Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary

3. Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary
Mountain Men
They were fur trappers who searched the mountains and rivers of the West for beavers and other animals.
Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary

4. Why Trap Beaver in America?
For over 100 years European gentlemen were never seen in public without a beaver hat.
Americans in cities liked the hats too and paid a lot of money for them.
All of the beaver had been killed in Europe.
Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary

5. High Fashion Beaver Hats
A beaver hat didn't look anything like a beaver. It was made of beaver fur that had been rubbed until it was smooth.
Abraham Lincoln in a beaver hat
Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary

6. Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary
The Fur Trade
All together about 3,000 men, along with some women and children, came west to trap beavers and sell their skins.
Mountain men were business men
Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary

7. Is this how you pictured them?
Peter Skene Ogden
Kit Carson
Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary

8. Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary
The Fur Trade
Streams of Utah loaded with beaver
Utah center of the fur trade
Large fur companies hired trappers.
Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary

9. Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary
The Fur Trade
The fur trade reached its peak sometime between 1830 and 1832.
There were 500 to 600 trappers trapping in the West.
Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary

10. Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary
The Fur Trade
A resourceful Mountain Man could trap 400 to 500 pounds per year.
At that time, pelts brought trappers an average of $4 to $6 per pound.
400 lbs X $5 per lb = $2,000 per year
Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary

11. Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary
The Cache
The word 'cache' comes from the French word cacher meaning to conceal or to hide.
Mrs. Boyer 4th Grade Uintah Elementary