The Rendezvous

The Rendezvous. . Twelve thousand foot mountain plateaus dominating this view of Green River and Snake River headwaters seemingly provide a southwesterly buttress for loftier peaks forming the core of the Wind River Range. Beyond them it is 43 miles from Union Pass to where confluence of the Green and its Horse Creek tributary marks the most famous of several "rendezvous" grounds relating to that epoch in American history known as the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade. , "Rendezvous", defined as a trade fair in wilderness surroundings, was held in divers locations throughout the Central Rocky Mountains regions. It required spacious grassy environs for grazing thousands of horses, raising hundreds of trapper and Indian lodges and for horse races and other spectacles exuberantly staged by mountain men and Indians then relaxed from vigilance against dangers which otherwise permitted no unguarded carrousels. A favorite area for "rendezvous" was along the Green, recognized for producing the pipets beaver peltry and for conveniently straddling the South Pass logistic route utilized for transport of trade goods and furs between St. Louis and the mountains. On the Green the finest "rendezvous" grounds--rendered especially famous through Alfred Jacob Miller's paintings of the 1837 scene--were those at Horse Creek. , Depending on arrival of St. Louis supply caravans, "rendezvous" usually extended through early July. At the close of revels--leaving many mountain men deeply in debt--there remained up to two months before prime furs signaled the stare to fall hunting. The intervening time was pleasantly occupied in traveling and exploring high mountain terrain; then trails around Union Pass were furrowed by Indian travois only to be leveled again by the beating hoofs of the trapper's pack trains.