Joe Meek gave this account of the mountain man's winter quarters.
This was the occasion when the mountain-men "lived fat" and enjoyed life a season of plenty, of relaxation, of amusement, of acquaintanceship with all the company of gayety, and of, "busy idleness." Through the day hunting parties were coming and going, men were cooking, drying meat, making moccasins, cleaning their arms, wrestling, playing games and in short everything that an isolated community of hardy men could resort to for occupation was resorted to the mountaineers. Nor was there wanting in the appearance of the camp, the variety and that picturesque air imparted by a mingling of the element for what with their Indian allies, their native wives and numerous children. The mountaineers camp was a motley assemblage, and the trappers with their affectation of Indian coxcombry [conceited dandy] the least picturesque individuals.
[a]Joseph Lafayette "Joe" Meek (1810–1875) was a trapper, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory of the United States. A pioneer involved in the fur trade before settling in the Tualatin Valley, Meek would play a prominent role at the Champoeg Meetings of 1843 where he was elected as a sheriff. Later he served in the Provisional Legislature of Oregon before being selected as the United States Marshal for the Oregon Territory. [c] [a] http://www.thefurtrapper.com/rendezvous.htm#Statistical%20Review[c] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Meek
