Such a time of travail was enough to elicit an occasional prayer from these sons of the wild. Men of few words, they could say what was needed in simple eloquence:
Oh, God, may it please Thee, in Thy divine providence, to still guide and protect us through this wilderness of doubt and fear, as Thou hast done heretofore, and be with us in the hour of danger and difficulty as all praise is due to Thee and not to man. Oh, do not forsake us, Lord, but be with us and direct us through.[78]
One of the greatest among trappers was brigade leader Jedediah Smith, sometimes called “The Knight in Buckskin.” Carrying a Bible and a rifle, he was equally proficient with each and had complete reliance upon both.
Mr. Ross has left a fine description of trapping routine:
A safe and secure spot, near wood and water, is first selected for the camp. Here the chief of the party resides with the property. It is often exposed to danger, or sudden attack, in the absence of the trappers, and requires a vigilant eye to guard against the lurking savages. The camp is called headquarters. From hence all the trappers, some on foot, some on horseback, according to the distance they have to go, start every morning, in small parties, in all directions, ranging the distance of some twenty miles around. Six traps is the allowance for each trapper; but to guard against wear and tear, the complement is more frequently ten. These he sets every night, and visits again in the morning; sometimes oftener, according to distance, or other circumstances. The beaver taken in the traps are always conveyed to the camp, skinned, stretched, dried, folded up with the hair in the inside, laid by, and the flesh used for food. No sooner, therefore, has a hunter visited his traps, set them again and looked out for some other place, than he returns to the camp to feast and enjoy the pleasures of an idle day....[79]
In this account there is an element of suppressed excitement and danger. Taking game is invariably a thrilling experience. Besides that, the covetous savages were frequently so menacing as to require almost constant vigil along the trap line. Trapper camps remained stationary only so long as two-thirds of the men were getting satisfactory results.
Setting beaver traps involved keen judgment, a deft touch, and precise arrangement. Indeed, it was a considerable art. Joe Meek left an accurate picture of his technique:
He has an ordinary steel trap weighing five pounds, attached to a chain five feet long, with a swivel and ring at the end, which plays round what is called the float, a dry stick of wood about six feet long. The trapper wades out into the stream, which is shallow, and cuts with his knife a bed for his trap, five or six inches under water. He then takes the float out the whole length of the chain in the direction of the center of the stream, and drives it in, so fast that the beaver cannot draw it out; at the same time tying the other end by a thong to the bank. A small stick or twig, dipped in musk or castor (found in certain glands of the beaver) served for bait, and is placed so as to hang directly above the trap, which is now set. The trapper then throws water plentifully over the adjacent bank to conceal any footprints or scent by which the beaver would be alarmed, and, going to some distance, wades out of the stream. In setting a trap, certain things are to be observed with care; first, that the trap is firmly fixed, and at proper distance from the bank—for if the beaver can get on shore with the trap, he will cut off his foot to escape; second, that the float is of dry wood, for should it not be, the animal will cut it off at a stroke, and swimming with the trap to the middle of the dam, be drowned by its weight. In the latter case, when the hunter visits his trap in the morning, he is under the necessity of plunging into the water and swimming out, to dive for his game. Should the morning be frosty and chilly, as it very frequently is in the mountains, diving for traps is not a pleasant exercise. In placing the bait, care must be taken to fix it just where the beaver, in reaching it, will spring the trap. If the bait stick be placed high, the hind foot of the beaver will be caught, if low, the forefoot.[80]
Each trapper had two horses, one to ride and one to carry his trapping equipment and furs. Sometimes good fortune yielded a fur harvest that exceeded the trapper’s carrying capacity. In that case he employed a device called a cache. A dry spot of earth on an incline was selected, well-camouflaged from Indian view. A hole large enough for a man to crawl into was then dug. As depth was attained it was widened to the desired proportions. Furs well wrapped would keep indefinitely in a properly constructed cache.
Essentials in the trapper’s equipment were a bowie knife, ammunition, a hatchet, a revolver, and a rifle. The trapper’s powder horn and bullet pouch, with flint and steel and other “fixins,” were thrown over his left shoulder. These articles were his constant companions, ever ready for action.