By Vernon Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

Boy Scouts from several states gathered at the Mountain Man Rendezvous on the Moapa Paiute Indian Reservation last weekend. Photo by Vernon Robison.

The sights and sounds of the American frontier were reborn for a day or two on the Moapa Band of Paiutes Indian Reservation last weekend. The Las Vegas Area Council of the Boys Scouts of America held its 29th annual Mountain Man Rendezvous on Friday and Saturday.

On Friday evening, hundreds of troop camp sites were spread out over the open fields across the valley and a little north of the Paiute tribal center. Not far from the general campsites, a circle of white canvas tepees were pitched on the edge of a tamarisk-lined wash surrounded by rocky white cliffs. This was the “primitive camping area” where the Scouts and their leaders wore mountain man clothing and prepared their food the old fashioned way with dutch ovens and other frontier-era cooking tools.

The purpose of the Mountain Man Rendezvous is to teach youth about the frontier tradition of the annual mountain man summer get-togethers that were held during the mid-1800s. These historic events brought Rocky Mountain fur trappers, and Native Americans together with merchants from eastern supply companies. The rendezvous gave the mountain men a ready market to exchange their pelts for supplies. But it was also a time of celebration and of friendly competition amongst themselves.

Scouts purchase old-fashioned soft drinks from a trader on Trader’s Row at the Mountain Man Rendezvous. Photo by Vernon Robison.

Likewise, this year’s Boy Scout rendezvous brought many people together from far and wide. Over 1,800 Scouts attended the event. These boys were mostly from southern Nevada, but many were from much further afield including northern Nevada, Arizona, Utah; even as far away as Orange County, California.

As the sun went down on Friday evening, Scouts and their leaders gathered for an opening campfire. Rendezvous staff, dressed in mountain man garb, told tall tales of the western frontier and some of its more colorful inhabitants. The boys soon became familiar with a number of real mountain man terms such as booshway, the word for the rendezvous leader; and segundo, his second in command.

The next morning the Scouts rotated through more than twenty stations. Each station required the boys to cultivate and exhibit skills that would have been familiar to a real frontiersman in the 1800s.

At one station, a long lineup of boys waited their turn to hurl a long spear into a stump of wood. The spear was called a beaver stick. Boys learned that mountain men often hunted with it rather than using a gun. They did this to avoid using up precious ammunition.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that the trappers didn’t ever use guns. And so did the Scouts. One of the most popular stations at the rendezvous allowed the boys to load and fire black powder rifles and shotguns at targets.

Other events had Scouts making rope, molding lead bullets, panning for gold, starting campfires using only flint and steel, tracking wild animals, shooting with bows and arrows, throwing knives and hatchets, chipping arrowheads (flint knapping) and much more.

Nearly every activity included a competitive element. In some events, like horseshoes or the log toss, each Scout’s performance was judged separately. Other activities required the scouts to compete in their groups; such as identifying animal tracks, or lashing together a flag pole using ropes and wooden poles.

A mountain-man model camp was on display to show the everyday camp life in the American frontier of the 1830s. White canvas tents were displayed as well as frontiersman tools such as cooking utensils, flint-lock rifles, various animal pelts and other tools and weaponry.

Just around the corner from the model camp was a Trader’s Row. This large area filled with trading posts where the boys could purchase food, mountain man clothing, equipment, tools and frontier-themed memorabilia.

The Mountain Man Rendezvous has been held at the Moapa Indian Reservation since 2003. Council leaders expressed deep appreciation to the tribe for allowing the land to be used for the event.

“The tribe has always been so supportive of the council and of this event,” said Las Vegas Area Council Finance Director, Jim Schmidt. “They have been wonderful to work with all these years and we can’t say enough about how much we appreciate their support.”