Copy of `Glossary of American Mountain Men Terms`

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Glossary of American Mountain Men Terms Category: History and Culture > American History Date & country: 11/09/2007, USA Words: 290

Pilgrim
Usually immigrants, people moving west. The term was also sometimes used by the mountain men to mean any man new to the fur trade.

Pince
The pointed bow and stern of a canoe. (voyageur)

Pipe
The jornada of the voyageur. The distance between rest stops, which were the only times his pipe could be lit up and enjoyed.

Plew
Beaver pelt (skin).

Ponche
Trade tobacco.

Poo-Der-Fe
A destructive, frigid west wind. (Crow Indian word)

Poor Bull From Fat Cow To Know
To know good times from bad. Either term could also be used alone, such as: 'Them days war Poor Bull and that be a sure fact', meaning, 'those days food and plews were hard to get and that is a fact'.

Portage
A trip between waterways or around a waterway obstruction, carrying everything along with you.

Portage Trail
The trail used to carry a canoe and supplies between waterways or around a waterway obstruction.

Possibles
The personal property of the mountain man, Such items as a bullet mold, an awl, knives, a tin cup, his buffalo robe or a blanket capote, his pipe and tobacco, flint and steel, sometimes a small sheet-metal fry-pan, and other accouterments he considered necessary. Firearms were considered 'pieces' or guns' and not possibles.

Possibles Bag
The leather bag in which the mountain man carried his possibles. everything from his pipe and tobacco to his patches and balls. What could not be carried in the bag were hung on the bags shoulder strap. Shooting needs were given first priority, kept where they could be found with ease and speed.

Poudrerie
Dry snow driven through the air by a violent wind.

Pow-Wow
An Indian word meaning a meeting followed by dancing and feasting. The mountain man's term for any discussion between two men, or for a planned meeting.

Pro-Pelle-Cutem
The motto of the Hudson's Bay Company, meaning 'for a pelt, a skin'.

Psalm Singer
A very religious person.

Pull Foot
To turn tail and run.

Raise Hair
To scalp an enemy.

Raise, To
To steal from another's cache. Any man found doing this was likely to become wolf meat.

Rawhide
The dried, dehaired but untanned hide of any animal, usually cattle or buffalo. Very strong and useful.

Read Him A Page From The Good Book
To give someone a tongue, lashing, or perhaps something a little more forceful.

Reading Sign
Interpreting the tracks, etc. when tracking.

Redstick
Indian.

Robe Hide
The winter-killed hide of the buffalo. usually used to make buffalo robes.

Rubbed Out
Dead or killed. This expression comes from the early attempts of the Indian to learn English. To erase is to rub out, anything rubbed out no longer exists, so must be dead. Adopted by the mountain man with the same meaning.

Santa Fe Trail
A well-used route between Independence, Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Saw Buck
A cross-frame used for cutting wood. Also a pack saddle.

Scalp Feast
A time for counting coup, feasting dancing, and chanting over battles won.

Scalp Lock
A challenging lock of hair grown on the crown of the heads of the warriors of some Indian tribes.

Scalp Pole
The pole used to display scalps taken from enemies.

Segundo
The second-in-command of a large party or company

Sharps
A breechloading percussion rifle invented by Christian Sharps.

Shining
Splendid. To shine means to be extra good at something,

Shining Mountains
An early name for the Rocky Mountains.

Shongsasha
A form of tobacco made from the bark of the red willow, sometimes mixed with Indian tobacco plant leaves.

Skin Trade, The
The fur trade.

Skookum
Good. An Indian word much used in mountain man slang.

Sledge
A flat-decked sled used for transporting provisions.

Slinging
A method of securing provisions to the back of a mule.

Slush Lamp
See 'Bitch'.

Snag
A dead tree in a river. Capable of sinking a canoe.

Snow Eater, A
A chinook.

Sourdough
Fermented dough used for making bread, biscuits flapjacks, etc.

Spuds
Potatoes.

Square
A term of respect. Any man of courage, honesty, self- reliance, and devotion to what he believed to be right was ' square ' and darn proud of-it.

Square Shooter, A
See 'Square'.

Squaw Camp
A camp for women and children while the men were away hunting or at war.

Squaw Hitch
A simple hitch used in place of the Diamond Hitch.

Squaw Man
A White man married to an Indian woman.

Squaw Wind
An unexpected warm wind in the middle of a very cold spell. Like a chinook, but in the dead of winter.

Squaw Wood
Small dry sticks used for starting a fire or tending a very small. hard-to-see fire for cooking.

Stirrup
Bread made from flour, fat, and water. It was baked in a Dutch oven or on a stick placed over or near a fire.

Sweep
The steering oar on keel boats, rafts, etc.

Tangle Foot
Whiskey.

Taos Lightning
A whiskey made near Taos New Mexico.

Terrapin
Dog meat.

There Go Horse And Beaver
An expression meaning 'I just lost everything I owned or had with me'.

Throw In With, To
To join a group or party. To go into partnership with someone.

Throw Smoke, To
To shoot a firearm

Thrums
The fringe on buckskin or leather clothing.

Timber Wolf
A large, gray wolf found at one time throughout the United States, now found only in the far north.

Tinder
Fine, shredded Birch bark or other highly combustible wood. Used for starting fire with flint and steel, or with a fire drill. Charred cotton was also used as tender.

Tipi
The conical lodge used by the Plains Indians. (Teepee)

Tomahawk
A small hatchet used by the Indians and mountain men for fighting and woodcraft.

Tomahawk Talks
Councils of war. Treaty councils. The tomahawk was an important symbol in both war and peace.

Tow
Unspun flax used for cleaning firearms. Also used as tinder.

Trace, A
A trail.

Trade Gun
See ' Fusees'.

Trapper'S Butter
Marrow from the leg bones of large animals.

Trappings
Accouterments, especially for a horse.

Travee
A travois, a form of sled made by fastening two long poles together over the back of A horse or dog, then building a platform near where they drag to support a pack or cargo of some sort.

Up To Beaver
An expression meaning a very cunning persons one who can hold his own in any situation.

Valley Tan
Mormon whiskey.

Vara
The Spanish yard (33 inches); the unit of measurement used by many early traders.

Voyageur
A trapper for one of the very early fur companies. Most voyageurs were French-Canadian.

Wagh
An exclamation, used by both Mountain Men and Indians, usually denoting admiration or surprise. This grunt-like sound is supposed to resemble that made by a bear. It is, in fact, believed to have ordinate from the sound made by a bear when mildly surprised.

Wampum
An Indian term for belts of small beads or shells that were used as money. Many mountain men adopted this term to mean all money.

War Path. On The
A person spoiling for a good fight is said to be 'on the war path,'

Wasna
Pemmican. (Dahcotah word)

Wattape
The fine root of a coniferous tree, used as thread or twisted into rope. (Voyageur)

Waugh
See 'Wagh '

Went Under
To die.

White Indian
A White man who went native and joined a tribe of Indians. Many captured White children became White Indians.

Wickiup
The lodge of some southwestern Indian tribes.

Wigwam
The dome-shaped lodge of some eastern Indian tribes.

Willow Killer
The first real cold spell of Fall. When the leaves all fall off of the willows due to the cold, it is a sure sign that winter has arrived.

Wipe Out, A
A massacre. Many a so-called 'massacre' was not really one at all, as both sides had weapons and were able to and did fight.

Wolfer
A man who made his living hunting wolves for bounty. The wolfer was only considered a degree or two better than the hide hunter. Neither were ever considered a part of the skin (fur) trade.

Wolfish, I'M
I am hungry.

Yellow Legs
Dragoons.

Yunks
Children.