REEN RIVER VALLEY was at this time the scene of one of those
general gatherings of traders, trappers, and Indians, that we have
already mentioned. The three rival companies, which, for a year past
had been endeavoring to out-trade, out-trap and out-wit each other, were
here encamped in close proximity, awaiting their annual supplies. About
four miles from the rendezvous of Captain Bonneville was that of the
American Fur Company, hard by which, was that also of the Rocky Mountain
Fur Company.

After the eager rivalry and almost hostility displayed by these
companies in their late campaigns, it might be expected that, when thus
brought in juxtaposition, they would hold themselves warily and sternly
aloof from each other, and, should they happen to come in contact, brawl
and bloodshed would ensue.

No such thing! Never did rival lawyers, after a wrangle at the bar,
meet with more social good humor at a circuit dinner. The hunting
season over, all past tricks and maneuvres are forgotten, all feuds and
bickerings buried in oblivion. From the middle of June to the middle of
September, all trapping is suspended; for the beavers are then shedding
their furs and their skins are of little value. This, then, is the
trapper's holiday, when he is all for fun and frolic, and ready for a
saturnalia among the mountains.

At the present season, too, all parties were in good humor. The year had
been productive. Competition, by threatening to lessen their profits,
had quickened their wits, roused their energies, and made them turn
every favorable chance to the best advantage; so that, on assembling
at their respective places of rendezvous, each company found itself in
possession of a rich stock of peltries.

The leaders of the different companies, therefore, mingled on terms of
perfect good fellowship; interchanging visits, and regaling each other
in the best style their respective camps afforded. But the rich
treat for the worthy captain was to see the "chivalry" of the various
encampments, engaged in contests of skill at running, jumping,
wrestling, shooting with the rifle, and running horses. And then their
rough hunters' feastings and carousels. They drank together, they sang,
they laughed, they whooped; they tried to out-brag and out-lie each
other in stories of their adventures and achievements. Here the free
trappers were in all their glory; they considered themselves the "cocks
of the walk," and always carried the highest cres