Jon Lankford
Photos by C. Whitney-Ward
His name was Jeremiah Johnson, and they say he wanted to be a mountain man. The story goes that he was a man of proper wit and adventurous spirit, suited to the mountains. Nobody knows whereabouts he come from and don't seem to matter much. He was a young man and ghostly stories about the tall hills didn't scare him none. He was looking for a Hawken gun, .50 caliber or better. He settled for a .30, but damn, it was a genuine Hawken, and you couldn't go no better. Bought him a good horse, and traps, and other truck that went with being a mountain man, and said good-bye to whatever life was down there below.
Robert Redford - Jeremiah Johnson
S E N S A T I O N A L
If you missed this one, put it on your calendar for next year. Twenty or so Mountain Men and Women were dressed to the nines in suede, leather, fringe, concho belts, amulets, knives, beads...and they brought amazing wares that they have been working on all year long in anticipation of this charming four-day event.
And then...there were the wonderful fashion details of the
mountain men/women that caught my eye...
And, here are a few of the artists/craftsmen who make it all happen...
Bill & Debbie Henaman
Clint Livingston
Lynn & Arlene Canterbury
Robert Blanchett
Leroy Anderson
The Trade Fair is sponsored by Los Compadres, a support group of the New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors.
Mountain Men were hunters and fur trappers whose rugged lives left Rocky Mountain legends from roughly 1820-1840 (and led to a modern-day TV show on the History Channel). Their survival skills, including trading with Native Americans, built a foundation of knowledge for the settlers who followed on the Santa Fe Trail. Among the 1,000 who roamed the West during the fur trade’s heyday were folks like Kit Carson and Jedediah Smith.
