Welcome to the Adventure of the Mountain Fair
The mountain men played a major role in extending the frontier of America to the Pacific coast
by exploring the fertile valleys of the uncharted west and sending word back East to eager farmers and frontiersmen. In their search for beaver, the trappers explored and mapped out an extraordinary part of our country. Their campsites became towns; their paths became highways. The big event these skilled mountaineers lived for every year was the Rendezvous when they could come together and trade their pelts for supplies and exchange stories and the fellowship of their friends. They often called it the mountain fair.
At the rendezvous, they competed in test of skill and physical strength and agility, and they discussed the country they had explored during the last season. They shared accounts of bravery and narrow escapes from encounters with grizzly bears who they nicknamed “Ephraim” and hostile Native Americans who they referred to as Ishmaelites and Philistines. These men knew the bible well and adapted scriptural accounts to their daily adventures. They recognized the need to be observant and attentive to the land and the people they encountered. They knew that their survival depended on their “keeping their wits about them.” And they were fiercely loyal to their fellow trappers and would fight almost insurmountable odds in the defense of each other.
Those adventurous individuals that set out to become Mountain Men but failed to learn the lessons of the trade and “keep their wits about them” ended up as fertilizer on the prairie or a scalp on some Native Americans coup stick. The rugged West was an unforgiving country and their lives had no guarantees - if they made a serious mistake, it was “game over.” Those who survived, though became entitled to call themselves “Master Trappers.” It was a title not easily earned, and proudly worn. They blazed the trails that were eventually followed by future pioneers and settlers.
We live in a day of great adventure of a very different sort. Our adversaries are not bears or hostile Natives, but they are very real and skilled in their abilities to distract and destroy our spirits and bodies. We must learn the lessons of a different craft, that of the Priesthood of our God. We must be fiercely loyal to fellow members of the Priesthood and rally to save them from wandering the paths that lead to destruction. We can learn the skills that will enable us to be successful and “keep our wits about us.” We too have a Master who blazed the trails that we want to follow, and showed us the way to go.
Most of the major difficulties that we find ourselves in today are due to choices that we make, to the paths that we choose to follow. While the Mountain Men often set out on unexplored paths to find what was at the end of the trail, we can usually see the destinations of the paths we choose to follow if we are observant enough. Just as they adapted the events of their lives to scriptural accounts, so should we liken our lives to those of the scriptures, and we have a much greater selection of those accounts to choose from. If we follow the path that our Master blazed, we’re much more likely to find ourselves where we want to be at the end of it.
We have the power of the spirit of God, who is our Father, to guide and strengthen us on our sojourn through this imperfect world to a far better land of promise. It is an honor and a privilege for me to serve you as the Booshway of this Mountain Fair commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Priesthood involvement in the Boy Scouts of America. Let us all work together to have a great time and “keep our wits about us.”
Chuck Jensen
Booshway, Mountain Man Rendezvous 2014
