A rendezvous
was a trading fair that usually lasted several days. It
is a French word for an appointment or meeting place. Missouri trader Captain William
Ashley held the first trappers' rendezvous in 1825. Traders like Ashley
brought trade goods--rifles, powder, traps, knives, tools, cloth, and beads--from St.
Louis to the Rocky Mountains.
Image Courtesy of The
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
The traders exchanged these items
for the trappers' and Indians' beaver pelts. Each year the site of the rendezvous was
usually in the center of trapping country. A rendezvous was held every summer between 1825
and 1840.
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Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Walters Art Museum,
Baltimore
