Fur Traders on the Missouri Attacked by Indians

Fur Traders on the Missouri Attacked by Indians was originally engraved by W. M. Cary and was first published in 1868 in Harpers Weekly.

This early print depicts Rocky Mountain trappers taking their Buffalo hide-baled beaver furs packs back to St. Louis by Keelboat during the heyday of the Rocky Mountain fur trade. Dressed in buckskins, and armed with flintlock rifles as their means of defense, these hardy nineteenth century adventurers were out to make their fortunes if they could survive attacks by hostile Indians such as this.

Prior to the summer season, when the furs were transported back to the settlements, fur traders and trappers traversed and explored every stream and river in the west on horseback, dugout canoe, bullboat, or snowshoe in search of beaver and other fur pelts to supply the fashion needs of the eastern United States and Europe.