I’m sharing six mountain men unit study resources. Also, look at my page BEST Westward Ho Unit Study and Lapbook for more resources.
Whether you’re studying about the American Frontier, fur trade or living off the grid, you’ll bring history alive through studying the tough life of mountain men.
Today, I rounded up six unit study resources to grab for a unit study. Besides explorers and fur traders, they were some of America’s first trail blazers.
These rugged adventurers lived in the wilderness, exploring forests, rivers, and snowy mountain ranges. Their lives were full of adventure, danger, and discovery.
They were explorers and fur trappers who lived in the western parts of North America during the early 1800s. They traveled through places like the Rocky Mountains, where few settlers had gone before.
BOOKS ABOUT MOUNTAIN MEN FOR KIDS
Next, look at some fun books to read about their life.
5 Mountain Men Books
Whether you’re learning about mountain men for the day or want to create a unit study, add a book or two to your home library.
In 1804, Lewis and Clark set out to find the fabled Northwest Passage to the Pacific, mounting the first expedition across the uncharted territory of President Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase. Though they never found the nonexistent Northwest Passage-or the lost tribes of Israel, rumored to be living in the Great American Desert-they did discover that the entire region west of the Mississippi was swarming with beaver. And so began the American fur trade, as the first tough trappers headed out to make their fortunes in beaver pelts.
Twelve-year-old Sam Gribley is terribly unhappy living in his family’s crowded New York City apartment. One day—armed with just a penknife, a ball of red cord, forty dollars, some flint and steel, and the clothes on his back—he decides to run away to his grandfather’s abandoned farm in the Catskill Mountains, to live in the woods all by
himself. There, Sam must rely on his own ingenuity and the resources of the great outdoors to survive, as he discovers a side of himself he never knew existed.
The books follow Dan Frontier, a pioneer who protects settlers, rescues friends from dangers like wolves and wildcats, and interacts with Native Americans on the early American frontier
When Zach Connors and his pa left their Kentucky homestead in the summer of 1824 to see the Rocky Mountains, he didn’t realize he would never see his childhood home again or that he would find love, friendship, fame, and a new home in this wild and harsh wilderness. After a grizzly kills his pa, Zach struggles to survive a cold and brutal winter alone. After killing a rouge grizzly and fighting hostile Indians on his own, he becomes known as Grizzly Killer and is respected throughout the West. Along with his dog, Jimbo, whom the Indians call the Great Medicine Dog, he finds Running Wolf, an injured Ute warrior, and together they fight off a hostile war party. They rescue two Shoshone sisters from the brutality of a French trapper and take them as wives. After Zach saves Running Wolf’s beautiful sister, Shining Star, he is expected to take her as a second wife, but his Christian beliefs conflict with the Indian traditions, and he struggles within himself to
accept the Indian ways
To know how the West was really won, start with the exploits of these unsung mountain men who, like the legendary Jeremiah Johnson, were real buckskin survivalists. Preceded only by Lewis and Clark, beaver fur trappers roamed the river valleys and mountain ranges of the West, living on fish and game, fighting or trading with the Native Americans, and forever heading toward the untamed wilderness.
TRAILBLAZERS
This guide Trappers, Traders, and Trailblazers: Mountain Men in the Rocky Mountain West is a great start to dive into learning about mountain men.
Next, this super helpful free teacher’s guide about the beaver is chock full of information.
It has a unit on fur trade, mountain men lifestyle, and legends of the mountain men. Look below at the expansive unit for a unit on fur trade and lifestyle.
And even though it mentions items in a trunk, it’s really helpful in understanding artifacts and every day items used by mountain men.
Read about the items they used and a few them look like they could be easily made.
This next fun guide talks about the importance of being able to identify animal tracks along with the animal tracks labeled. Click here for Tracking” Down the Secret Code / North American Animal “Who am I”
It has a handwritten letter which is a primary source and a lesson about beavers.
Hands-on History and Geography
More units like the Language of a Trapper, Rendezvous, Mountain Man Tales, and Indian Wives of the Mountain Men are a few of the fun and interesting units in this expansive unit.
This is an interesting read for your middle or high school kid. While it doesn’t have pictures, it’s the diary of Jedediah Strong Smith, a mountain men. It describes the perils he faced each day.
Lastly, this link Mountain Man Artifact Kit has a lot of background information about the fur trade and the ways of the mountain men.
Download them and add to them a unit study about geography or use them for a mini unit study.
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