From where we parked near the entrance to Kanopolis State park, we could see the mountain man encampment scattered among the trees across the road.
White canvas tents of all sizes and descriptions, including teepees dotted the little valley. The sharp smell of wood smoke from campfires hung in the air, stinging our eyes and slightly provoking my grandsons asthma. Mountain man rendezvous began in the early 19th century as opportunities for mountain men to gather for social interaction, to trade furs and goods and to purchase needed supplies they couldn’t make or harvest for themselves like traps and rifles.
Shooting and knife & tomahawk throwing competitions were a part of such gatherings, and as we walked into the encampment the booming sounds of muzzleloader fire echoed through the trees as both men and women shooters tried to best each other. I could only try to imagine what welcome sights and sounds these would have been to the mountain men of generations ago as they gathered together after months of trapping, hunting and living alone in the mountains.
The Prairie Long Rifles (PLR) mountain man club started in 1978 with 11 members (7 of which are still in the club today) and began holding annual rendezvous open to the public in a pasture just east of Salina, KS. They changed rendezvous venues a couple times and in 1993 chose Ottawa State Fishing Lake near Minneapolis, KS.
Wendy Bowls, a conservation worker at Kanopolis Reservoir attended PLR’s rendezvous there at Ottawa State Fishing Lake in 2000. The weather had been wet and rainy and the side roads leading to the site were muddy, greatly restricting public access, and parking was terrible. Wendy convinced her bosses at Kanopolis Reservoir to invite PLR to hold their annual fall rendezvous there at Kanapolis Lake where they have been now since 2001. Wendy’s daughter Lacey first shot a muzzle loading rifle at their fall get together when she was 4 years old, and has returned to shoot again each year for the past twenty years. Prairie Long Rifles presently has 30 active members.
I was certain my 10 year old grandson Jacob would turn himself inside-out for a chance to learn how to throw a big knife and a tomahawk (known in camp as a “hawk”) at a wooden target, but when he strongly declined, I wasn’t even going to suggest he shoot a muzzle loading rifle. But when asked, he was eager to do just that. Paul Riedel, a retired school counselor from Minneapolis has been helping teach kids to shoot muzzleloaders at PLR rendezvous for at least 20 years.
A special range was setup for kids with small steel buffalo targets balanced side-by-side on a board and a picnic table for a shooting bench. Dennis Wolf, known around camp as “Wolf” sat down with Jacob and explained to him the workings of a muzzle loading rifle and how to safely load and shoot one. With each shot, a puff of blue smoke enveloped them both for a couple seconds, and Jacob’s third shot spun the buffalo around on the board. With the firing line secured, Wolf walked downrange with Jacob, showed him where he hit the target and hung a medallion around his neck that said “I shot a muzzleloader.”
George Mills, known around camp as Bart, lives in Tonganoxie, KS and by day helps make “Cheese It” cheese crackers at the Kellogg Bakery in Kansas City. On his time off, he becomes “Bart” and attends mountain man rendezvous where he sells and trades leather goods he’s made. He told me “I make leather shirts, pants, moccasins and about anything a mountain man uses.”
Bart sports a nice beard and years ago he was told he looked like a mountain man Santa. So he wears his Santa hat from Thanksgiving till Christmas and plays Santa at the annual Salina Trade Show, a mountain man trade show where one can buy or trade for anything needed to enjoy the pastime of mountain man living. George says he enjoys the mountain man lifestyle “Cause’ it allows me to spend time like the old folks did.”
Paul Ottensmeier is a retired purchasing agent that was given the name 2 Paws when he was young by his grandfather. His wife Teresa, known in camp as Songbird is the kitchen manager at McKinley school in Abilene. Their son Jonathon, aka Shooting Star, his wife Jean and their kids all participate in mountain man activities with 2 Paws and Songbird. 2 Paws made all the buckskin period clothing the group wears, and puts out a “trading blanket” on the ground covered with clothing and other mountain man necessities to buy, sell and trade. They belong to the Turkey Creek Muzzleloaders but are welcomed at all PLR events.
I asked everyone I spoke with why they enjoy reliving the lives of mountain men and their families. Some liked the historical aspect of it, some liked what it taught their kids, some liked the challenges of that life, but everyone without fail liked the simplicity of that lifestyle of days gone by; all wonderful reasons in my book to Continue Exploring Kansas Outdoors!
Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].
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