

Mike Powell
Mike "Silver Hawk" Powell, and his friend "Stinky", help the kids learn Indian sign language.
|


Crazy Cyot
Crazy tells the students about living in an Indian tipi - and made it real by dividing girls on one side, boys on the other.
|


Bill Varga
Bill Varga's mountain man clothes show a Taos (New Mexico) influence. He told the kids about plants used by the mountain men and Indians.
|


Richard Ashburn
American Mountain Man Richard Ashburn demonstrated firing a black powder flintlock gun during his presentation on firearms used by mountain men in the early 1800s.
|


Pouring black powder into barrel
First a measured amount of black powder is poured into the gun barrel.
|


Warpping the ball
The round lead ball is then wrapped in paper and placed into the barrel.
|


Tamping
Then the ball and powder are tamped down with a ramrod.
|


Black Powder
Next, black powder is carefully poured into the "pan" of the gun. A spark, produced by a flint, will ignite the black powder and cause the powder in the barrel to also ignite and fire the shot.
|


Flash in the Pan
When the gun powder in the pan is ignited, it ignites the powder in the barrel, causing the gun to fire and shoot the ball.
|


Rick Williams
Rick demonstrates setting a beaver trap.
|


Beaver Press
Once the hides were stretched and dried, they were packed into bundles using a beaver press.
|


Magnifying Glass
Kevin Nettleton shows a magnifying glass, which was used to magnify the sun's rays to start a fire.
|


Teton Todd Glover
Teton Todd talks about how valuable metal pots were as trade good items for the Indian women.
|


Enthusiastic Kids
The kids were eager to ask and answer questions.
|


Mike Powell
Mike shows the sign for big bird.
|


Crazy Cyot
Crazy lays down the rules before he tries to get 40 students in his tipi.
|


Period-authentic sunglasses
The American Mountain Men dress in period-authentic clothes, including Mike Powell's unique sunglasses.
|


Busy day
With over 900 students in three days the past week was the second busiest of the year at the museum, next to rendezvous days in July.
|