Once their hunger was sated, the men explored the area. On the edge of the lush plain was an area of marshland laced with streams. It was springtime in beaver country! Their quarry was everywhere, at work building their huts and dams with the willow and cottonwood that lined the streams. Beckwourth and the other greenhorns learned how to trap from the veterans. A steel trap was chained to a pole, which was driven into the streambed. The pole was tilted over the trap, and a string tied to that, on which was fastened a leaf. On the leaf was smeared the bait; the oily product of the beaver’s own castor gland. It was simple work once one knew how, and soon, Beckwourth gathered his fair share of pelts. At day’s end the pelts were stretched on willow hoops, and each man made sure to carve his in
