Here are some quotes about how the Western mountain men made their beaver sets in the 1810s to 1840s. Much simpler than today. Castor mounds were about the only set that there is any reference to in the original writings.
I have this info in pdf form also, with some pictures, if you would like it in a different format.


Trap Setting Documentation from the American Western Fur Trade
Compiled by Kyle Snow
 

The Autobiography of John Ball
Across the Plains to Oregon, 1832
“And so we traveled on slowly in a pleasantly rising country back from the river, the trappers stopping to set their traps for beaver on the branches that showed signs of their residences in and on the same.”
“The country we passed through zig-zag, as Milton Sublette, a brother of William, and Frapp were after the beaver, and went up and down the mountain streams hunting them, set their traps at night;
and the second or more, if the game was found plenty, on the same ground.”
“As we occasionally saw the fresh marks of beaver on the streams, we set our traps and occasionally caught some, preserved and packed along their skins, knowing that they would be acceptable to the Hudson Bay people in exchange for such things as we should need from them.”

The Life And Adventures
Of James P. Beckwourth
“I had set my six traps overnight, and on going to them the following morning I found four beavers, but one of my traps was missing. I sought it in every direction, but without success, and on my return to camp mentioned the mystery. Captain Bridger (as skillful a hunter as ever lived in the mountains) offered to renew the search with me, expressing confidence that the trap could be found. We searched diligently along the river and the bank for a considerable distance, but the trap was among the missing. The float-pole also was gone — a pole ten or twelve feet long and four inches thick. We at length gave it up as lost.”

TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR OF AMERICA, IN THE YEARS 1809, 1810, AND 1811
BY JOHN BRADBURY, F.L.S. LONDON
“Soon after he [Colter] separated from Dixon, and trapped in company with a hunter named Potts; and aware of the hostility of the Blackfeet Indians, one of whom had been killed by Lewis, they set their traps at night, and took them up early in the morning, remaining concealed during the day.”

A NARRATIVE OF COLONEL ROBERT CAMPBELL’S EXPERIENCES IN THE
ROCKY MOUNTAIN FUR TRADE FROM 1825 TO 1835
They are seen near these dams and at their “lodges” on the banks of the stream, where they ooze out this castoreum, which is understood to be a signal to other beavers. The trappers set their traps at these places. This castoreum, some of the old hunters use in this way. They take a piece of willow, strip off the bark and wash it, so as to leave no scent, as the beaver’s sense of smell is exquisite, and then put castoreum on it.
The willow is attached to the trap and floats over it, when the beaver attracted to the smell approaches and is caught. The animal flounders about until drowned, but if he gets on the bank, with the trap, he has been known to bite off his feet to regain his liberty. The trappers generally set out from camp with eight traps each.

LIFE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS - from February, 1830, to November, 1835
By W. A. FERRIS
October 31st we remained in camp to rest our weary horses. My companion Newell,
“On our way down to the “dams,” (beaver) where we knew his traps had been placed”

Washington Irving’s Astoria
“They were obliged to keep concealed all day in the woody margins of the rivers,
setting their traps after nightfall and taking them up before daybreak”

“The little river on which they were encamped gave many “beaver signs,” and Ben Jones set off at daybreak, along the willowed banks, to find a proper trapping-place”

Washington Irving’s The Adventures of Captain Bonneville
“He now goes to work to set his trap; planting it upon the shore, in some chosen place, two or three inches below the surface of the water, and secures it by a chain to a pole set deep in the mud. A small twig is then stripped of its bark, and one end is dipped in the “medicine,” as the trappers term the peculiar bait which they employ. This end of the stick rises about four inches above the surface of the water, the other end is planted between the jaws of the trap. The beaver, possessing an acute sense of smell, is soon attracted by the odor of the bait. As he raises his nose toward it, his foot is caught in the trap. In his fright he throws a somerset into the deep water. The trap, being fastened to the pole, resists all his efforts to drag it to the shore; the chain by which it is fastened defies his teeth; he struggles for a time, and at length sinks to the bottom and is drowned.
Upon rocky bottoms, where it is not possible to plant the pole, it is thrown into the stream. The beaver, when entrapped, often gets fastened by the chain to sunken logs or floating timber; if he gets to shore, he is entangled in the thickets of brook willows. In such cases, however, it costs the trapper diligent search, and sometimes a bout at swimming, before he finds his game”

PATTIE’S PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE TO THE PACIFIC AND IN MEXICO
JUNE, 20, 1824 -- AUGUST 30, 1830
“I had put down my gun, and stepped into the water, to prepare a bed for my trap, while the others were busy in preparing theirs”

“A canoe is a great advantage, where the beavers are wild; as the trapper can thus set his traps
along the shore without leaving his scent upon the ground about it.”

Journal of a Trapper
By Osborne Russell
“The small streams being frozen trapping was suspended and all collected to winters quarters where were Thousands of fat Buffaloe feeding in the plains and we had nothing to do but slay and eat”

“The Trapper extracts this substance from the gland and carries it in a wooden box he sets his trap in the water near the bank about 6 inches below the Surface throws a handful of mud on the bank about one foot from it and puts a small portion of the castorum thereon after night the Beaver comes out of his lodge smells the fatal bait 2 or 300 yds. distant and steers his course directly for it he hastens to ascend the bank but the traps grasps his foot and soon drowns him in the struggle to escape for the Beaver though termed an amphibeous animal cannot respire beneath the water.”


WILD LIFE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
by George Frederick Ruxton
Arrived on his hunting-grounds, he follows the creeks and streams, keeping a sharp look-out for “sign.” If he sees a prostrate cottonwood tree, he examines it to discover if it be the work of beaver-whether “thrown” for the purpose of food, or to dam the stream. The track of the beaver on the mud or sand under the bank is also examined; and if the “sign” be fresh, he sets his trap in the run of the animal, hiding it under water, and attaching it by a stout chain to a picket driven in the bank, or to a bush or tree. A “float-stick” is made fast to the trap by a cord a few feet long, which, if the animal carry away the trap, floats on the water and points out its position.
The trap is baited with the “medicine,” an oily substance obtained from a gland in the scrotum of the beaver, but distinct from the testes. A stick is dipped into this and planted over the trap; and the beaver, attracted by the smell, and wishing a close inspection, very foolishly, puts his leg into the trap, and is a “gone beaver.”
When a lodge is discovered, the trap is set at the edge of the dam, at the point where the animal passes from deep to shoal water, and always under water. Early in the morning the hunter mounts his mule and examines the traps. The captured animals are skinned, and the tails, which are a great dainty, carefully packed into camp. The skin is then stretched over a hoop or framework of osier-twigs, and is allowed to dry, the flesh and fatty substance being carefully scraped (grained).
When dry, it is folded into a square sheet, the fur turned inwards, and the bundle, containing about ten to twenty skins, tightly pressed and corded, and is ready for transportation. During the hunt, regardless of Indian vicinity, the fearless trapper wanders far and near

LIFE in THE FAR WEST
by GEORGE FREDERICK RUXTON
“LA BONTE and his companions proceeded up the river, the Black Hills on their left hand, from which several small creeks or feeders swell the waters of the North Fork. Along these they hunted unsuccessfully for beaver “sign,” and it was evident the spring hunt had almost exterminated the animal in this vicinity. Following Deer Creek to the ridge of the Black Hills, they crossed the mountain on to the waters of the Medicine Bow, and here they discovered a few lodges, and La Bonte set his first trap. He and old Luke finding “cuttings” near the camp, followed the “sign” along the bank until the practised eye of the latter discovered a “slide,” where the beaver had ascended the bank to chop the trunk of a cotton wood, and convey the bark to its lodge. Taking a trap from “sack,” the old hunter, after setting the trigger, placed it carefully under the water, where the “slide” entered the stream, securing the chain to the stem of a sappling on the bank; while a stick, also attached to the trap by a thong, floated down the stream, to mark the position of the trap, should the animal carry it away. [Pg 103]A little farther on, and near another “run,” three traps were set; and over these Luke placed a little stick, which he first dipped into a mysterious-looking phial containing his “medicine.” [19] The next morning they visited the traps, and had the satisfaction of finding three fine beaver secured in the first three they visited, and the fourth, which had been carried away, they discovered by the float-stick, a little distance down the stream, with a large drowned beaver between its teeth.”

The River of the West
“In the spring, when the camp breaks up, the skins which have been used all winter for lodges are cut up to make moccasins: because from their having been thoroughly smoked by the lodge fires they do not shrink in wetting, like raw skins. This is an important quality in a moccasin, as a trapper is almost constantly in the water, and should not his moccasins be smoked they will close upon his feet, in drying, like a vice. Sometimes after trapping all day, the tired and soaked trapper lies down in his blankets at night, still wet. But by-and-by he is wakened by the pinching of his moccasins, and is obliged to rise and seek the water again to relieve himself of the pain. For the same reason, when spring comes, the trapper is forced to cut off the lower half of his buckskin breeches, and piece them down with blanket legging, which he wears all through the trapping season.”

The River of the West
“He has an ordinary steel trap weighing five pounds, attached to a chain five feet long, with a swivel and ring at the end, which plays round what is called the float, a dry stick of wood, about six feet long. The trapper wades out into the stream, which is shallow, and cuts with his knife a bed for the trap, five or six inches under water. He then takes the float out the whole length of the chain in the direction of the centre of the stream, and drives it into the mud, so fast that the beaver cannot draw it out; at the same time tying the other end by a thong to the bank. A small stick or twig, dipped in musk or castor, serves for bait, and is placed so as to hang directly above the trap, which is now set. The trapper then throws water plentifully over the adjacent bank to conceal any foot prints or scent by which the beaver would be alarmed, and going to some distance wades out of the stream.
In setting a trap, several things are to be observed with care:--first, that the trap is firmly fixed, and the proper distance from the bank--for if the beaver can get on shore with the trap, he will cut off his foot to escape: secondly, that the float is of dry wood, for should it not be, the little animal will cut it off at a stroke, and swimming with the trap to the middle of the dam, be drowned by its weight. In the latter case, when the hunter visits his traps in the morning, he is under the necessity of plunging into the water and swimming out to dive for the missing trap, and his game. Should the morning be frosty and chill, as it very frequently is in the mountains, diving for traps is not the pleasantest exercise. In placing the bait, care must be taken to fix it just where the beaver in reaching it will spring the trap. If the bait-stick be placed high, the hind foot of the beaver will be caught: if low, his fore foot.”



A JOURNEY TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS IN 1839
By F. A. Wislizenus, M.D
“The beavers are usually caught in iron traps, whose two springs can be pressed apart. The bait which is put on it is a mixture of beaver secretions (castoreum) with various spices and some whiskey. A stick or twig is smeared with this, and set upon the trap. The bait must project over the water. The trap itself is in the water, and fastened to the shore by a chain.”

Nathaniel J. Wyeth’s Expeditions to the Oregon Country
First Expedition - 1832
“while I was engaged in the brook setting a trap”

Alfred Jacob Miller's "Setting Beaver Traps"

Thanks

Cool stuff!

Long but Awesome Read

Is there an audio version for the special people?

Some day I plan to make a video demo'ing some of these methods.

It would be so cool, but getting an actual trap from that period would be the most difficult part.

Bernie, if I could get some long link chain to replace the stock chain, the old Newhouses (with split jaw posts) would be just fine for this kind of work. The hand forged traps looked very, very similar.

And actually having beaver to trap would be a bonus too. I live in a beaver desert.

Very enjoyable read. Thanks K Snow! Some of the entries were new to me...or I had forgotten them.

My reactions to the above as a seasoned beaver trapper in my own right:

1. They seem to have been taught by their mentors to be careful about leaving human scent or footprints to avoid spooking the beaver. In my experience these precautions are totally unnecessary. But I do understand that those beaver were so precious they weren't taking any chances.

2. Secondly, I've never seen it in print but I would be surprised if under certain circumstances a second tangle stake was not employed to drown the beaver in deep enough water. I'm just about certain this would have occurred to them with only about 6' of chain to work with.

3. I had never seen the reference to trapping beaver with a drag. Cool beans but for sure makes sense for some spots.

4. The over dramatization of beaver chewing off their own feet we all know to be false. It would have been "wringing off" with the easily fractured front-foot wrist joint.

5. The notion that adding spices to the castoreum (and whiskey sometimes) is just about like nowadays where lure makers are adding additional ingredients to enhance castor lures. I think Lewis and Clark have a reference to that in their writings.
6. Somewhere I remember reading about a trapper describing his sprung trap (with no beaver) as being "false licked" or words to that effect. Can't remember where.

7. And finally, as a trapper very familiar with the mighty Willamette river I really enjoyed this journal entry from McDougall (clerk from Astor's Pacific Fur Company) describing trapping the Willamette in 1813:

"The hunters say those they heard from had as yet caught but few Beavers, owing chiefly to the frequent rising & falling of the River, which overflows its banks almost with every shower"



A forged trap found in an abandoned cache with 5 others at Siuslaw falls, Oregon after the flood of 1964. It was determined to have have been made at Fort Vancouver by a Hudson Bay blacksmith. Weighs 5 lbs with 6' of chain. My friend the late Bob Gilman owns(ed) it. He told me he had set it and fired it once. (Stupidly he admitted). But still strong enough it could have held a beaver in his opinion.

Yes, BP, I agree with all of your points.

The driving force behind this collection of quotes was because I SWORE that I remembered reading something about the use of a tangle stake. and I scoured everything I had, and could not find it. There's a good chance I missed it though. Maybe this winter I will have another look.

Man what I wouldn't give to just hold that trap in my hands.

I think you might have heard that from me K Snow. You had questioned my sources once when I posted on a thread that this was a technique used back then. I sheepishly admitted that I had not seen it in print but surmised that it had to have been true.

I have held it in my mits!


One (or more) of the cache mates of that trap are on display at the Ft Vancouver museum in Vancouver, Washington. Incidentally, the cache was discovered by a beaver trapper!

One final point, it certainly would have made sense for them to be extra careful not to leave their own footprints around where unwelcome eyes might spy them. Not just Indian eyes, but sometimes those of their own compadres!

I seem to remember a discussion about that here. I also had a fireside chat with a trapper here in WI about the tangle stick. I hope you didn't take offence at my questioning. I would LOVE to be able to document a tangle stick in the Western fur trade.

Great read, thanks K Snow!

As one can imagine, many guys back then weren't great trappers and many beaver were probably well educated and walking around with at least one stub. Leaving little human scent and sign may have been more important back then than now.

Also possible that those guys back then had a little more "scent" on them than most trappers nowadays.

Hahaha, very good point! Imagine having to cut your pants off in Spring!

Fantastic read.

A whole lot of trappers got butchered by the Indians and it was not usually a quick death as the Indians liked to cripple the white man then let the women and children torture them. A lot of them died and a whole lot more just "went under" or didn't show up at camp and were never accounted for. In my opinion, the stealth of not leaving tracks and sign had a lot more to do with being discovered.

This depended on where they were trapping of course as some areas had more friendly Indians than others. The Blackfeet were notorious for killing trappers on sight. But most of the bands were more than happy to steal traps and horses, and anything else useful, whenever the occasion arose. The trappers usually kept hiding during the day and set traps after dark, then pulled them before daylight. It was treacherous business not for the soft hearted.