A mountain funeral.

Life in the mountains was tough, and could end at just about any second. Bears, Indians and Nature
herself all seemed bent on "rubbing out" the trappers. Here is an excerpt from W.A.Ferris,
describing the simple burial of a trapper in the mountains:

On the morning of the 19th several of our men returned from their traps, bearing the dead body
of Frasier, one of our best hunters, who went out the day previous to set his trap, and by his not
returning at night, excited some alarm for his safety. His body was found in the Jefferson, about
five miles below camp, near a trap, which it is supposed he was in the act of setting when fired
upon. He was shot in the thigh and through the neck, and twice stabbed in the breast. His body
was stripped, and left in the water, but unscalped. - In the afternoon we dug his grave with an
axe and frying pan, the only implements we had that could be employed to advantage in this
melancholy task, and prepared for the sad ceremony of committing to the earth the remains of
a comrade, who but yestermorn was among us in high health, gay, cheerful, thoughtless, and
dreaming of nothing but pleasure and content in the midst of relations and friends. Having no
coffin, nor the means to make one, we covered his body in a piece of new scarlet cloth, around
which a blanket and several buffalo robes were then wrapped and lashed firmly. The body thus
enveloped was carefully laid in the open grave, and a wooden cross in token of his catholic faith
placed upon his breast.

Wind River Range by A.J. Miller

Thanks for sharing that

Dig the grave with an axe and a frying pan.
Trappers are resourceful

Found five miles from camp . . wonder what the average distance from camp was for the furthest trap out.

References that they would travel anywhere from "in the neighborhood" to ten miles from camp to set traps for the night.

From Jedediah Smith:
Two of my trappers, [Toussaint] Mareshall
and [John] Turner were up 3 or 4 miles from camp and seeing some Indians around their
traps who would not come to them but attempted to run off they fired at them and Turner killed
one and Mareshall wounded another.

From Ruxton:
The next morning, leaving two of their number in camp, they started in parties of two, to hunt for
beaver sign and set their traps. Markhead paired with one Batiste, Killbuck and La Bonté formed
another couple, Meek and Marcellin another; two Canadians trapped together, and Bill Williams
and another remained to guard the camp: but this last, leaving Bill mending his moccasins, started
off to kill a mountain sheep, a band of which animals was visible.
Markhead and his companion, the first couple on the list, followed a creek, which entered that
on which they had encamped, about ten miles distant. Beaver sign was abundant, and
they had set eight traps,

Good stuff. Apparently it was noteworthy that poor Frasier hadn't been scalped.

Yes, that does stand out. The overwhelming majority of victims of Indian attack were scalped. Makes one wonder why he wasn't?

Always possible it wasn't Indians who killed him. Of course Indians would sometimes not scalp someone they who they respected, usually for bravery and fighting ability. Could be other reasons, possibly they were spooked off for some reason.

Can't scalp me = bald......jk