Let's look at some references to coffee from the West.

From James Beckwourth:
Fur companies in those days had to depend upon their rifles for a supply of food. No company
could possibly carry provisions sufficient to last beyond the most remote white settlements. Our
food, therefore, consisted of deer, wild turkeys (which were found in great abundance), bear-meat,
and, even in times of scarcity, dead horses. Occasionally a little flour, sugar, and coffee might last
over to the mountains; but those who held these articles asked exorbitant prices for them, and it
was but few who tasted such luxuries.

From General Thomas James:
Chouteau invited me to breakfast with him, assuring me
that my horses, which were now out of sight, would be recovered. I partook with him of a dish
of coffee, the first I had tasted in twelve months, and of bread and other luxuries of civilization,
which brought before my mind all the comforts of home to which I had been so long a stranger.

From Charles Larpenteur:
Toward spring [1863] we were in a starving condition, game of all kinds extremely scarce, and
men afraid to go out for a hunt. For about six weeks I lived on nothing but jerked elk meat, having
some salt but being entirely out of other groceries. There is little substance in elk meat. I became
so weak that I could scarcely get up the river bank with a bucket of water; my knees felt like giving
way. It was only by seeking for coffee in the warehouse, picking it up grain by grain out of the dirt,
that I now and then got a cup of coffee, without sugar; but it was a great treat notwithstanding.

Some prices paid in the mountains for goods, including coffee, from Daniel Potts:
Powder $2 50 per lb.
Lead 1 50
Coffee 2 00
Sugar 2 00
Tobacco 2 00
Vermilion 6 00
Beads 5 00
Pepper 6 00
Blankets (three point) 15 00
cotton stripe, per yard 2 50
Calico do.
scarlet Cloth (coarse) do 10 00
Blue Cloth (coarse) do 8 00
Ribband, per Yd 0 75
Brass nails, per dozen 0 50
Horses cost from 150 dollars to 300, and some as high as 500.

Group of Trappers and Indians by Alfred Jacob Miller.

From Charles Larpenteur:
Toward spring [1863] we were in a starving condition, game of all kinds extremely scarce, and
men afraid to go out for a hunt. For about six weeks I lived on nothing but jerked elk meat, having
some salt but being entirely out of other groceries. There is little substance in elk meat. I became
so weak that I could scarcely get up the river bank with a bucket of water; my knees felt like giving
way. It was only by seeking for coffee in the warehouse, picking it up grain by grain out of the dirt,
that I now and then got a cup of coffee, without sugar; but it was a great treat notwithstanding.


Was this party in a Fort or open camp?

They were in a "handsome, good little fort".

Here's the preceding few paragraphs:
Late in August [1862] we reached Milk River, when the Missouri became so low that the steamer
could proceed no further. The next day, while we were taking the goods into Dauphin Fort, a
large war party of Sioux gave us a few shots, and stole several head of horses from the Crows. The
Shreveport left, and I remained in Dauphin until teams came from Benton to take up what goods
the company had for that place, and also to move me up to the fort, which I called Galpin. On our
way up we left Owen McKenzie about 150 miles below this point, to build a trading post for the
Assiniboines.
Here I erected a handsome, good little fort, and might have had a pleasant time. But in consequence
of the very mild winter we had no buffalo, and the Indians, who were starving as well as
ourselves, became very unruly. At one time they threatened to pillage my stores, and for a while
our case looked rather dark; but they contented themselves with stealing a few articles. I tried my
men, but they refused to fight, saying they would rather let the Indians take all the goods than
expose their own lives. I had a mean, cowardly set of men, many of whom had been hired by Captain
John La Barge on his return from Benton, during his first trip. I knew them of old, and had I
had my own way about this, they should never have been in my employment.
In spite of all this my trade was tolerably fair this winter [1862-63]. McKenzie did little. Early in
the fall he had a fight with the Sioux, in which one man was killed, besides one Assiniboine and
several horses. This was a party of about 200 warriors, who attacked our men in their house. The
latter immediately cut portholes, and defended themselves through them. Our man was killed in
the house by a ball which penetrated the door. The Indians were bold enough to come and shoot
through the portholes; but one of them remained there. The fight lasted all day; there were but
four white men and six Assiniboines on our side. The next day three Sioux were found dead, and
there were signs of several wounded ones, who had been taken away. This fight frightened the
Assiniboines away from the post, and was the cause why McKenzie did but little trade — only 350
robes.

I often read the trappers assigning critiques as to the quality of the meat their rifles brought down. They really wanted a nice fat cow, not a tough ol' bull.

That is one interesting passage ...thanks for the follow up.

Interesting read. Thank you. Imagine spending $16,500 in 1862 on a horse. Civil war was 1861-65. Remember them trying to get Dish's horse in Lonesome Dove when that boy took a beatin? Same time frame. Those were civil war soldiers. That much money and it sounds like it was just for some horse in the mountains at a trading post somewhere... not a really good horse in town. Interesting.



Think of a $500 Wanted Poster. Pretty neat.

That letter from Daniel Potts, with the "mountain prices" listed, was dated 1827, so that horse was even more expensive. Horses were invaluable in the mountains. Several trappers went all the way to California to steal Spanish horses to bring back to rendezvous to sell for profit. Not many were successful.

When Lewis and Clark traded for horses in the Rockies some of them had Spanish brands on them. That was 1805. This signifies the horses coming from spain our indians rode on the western frontier. The way we picture indians on horses out west and in our movies had only been happening for like 100 years or less actually they say. Several interesting stories from that but its off topic I guess.

According to the periodical "Science Review" radiocarbon modeling suggests a date of between 1516 and 1599 for the initial adoption of horses by indigenous societies in western North America, with a median boundary date of ~1544.

Spanish brands would have been on horses on the Mexican frontier in the early 19th century as Mexico had not yet attained independence from the mother country.

Most people just think of the fur trade.
There was actually 3 large trades taking place all the way up to the far northern plains for years before any europeans set foot there.
The fur trade,the meat trade (bison) and the equestrian trade,all interconnected and each as important as the other.
Early 1500s is correct for the equestrian trade.The fur trade and meat trade was much older but the trade routes were the same.

peeler,
I don't have my book with me and not sure I could find it if I did but maybe they were saying the same thing and I just remembered it wrong. maybe they were saying by the time lewis and clark came along the indians riding horses super heavily had only been happening for about 100 years. So 1705-1805 maybe they meant... not 100 back from today. 1700 give and take a little is pretty close to what you were saying too I think. I remember them talking about smallpox though. They said you used to die before you could get to the next village so it didn't spread so bad but the introduction of horses changed that. Seemed like a crazy fact to me is why I remember that part. Anyway that's what they were saying.

Either way my point was more I think everyone usually thought, myself included, that the indians were doing the horse thing for hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of years before us but I guess not and found that its actually relatively pretty new which was pretty interesting.

I would add a 4th one to your list. The slave trade on the Pacific coast.

I would guess that horses caught on like wildfire after their introduction to the plains Indians where it gave them huge advantages in hunting buffalo and warfare. When in 1828 Jedediah Smith's party brought 300 head of horses and mules north from California along the northern California coast line some of the tribes there were astonished by them according to the journals kept by the party. It may be that they had never seen one before.

If you've ever seen the forested brushy coastal lands there you can see that horses would not give one much of an advantage.

Slave trade was not incorporated into the early fur trade equestrian trade and meat trade in all of North America,It was likely important to native tribes in some locations but was not a part of the fur trade.All those routes were straight up and down the northern and southern plains for hundreds of years.And east-west from montreal to the interior and central plains and mississippi and great lakes region by the Canadians.The arctic and west coast and northern plains was established by HBC early on from the forts around James and Hudson Bay.
There would have been no furtrade without the meat trade supplying the forts on the northern plains in the 17 and 1800s with bison,as well as a substantial meat trade supplying the forts around the bay in the 16oos onward with moose caribou and geese.
The mountain man era was the tail end of the north american fur trade and didnt last long.
The fur trade had been going on for 250 years or so before the mountain man period.
Some excellent history of the fur trade in James Daschucks book "Clearing the plains" with fully referenced historical data and records.