The mountain man in American history and culture.

Abstract

The mountain man hero evolved mostly during the nineteenth century owing to various media and changing cultural currents. He embodied and projected Jacksonian ideals (as an adventurous enterpriser), notions of Manifest Destiny (as an agent of geographical and race conquest), and turn-of-the-century anxieties associated with the frontier's passing, social transformations, and the "strenuous life" (a rugged icon of "bully manhood"). Purveyors of popular culture contributed much to the formulaic and mythic mountain man hero stereotype, but historians sustained, even promoted, such imagery too. The malleability of the mountain man hero's image aided his longevity in American culture. As a marketable icon, his image was used to endorse certain ideals, consumables, and commerce. What the mountain man embodied---his mythic life ways, patriotism, individualism, environmentalism, masculinity---attracted many individuals to put on his image or to weave it into certain organizations. Such experiences epitomized the concepts of primitivism and nostalgia (both chronological and cultural) and reflected persistent cultural patterns of "looking backwards" and status anxiety (individual and communal). The mountain man hero always remained a manly icon, but changes in what defined his masculinity reflected America's changing perceptions of American manhood. Consequently, the mountain man served two principal functions in American culture. He transmitted social values (a figure with political utility) and he sold merchandise. These two points guaranteed and extended his image in American history and culture.

The mountain man hero has enjoyed a prominent place in American culture and his persistent image (since the 1830s) is an index of his appeal. Understanding how this image has been manifested in various quarters of American culture and how society perceived it is as important as studying the historic mountain man. This study, then, is a history of an image, but is also intended to reveal much about the society that embraced that image. The life of the mountain man hero reflected the values and aspirations of those who admired him. As his image changed over time it acted as a barometer of the shifting attitudes of society. Thus, the mountain man hero makes a reliable companion for traversing America's varied cultural landscapes.