Wednesday, January 6, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
13
‘The Revenant’ recounts Mountain Man legend
By Jim Cornelius
News Editor
Hugh Glass was one tough
hombre.
Even among Mountain
Men, the legendary fur trap-
pers and explorers who
blazed America’s trail across
the Great Plains and the
Rocky Mountains, Glass’s
adventures were extraordi-
nary. “The Revenant,” which
premiers at Sisters Movie
House on Friday, January 8,
was inspired by his incredible
story of survival in the face
of deadly attacks by man and
beast.
The era of the Mountain
Men spanned scarcely two
decades, from about 1820
to 1840. It was only a brief
moment in the centuries-
spanning saga of the fur trade
in North America. From the
very first European ventures
into the continent, men had
traded for furs, especially
prime beaver pelts. Then,
as now, beaver fur made
the finest felt for hats. (As
Sisters’ custom hatmaker
Gene Baldwin can tell you,
a 100-percent beaver-felt hat
is light, durable, and water
resistant — the class of the
field).
Through most of the fur
trade, the business relied on
the native peoples to trap and
kill the beaver, trading pelts
for firearms, blankets, kettles,
paint and beads, and — ruin-
ously — whiskey or rum.
In the early 1820s, William
Ashley and Andrew Henry
introduced an innovation:
Instead of relying on trade,
they would lead American
trappers into the beaver
streams to trap the beaver
directly. The Rocky Mountain
Fur Company would supply
them out of remote trading
posts and by caravans that
would trek to a designated
destination in the mountains
for a trade fair that would
become the storied Mountain
Man Rendezvous.
Hugh Glass was one of the
men who answered Ashley’s
call in 1822, and headed up
the Missouri River by keel-
boat, while Henry led another
party overland. He was older
than most of his companions
— perhaps 40 — and hired on
primarily as a meat hunter.
Ashley got word that
Henry’s party needed horses
— theirs having been run off
and stolen by Assiniboin. So
Ashley’s party stopped at a
major Arikara village along
the Missouri River in what
is now South Dakota. The
Arikara lived by a mix of
buffalo hunting and agricul-
ture, and their position along
the river gave them a sig-
nificant advantage in trade.
Unfortunately for Ashley’s
men, the Arikara were
angered by killings of their
people by another American
trading enterprise. Though
Ashley assured them that his
party was unrelated to the
perpetrators, it seems that the
Arikara were not much in the
mood for making distinctions.
Starts
Friday
Fri., Jan. 8 – Thurs., Jan. 14
The Revenant (R)
Fri 3:45, 6:45
Sat 12:45, 3:45, 6:45
Sun 12:00, 3:00, 6:00
Mon-Thurs 3:00, 6:00
Brooklyn (PG-13)
Fri 4:45 • Sat 2:00
Sun 1:30
Mon-Thurs 4:00
Joy (PG-13)
Breakfast
& Lunch
Served
Wed-Sun 8-3
Join us for our casual
3-course dinner on
Friday and Saturday
nights
3 courses for
only y $25!
Reservations suggested
Gift Certifi cates
Available
541.549.2699
403 E. Hood Ave.
After a trading session
on June 1, 1823, which
seemed successful, the
Arikara attacked Ashley’s
party encamped on the sandy
shores of the Missouri. In a
15-minute flurry of arrow-
and-musket fire, 14 trappers
were killed and another 11
were wounded. One of them
was Hugh Glass.
After recovering from
the leg wound he suffered
in the Arikara attack, Glass
resumed his hunting duties,
as he accompanied Andrew
Henry’s men overland in
August 1823. He was some
distance in front of his party,
hunting in heavy cover along
Grand River when he sur-
prised a sow grizzly with a
pair of cubs. As any back-
packer knows, this is about
as dangerous a situation as a
person can encounter in the
wild.
The grizzly charged
Glass and subjected him to
a mauling that his compan-
ions —who responded to his
screams, burst through the
brush, and killed the bear —
immediately assessed as fatal.
But Glass didn’t die right
away. Carrying him on a lit-
ter proved too slow, and a
slow pace could endanger the
whole party, who were under
constant threat from Indian
attack. Two men — John
Fitzgerald and a young Jim
Fri 7:15 • Sat 4:30, 7:15
Sun 3:45, 6:30
Mon-Thurs 6:30
The Big Short (R)
Fri 4:00, 6:30
Sat 1:15, 4:00, 6:30
Sun 12:45, 3:30, 6:15
Mon-Thurs 3:30, 6:15
Star Wars (PG-13)
Fri 4:00, 7:00
Sat 1:00, 4:00, 7:00
Sun 12:30, 3:15, 6:15
Mon-Thurs 3:15, 6:15
Movie times and titles are
bsite
subject to change. Visit we
n.
atio
rm
info
st
late
for
or call
WWW.SISTERS
MOVIEHOUSE.COM
541-549-8800
Jan.
an. 19
1 / Tues. / 6 PM
January
D Dinner
i
Show
w
Save the date!
Jan. 22 / Fri. / 8 PM
Dennis McGregor
and The Spoilers
Local favorites!
Jan. 29 / Fri. / 7 PM
The Noteables
17-member swing band
provides rousing live big
band music for dancing
and entertainment.
Jan. 30 / Sat. / 6 PM
11th Annual
Backcountry
Film Festival
Tickets are $10 ~ raffl e
prizes, auction items
and more will be up for
grabs. For more info go to
backcountryfi lmfestival.org
PUB OPENS ONE HOUR
PRIOR TO SHOWS
BelfryEvents.com
Call for Details
541-815-9122
Bridger — agreed to stay put
and wait for Glass’ inevitable
demise. They received an $80
bonus for stepping up.
They waited. Five days.
And Glass did not die.
Fearing being left impossi-
bly far behind their trapping
party, Fitzgerald and Bridger
gathered Glass’ rifle, knife
and firemaking tools, and left
him to breathe out his last on
the prairie.
But Glass did not die.
Incredibly, he survived his
wounds, roused himself, and
began to crawl. He would
crawl and stagger more than
200 miles south and east to
the trading outpost of Fort
Kiowa on the Missouri, living
on insects, somewhat-edible
plants, a rattlesnake he man-
aged to crush with a rock, and
the carcasses of buffalo found
on the prairie.
Glass was fired with the
desire for revenge against
the men who had abandoned
him. But when he healed up
enough to track Bridger down,
he felt sorry for the kid, who
had been influenced by his
older, more experienced com-
panion. So he headed down-
river looking for Fitzgerald.
He found him, too, but the
man had enlisted in the army,
and Glass couldn’t touch him
without hanging for it. So he
gave up on revenge. He did
get his rifle back, though, and
he eventually went back to
hunting for a living.
He went south for a
spell, and got into a run-in
with Shoshone Indians in
Colorado. Took an arrow
in the back. A fellow trap-
per sliced the arrowhead out
of his back muscles with a
straight razor and he spent
some time in Taos, New
Mexico, recuperating from
that latest insult to his rav-
aged and battered body.
By 1830, he was operat-
ing out of Fort Union, an
See THE REVENANT on page 19
ENTERTAINMENT & EVENTS
Saturday~Jan. 9
Sisters
Si
t S Schools
h l S Sisters
i t
Shootout Basketball
Tournament 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The annual tourney is for boys
& girls grades 5-8 from all
across Oregon. Presented
by Sisters Park & Recreation
District. For additional
information call 541-549-2091
or go to sistersshootout.com.
Stitchin’ Post Preview Party!
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Come to the
celebration and check out all
the class offerings for 2016!
For additional information
call 541-549-6061 or visit the
website: stitchinpost.com.
Faith Hope & Charity
Vineyards Live Music by
Sunday~Jan. 17
CinderBlue 1 to 4 p.m. $5
cover. Info: 541-526-5075 and Sisters Schools Sisters
faithhopeandcharityevents.com. Shootout Basketball
Tournament 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday~Jan. 10 The annual tourney is for boys
& girls grades 5-8 from all
Sisters Library Dr. Bob
across Oregon. Presented
Collins on “Secrets for a
by Sisters Park & Recreation
Healthy Brain” 1:30 p.m.
District. For additional
Sponsored by Friends of the
information call 541-549-2091
Sisters Library, the fi rst lecture or go to sistersshootout.com.
in this year’s Diane Jacobsen
Speaker Series. 541-549-2107.
Friday~Jan. 22
Monday~Jan. 11
The Open Door Live Music
with The Anvil Blasters
7 to 9 p.m. Come enjoy the
Americana, Western-folk-
based music! Info: 541-549-
6076 or anvilblasters.com.
Sisters High School BINGO
& Community Dinner! 5:30
to 6:30 p.m., dinner just $2 a
plate! BINGO at 6:30 p.m., 11
games for $15. Fundraiser for
SHS athletics. Great prizes!
For more information contact
Tim Roth at 541-549-4050 or
tim.roth@sisters.k12.or.us.
Saturday~Jan. 16
HarmonyHouse Live Music
with David Jacobs-Strain
& Bob Beach 8 p.m. (doors
open at 7 p.m.) at 17505
Kent Rd. Suggested donation
$20. A special evening with
David UNPLUGGED! BYOB
and a favorite snack to share
if desired. For additional
information call 541-548-2209.
Deadline to submit items
is 5 p.m. Fridays. Email
teresa@nuggetnews.com
Sisters Galleries & Shops
Fourth Friday Art Stroll
4 to 7 p.m. During extended
hours, check out the many
Sisters galleries that will
feature live music, goodies
and new works of art!
The Belfry Live Music with
Dennis McGregor & The
Spoilers 8 to 11 p.m. For
additional information go
online to belfryevents.com or
call 541-815-9122.
Tuesday~Jan. 26
The Belfry Sisters Science
Club Lecture 7 p.m. (doors
open 6 p.m.). Dr. Scott Fisher,
UofO Physics, on “How Did We
Get Here? Clues from the Solar
System.” $5 (free to students,
teachers & club donors). For
info: sistersscienceclub.org.
Sisters Fire Hall Chili
Feed for Veterans noon to
2 p.m. Veterans and their
families are invited to a free
chili feed in their honor. An
RSVP is required if attending
by Wednesdy, January 20.
Contact Ron at 541-549-1089
or frigulti@bendcable.com.