Cache (hideout)

A **cache** is a type of temporary hideout or hiding place, used since ancient times by primitive people, and nowadays for some military operations. In the past centuries was used, among others, by trappers from the north of the American continent in order to hide, disguising it, food for the entire campaign, or store the collected skins in preparation for the return trip to civilization, etc. This habit, probably derived from animal hoarding, has existed since the Neolithic in the ancient hunter-gatherer civilizations, in fact, it also existed among the American Indians brfore the trappers arrived at their camps.

## Etymology

The term " _cache_ " comes from the French word " _cache_ " derived from the verb " _cacher_ " meaning to conceal or hide. Webster's 1911 dictionary defines _cache_ as: "a  cache in the ground, made for concealing and protecting materials which, for various reasons, one does not want to transport at the moment, and for returning to when convenient."

## Military cache

A **military cache** is a temporary living space used in the military sector to conceal mobile units, transmission devices, weapons, etc. This type of habitat is sometimes found under the name of a _hut_ in scouting, but in this case the name, shape and use differ.

In France, the 13 RDP and the 2nd Hussar Regiment were tasked with developing this system, due to their technical specificities of observation, infiltration and camouflage. From a historical point of view, this system dates back to the Cold War and its observation techniques. The usefulness of a cache for military intelligence units is a perfect concealment of individuals and equipment for a long time in unknown and enemy terrain. This device also allows to quickly have a warm temporary habitat, which in summer as in winter allows its occupants to be in a certain " comfort » ; and to protect themselves to a certain extent from nuclear radiation.

There are two distinct types of caches. : the cache " semi-buried " and the cache " buried The semi-buried cache consists of a simple roof made of a tarpaulin resting on branches, camouflaged, but not very strong. It is shallow. The buried cache is as deep as a crouching man standing upright. Its roof is made of tree trunks pressed against each other, the trapdoor is in the roof. A corner " rest » allows one person to sleep while the others stay awake. A tarpaulin is stretched over the trees to ensure watertightness. ; camouflage normally allows nothing to be detected from the outside.

### Basics of a military cache

- A rest area
- _A cold trap_
- a roof
- a hidden hatch
- an observation and shooting window (where you don't sit to avoid falling asleep)

### The Cache Guide, 1986

( for 3 men, unofficial)

1.- Find a place 50 to 100 m from the 1st Cache (observation) suitable for construction, preferably on flat ground, be at least 2 m from two trees for the final installation of the wire antenna.

2.- Start by delimiting the size of the hole. (1.50 X 2.00 m) Then remove the humus (leaves on the ground, branches on the ground) over 10 cm and make a pile with it.

3.- If necessary, cut the roots with a hatchet. Meanwhile, collect identical dead leaves with a poncho far from your hiding place to serve as camouflage for the final touch. Dig to a depth of 1.30 m (1 m for life and 30 cm for the roof made with logs and earth).

At the trapdoor in a corner, dig 40 cm more on a 50 X 50 cm square to have a sitting position, the rest of the cache serves as a bed and storage of bags.

4.- While digging the hole with a shovel and a pickaxe, cut down at ground level with a wood saw a few trees with a diameter of 15 to 20 cm (hide the cut afterwards), cut them into 2 m logs and place them next to each other above the hole, respecting a slight slope for the flow of rainwater. Leave a space for an access hatch. The whole must resist the passage of a tank.

5.- Set up the trapdoor/*, made beforehand with its fixed surround in the barracks in spare parts, from a square of wooden plank of 45 X 45 cm, sufficient to pass the men and the bags. Provide an overhanging trellis to fix the camouflage.

6.- Cover the logs with a tarpaulin for waterproofing and cut it to the shape at the level of the hatch/*. You must then cover the tarpaulin (be careful not to pierce it) with earth with the different contrasts as well as the surrounding area where the humus was removed. It must be flat, or restore the original shape of the ground (be inventive). Then you just have to cover everything with the previously removed humus, it must look natural, add some branches and dead leaves. (see waste if the place is polluted)

Avoid installing the cache near a body of water, as there is a risk of sudden or long-term infiltration.

## Trapper's  cache

The operation of a trapper's  cache can be explained by the paths between the points in the territory through which the trapper moves. These points are: O (origin), C ( cache), and DEF (traps)

The trapper leaves the point O-origin and when after about 700 km, arrives at point C- cache, hides provisions there for a year and continues the journey to the other points, separated by about 100 km average of C- cache: "D-trap, E-trap, F-trap...", where he sets the traps, the goal of his work. The advantage of the  cache becomes evident when, while at the trap sites, he needs some supply, he doesn't need to walk the 800 km that separates him from the point O-origin, in fact he only has to follow the 100 km that separate him from the C- cache where he has hidden provisions, using the same trip to leave the captured skins.

### Reasons

As stated earlier, there were a variety of reasons for hiding things in a  cache. Among the types of items a trapper might have hidden in a  cache, a rough list would include: beaver furs, traps, guns, gunpowder, rocks, lead bars, tobacco, knives, axes, coffee, sugar, salt, ham, pork, beans, corn, buffalo coats, wool blankets, cloth, Indian hardware, and an amount of other items. The _mountain man_ 's reasons for using a  cache varied depending on whether he was an explorer, a trader, or a trapper:

- The explorer could lighten his load during a difficult part of his journey, or store important items (such as food, lead, and gunpowder) in the  cache for his return trip.
- The trader could store some of his commercial goods to recover them later.
- The trapper needed a place to hide his beaver furs until he was ready to transport them to markets in the east.

## Construction of a traper's cache

Captain Meriwether Lewis, on June 9, 1805, describes it this way:

- A hidden place.
- A  hole made in the ground.
- A concealed cover.

First, you need to find a suitable location for the construction. It's very important that it be very dry and preferably on flat ground with no trees nearby to avoid roots that would make it difficult to dig the  Hole in the ground.

A circle about twenty inches in diameter is drawn, and the turf or grass is carefully removed from this circle, removing as much as possible of the grass  in one piece so that it can be replaced in the same position when the  cache is completed and filled. This circular  hole is then dug perpendicularly to a depth of one foot; if the ground is not very firm, a little deeper. Then, work is begun, widening it as you go toward the bottom, until the  hole is about six or seven feet deep, giving it almost the shape of a teapot. The bottom is also made a little deeper toward the center.

The dimensions of the cache must be proportional to the quantity of items intended to be stored. As the excavation progresses, the soil is scooped out using a container and carefully placed on a skin or cloth. It is then taken to a place where it can be scattered in a concealed manner; generally, a nearby river ot water stream, where the water will disperse it without leaving any traces that could lead to the discovery of the cache.

Before the goods are stored, they must be very dry. Next, some small, dry branches are collected and a base is made by weaving them together, three or four inches thick, which is then covered with a little dry soil. The items are then deposited, taking care to prevent them from touching the walls, adding other dry branches as the merchandise is placed. When it is almost full, the goods are covered with a skin, then covered with soil and the previously removed piece of grass  is disposed thoroughly. The  cache must be concealed and leveled with the surrounding ground. In this way, the dried skins, merchandise, or dried foodstuffs can be kept unspoiled for several years.

## Renowned traper's cache users

- John Jacob Astor (July 17, 1763, Walldorf, Germany – March 29, 1848, New York, United States) was the son of a German butcher and the youngest of three children. He emigrated to England as a teenager, working as a musical instrument maker alongside his older brother, George Astor. He moved to the United States after the American Revolutionary War, entered the fur trade, and eventually built a monopoly, managing a commercial empire that extended first to the Great Lakes region and Canada, and then expanded to the western United States as far as the Pacific coast.
- Manuel Lisa (New Orleans, September 8, 1772 - Saint Louis, August 12, 1820) was an important American fur trader and explorer of Spanish origin. He was one of the founders of the "St. Louis Missouri Fur Company" and the best-known explorer of his time in the Indian territories of the present-day states of Missouri and Kansas. The son of a Spanish colonial official, he was a great friend of the United States in its expansion towards the west. Between 1803 and 1804, he collaborated as an advisor to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which opened the doors to the "Far West" and due to his activity in the fur trade, Lisa was very influential among the Native American tribes and contributed to their being allies of the United States against Great Britain in the War of 1812.
- John Colter (Stuarts Draft, Virginia ca. 1774 – Missouri, May 7, 1812 or November 22, 1813), was an American fur trapper, trader, guide, and explorer who was part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806). Although he was part of one of the most famous expeditions in history, Colter is best remembered for his solo explorations during the winter of 1807–1808, when, under the command of Manuel Lisa, he became the first known person of European descent to trek into the region that now makes up Yellowstone National Park, and was the first to see the Teton Range and Jackson  cache. Colter spent months alone in wilderness areas, and is therefore generally regarded as the archetypal and first " mountain man ".
- Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 in Charlottesville, Virginia and died October 11, 1809 in Hohenwald, Tennessee) was an American explorer, soldier, and civil servant, best known for his role as leader of the Corps of Discovery, which was tasked with exploring the territory acquired by the Louisiana Purchase. In his reports, he detailed the construction of a  cache and how and when to use it.
- George Drouillard (1773/75?–1810) was a trapper, interpreter, and "sign-talker" on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, often considered one of Lewis's two most highly regarded members (the other being John Colter). Born to a French father from Canada and a Shawnee mother from Detroit, Drouillard proved to be the expedition's best trapper, particularly during a winter spent at Fort Clatsop. After serving on the expedition, he continued to hunt furs in present-day Wyoming and Montana, working for Manuel Lisa 's _St. Louis Missouri Fur Company_, who hired him in 1807. Often venturing alone (as John Colter), particularly to the headwaters of the Big Horn River in the Yellowstone National Park and around the Three Forks of the Missouri, George Drouillard was savagely murdered in May 1810 by Blackfoot Indians in the Three Forks region.
- Jedediah Smith (1799 – ca. 1831) was an American fur trapper and trader who conducted significant explorations in the opening of the American West to European and American settlers. Smith is considered the first man of European descent to cross the future state of Nevada ; the first to traverse Utah from north to south and from west to east; and the first American to arrive in California by overland route. He was also the first to climb the Sierra Nevada and to explore the area from San Diego to the banks of the Columbia River. He was a successful businessman and sole partner in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company after Ashley's departure. Smith had a prominent scar on his face from a grizzly bear attack.

## " _Mountain man_ "

The "Mountain men" lived mainly in the Rocky Mountains from the end of the 18th century to the 1880s (with a peak population in the early 1840s). Between 1820 and 1840, the height of beaver trapping, there were about three thousand "mountain men" distributed throughout the mountains. While there were many trappers Free, most worked for the large fur trading companies. The life of a company man was almost militarized. The men had loosely organized groups, hunted and set traps in brigades, and always reported to the corporal of the capturing brigade. This corporal was called "boosway," a corruption of the French term _"bourgeois_ ." He was the brigade leader and head of trade.

The Mountain Men were ethnically, socially, and religiously diverse, and did not fit any established stereotype. Although they considered themselves independent, they were in fact an economic arm of the large fur companies that held annual fairs, known as Rendez-vous, for the Mountain Men to sell their wares. Most Mountain Men were born in Canada, the United States, or in the Spanish-ruled Mexican territories.

The stereotypical "Mountain Man" has been depicted dressed in buckskin and a bearskin cap, sporting a bushy beard, and carrying a Hawken rifle and a Bowie knife, commonly known as a "scalpin' knife." They have been idealized as honorable men with their own code of chivalry, loners who helped those in need, but who had found their home in the wilderness.

However, in reality, most trappers traveled and worked in groups or companies. Their typical dress combined woolen caps and cloaks with leather pants and shirts made in the Native American style. Mountain men usually wore moccasins but occasionally carried a pair of heavy boots for difficult terrain. Each mountain man carried basic equipment that might include guns, powder horns, a bag of shot, knives, axes, a canteen, cooking utensils, and supplies of tobacco, coffee, salt, and pemmican . Horses or mules were essential, in sufficient numbers, that is, a riding horse for each man and at least one other to carry supplies and furs.

## Related pages

- Mountain man
- Coureur de bois
- Louis Jolliet (1645–1700)
- Hudson's Bay Company

## Bibliography

- Brown, Craig, editor. _The Illustrated History of Canada._ Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys Ltd., 1987.  .
- Podruchny, Carolyn. _Making the Voyageur World_ : Travelers and Traders in the North American Fuero Trade. toronto : University of Toronto Press, 2006.  .
- Associated Press in Salto Lake City «'Mountain Man' Troy James Knapp does justice after six years where he ran» (in English). _The Guardian_, 06-09-2014.
- Gowans, Frio. " Rocky Mountain Rendezvous : A History of The Fuero Trade 1825–1840." Gibbs M. Smith, Layton, Utah 2005. 13.  . (in English)
- Hafen, LeRoy R., editor. _Fuero Trappers and Traders of the Faro Southwest._ 1965, Utah State University Press, Logan, Utah, (1997 reprint).  . (in English)
- Orville C. Loomer, " _Fort_ Henry," Fort Union Trade Symposium Proceedings September 13–15, 1990 (Williston, Friends of Fort Union Trading Board, 1994), 79.
- Maguire, James H., Peter Wild, & Donald Barclay: A Rendezvous Reader: Corte, Tangled, and True Tales of the Mountain Men, 1805–1850. University of Utah Press. 1997.
- McLelland, Dennis. The Avenging Fury of the Plains, John "Liver-Eating" Johnston, Exploding the Myths - Discovering the Man, (in English)
- Morgan, Dale L. _Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the American West._ Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press, 1964.  (in English)
- Hampton Sides. "Blood and Thunder - The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West." Anchor Books, 2006.  (in English)
- DeVoto, Bernard, _Across the Wide Missouri_, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MI. 1947. (in English)
- Russell, Carl P. Fireams, Traps, and Tools of the Mountain Man. New York: Alfred A. Knope, Inc. 1967. (in English)

## Other websites

- Trappers-cache
- U.S. National Park Service Voyageurs page
- Illinois Brigade, voyageur educators out of the midwest
- Canadian Vignettes: Voyageurs
- Festival takes Voyageur
- OS National Park Service page where voyageurs