Kids today know that meat comes from the butcher shop, clothing comes from various retailers and the home they live in was most likely built by a contractor.

The Cascade Mountain Men know better.

Dressed in period clothing from 1800 to 1840, the era the Mountain Men honor, on Aug. 2 club members showed 300 Cub Scouts gathered at Lake Sammamish State Park the ways of the rugged individuals who were hunters, trappers and fur traders. The scouts also got hands-on instruction on how to build a fire using primitive techniques like flint and steel.

“When people harvested critters, they did so because they needed food, shelter and clothing,” said Mountain Men President Steve Baima.

He told the kids not one single part of an animal was wasted. Fur was used for clothing, the meat was food and he showed them a powder horn made from a cow’s horn.

While some of the scouts met with Baima to check out the many period items, both antique and reproduction, members Harry Charowski and Chuck Lacher supervised the fire lesson. The first lesson? Never practice starting a fire in their home and always have adult supervision.

Each boy was given a rock and a piece of steel. Charowski said a quartz-based rock works best because it is very hard. He said agates, obsidian and flint also are good choices. The goal was to make a spark and then hold it to something that would burn.

The youngest one in the group, Keegan Davis, was sparking up a storm, while some of the boys seemed frustrated. Charowski got a good spark and set some kindling he was holding on fire, much to the boys’ delight. Then he had a good tip for the modern Mountain Man — a regular battery held to a piece of steel wool also will do the trick.

Baima showed the kids a tool used for skinning an animal, the powder horn and a beaver hat more than 100 years old. One boy asked him if he made the hat, which the adults present thought was pretty funny.

Baima also showed the scouts how pioneers carefully measured powder into their pistols so they wouldn’t blow themselves up.

LEARN MORE

The Cascade Mountain Men, Inc. are a group of dedicated muzzle loading and black-powder enthusiasts. They have monthly shoots at the Issaquah Sportsman Club and also shoot at the Snoqualmie Valley Rifle Club.

To become a member, a person must be a member of the National Rifle Association, the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association or the Washington State Muzzle Loading Rifle Association. For more information visit cascademountainmen.com

Six-year-old Keegan Davis, with Twilight Den 3, was successful in making sparks with his flint and steel.

Harry Charowski of the Cascade Mountain Men, succeeds in starting a fire using only flint and steel.

All of these muzzle loaders were hand-crafted by Steve Baima of the Cascade Mountain Men, to replicate what the pioneers used in the early 1800s.