For years, the demand had been growing steadily less both in Europe
and America. The ingenuity of the manufacturer showed itself in
the make of cheaper substitutes, while the beavers that had been
hunted so persistently were becoming scarce: there were few regions
in which trapping could be pursued with any success.

Nothing could be plainer, therefore, to Carson than the fact that
he must soon give up the business and engage in something else to
gain a livelihood. What should it be?

Carson and several veteran trappers started for Bent's Fort, located
on the Arkansas, near an immense forest of cottonwoods, known as
the Big Timbers. Messrs. Bent and St. Vrain, the proprietors, no
sooner learned that Carson contemplated a change of occupation, than
they offered him the position of hunter for the fort, his duties
being to keep it supplied with all the game that was required.

Carson was more willing to accept the offer than he would have been
under other circumstances. He agreed that the large number of men
should never want for animal food, and, having given his promise,
he kept it most faithfully for a period of eight years.

This statement includes a great deal, for it means that his
wonderful rifle brought down thousands of deer, antelope, elk and
bisons; that he tramped over hundreds of leagues of wilderness;
that his splendid health never failed him, and that his knowledge
of the woods and its inhabitants was as full and complete as it
could be.

Furthermore, it is stated by Dr. Peters, that during that entire