In this episode, I take a deep dive into the story of Hugh Glass, the real man who’s story is so graphically portrayed in the locally filmed movie The Revenant starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Tom Hardy.
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The Real Man Behind the locally Filmed Movie The Revenant
You would have to be living under a rock to be unaware of a recent blockbuster film using the Canadian Rockies as its backdrop – the Leonardo Di Caprio film The Revenant. Released in 2015, the movie was largely filmed in the Canadian Rockies in general, and Spray Valley Provincial Park in particular. The wild character and winter landscape led to the dark feel of the picture and the mountain panoramas added interest.
The film follows the life of fur-trader and mountain man Hugh Glass who was badly mauled by a grizzly bear and subsequently left for dead. It’s a story of tragedy and revenge amidst the rugged landscapes of the Rocky Mountains.
Like most movies, there are some connections to the true story of Hugh Glass, who was indeed a real historical character. In this episode, I want to share the true story upon which the movie was based. At the same time, I’ll highlight some of the many ways the movie chose to vary from what is known about Hugh Glass’s real experiences.
Like many such films, it displays an “Inspired by a true story” message at the beginning of the film. This frees it from pesky things like any requirements to remain true and accurate to the actual events upon which the story is based.
To best understand the story of Hugh Glass, you first need to gain an understanding of the world in which he lived. He was one of a rare breed of man collectively referred to as mountain men.Click To TweetTo best understand the story of Hugh Glass, you first need to gain an understanding of the world in which he lived. He was one of a rare breed of man collectively referred to as mountain men.
In 1803, American President Thomas Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase from France, and in a single transaction, he doubled the size of the United States. While the western portion of today’s U.S. was still in Spanish Hands, the Louisiana Purchase gave the U.S. the entire Saint Lawrence river and the territory between St. Louis, Missouri and Great Falls Montana along the length of the Missouri River.
It was one of the best bargains in American History and added more than 2 million square kilometres to American territory. Along with this purchase though, also came a lot of questions. Much of this new territory was unknown and so in 1804, Jefferson tasked the Lewis and Clark expedition with a very specific list of goals. According to Jefferson’s letter to Meriwether Lewis:
“The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by it’s course and communication with the waters of the Pacific ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregan, Colorado or any other river may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce.
Beginning at the mouth of the Missouri, you will take [careful] observations of latitude & longitude, at all remarkeable points on the river, & especially at the mouths of rivers, at rapids, at islands, & other places & objects distinguished by such natural marks & characters of a durable kind, as that they may with certainty be recognised hereafter….”
The letter continues:
“The interesting points of the portage between the heads of the Missouri, & of the water offering the best communication with the Pacific ocean, should also be fixed by observation, & the course of that water to the ocean, in the same manner as that of the Missouri.
Your observations are to be taken with great pains & accuracy, to be entered distinctly & intelligibly for others as well as yourself…. Several copies of these as well as of your other notes should be made at leisure times, & put into the care of the most trust-worthy of your attendants, to guard, by multiplying them, against the accidental losses to which they will be exposed….”
The expedition of Lewis and Clark illuminated a vast wilderness and opened the door for future exploration.
Contrary to popular belief, they were NOT the first people to cross the Rocky Mountains by land. That honour belongs to Alexander Mackenzie who accomplished the task for the North West Company in 1793. In fact, he arrived at Bella Bella on the west coast only a few weeks after Captain George Vancouver had passed the same point during his naval exploration of the region.
If you read the fine print, Lewis and Clark were the first to cross the Rockies by land south of the Missouri River. Regardless, their expedition opened the door for endless explorers, adventurers, fur traders, trappers, and settlers.
It also marked the beginning of the end for the traditional lives of the many indigenous peoples they would encounter as they ushered in a flood of European settlers into their world.
As James P. Ronda wrote in Smithsonian Magazine in 2003:
“You could even say that Lewis and Clark began the American invasion of the West, which aimed at making it safe for cows, corn and capital at the expense of bison, prairie grasses and cultures not fitting the expansionist agenda. If we want to be hard edged, we could even make a case that the Lewis and Clark story is a mainstay of the same shelf-worn narrative that glorifies and justifies the American conquest and dispossession of the North America natives.”
Their expedition crossed amazing country full of furs-bearing animals, in particular, the beaver. It didn’t take long for adventurous mountain men to begin to advance into this wilderness.
There was no typical mountain man. They encompassed every cultural, religious, and educational spectrum. The one thing they all had in common was a thirst for adventure and a quest for getting rich through trapping.Click To TweetThere was no typical mountain man. They encompassed every cultural, religious, and educational spectrum. The one thing they all had in common was a thirst for adventure and a quest for getting rich through trapping.
in Europe, the beaver hat was all the rage and there was a ready market for beaver and other pelts collected from these vast and largely untrapped landscapes.
Once the pelts made their way to Europe, hatters would use chemicals like mercuric nitrate to weave the fine underfur into felt used to make the tall hats worn by gentlemen. Of course today, we know that mercury is not a great thing to work with. Over the years, these hatters developed twitches and mannerisms as a result of mercury poisoning, and that is where the expression “mad as a hatter” comes from. So the Alice in Wonderland character is actually based on fact and can be attributed back to the exploration for furs in Canada and the western United States.
Once mountain men left civilization behind, they had to be tough enough, and smart enough to simply survive. They needed to be their own doctor, hunter, and pharmacist.
They needed to be able to find and trap furs successfully, and they needed to be constantly vigilant for the many signs of danger that were all around them.
They had to wary of grizzly bears, unfriendly locals, and rival parties. The climate was unforgiving. Many mountain men simply perished in storms.
Rivers were a common place to encounter grizzlies, but the rivers were also one of the main transportation corridors followed by these same mountain men.
The mountains attracted many men, all looking to live life on their own terms. Some were independent trappers, but most worked as part of larger organizations like the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. This is one bit of artistic license in the film as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company wasn’t established until 1830 – some 7 years after the events in the movie.
It’s more likely they would have been a part of the Henry & Ashley Company which would eventually evolve into the Rocky Mountain Fur Company.
If you’d like a great introduction to the history of the mountain men, check out this History Channel documentary:
This is the world where we find the story of Hugh Glass. The very first historical mention of Hugh Glass was in an 1825 publication called The Port Folio. This publication attempted to bring to life the adventures of the fur traders of the American west.
The ordinary food of a trapper is corn and buffaloe-tallow, and although his rifle frequently procures more dainty viands, he is often, on the other hand, forced to devour his peltry, and gnaw his mocasinsClick To TweetThe article described the life of:
“the trapper whose erratic steps lead him continually into new toils and dangers. Being compelled to procure his subsistence by very precarious means from day to day, in those immense regions of wilderness into which he fearlessly penetrates, he is sometimes· known to live for a considerable period upon food over which the hungry wolf would pause for a polite interval before carving. The ordinary food of a trapper is corn and buffaloe-tallow, and although his rifle frequently procures more dainty viands, he is often, on the other hand, forced to devour his peltry, and gnaw his mocasins (sic).”
Little is known of the early years of Hugh Glass, and of the events that led him on the path towards the fateful events of the movie. He is believed to have been born near Philadelphia around the year 1783, but the actual details have been lost to history.
As to the events in his youth that moved him towards this eventual meeting with a grizzly bear, there are only a few sources and little hard evidence of the truth behind the stories.
The principal account covering this period is based on the memoirs of George C. Yount who supposedly knew Glass personally and joined the fur trade in 1825. It was years later that Yount shared his stories with Reverent Orange Clark, a catholic missionary and they then languished until Clark’s scattered notes were finally published in 1923 by historian Charles Lewis Camp.
If true, it appears that the early years of Hugh Glass’s life were as adventurous as his life with the fur trade. According to Camp’s article, Glass began his career as a sailor, and between 1817 and 1820, he found himself, along with his crew, captured by the notorious French pirate Jean Lafitte.
As the story goes, the crew of the American ship were given the option to serve the pirates or die. Glass chose the rogues life and joined Lafitte’s crew.
According to Yount’s journal:
“When the crew, of which Glass made a part learnt their conquerer’s terms, he & one other instantly decided to become Pirates; & were hailed as good fellows, when they had taken the oath of allegiance, which was an awfu1 one, & too horid to be written here – All went on well for a season, but the crue1 murders to be perpetrated daily, – as they shuddered from their inmost souls & shrunk from those deeds or blood, it was impossible for them to conceil from their despotic lord the emotions of their hearts.
Glass and his colleague were apparently not the most enthusiastic pirates and one evening overheard the crew planning to execute them on the following day.
According again to Yount:
“They therefore concluded to consult their own safety; & in the darkness of night, swam from the ship to the land & fled for life – This event proved the epoch of Glass’s life; & from his own lips.
Ahh, if things were only so simple. Apparently, after swimming several miles to the coastline, they travelled inland to escape the coast, travelling some 1,600 km northward until they were captured by members of the Wolf Pawnee Nation.
They had travelled so far, avoided an endless number of other indigenous warriors, but somewhere in the central plains, their luck ran out.
Unfortunately, the Pawnee were determined to torture and kill the two escapees, but lucky for Glass, he was selected to go second – being forced to watch his friend be slowly tortured and murdered.
His friend’s body was slowly pierced by hundreds of burning slivers of pine before he was finally burned at the stake – all in front of Glass who was forced to witness the ordeal.
After several days, it was Glass’s turn. According to Camp’s article:
“… two approached him to strip him of his apparel, the ruling Chief stood by to pierce his skin with the first splinter, which was deemed to royal privilege – Glass thrust his hand into his own bosom & drew from thence a large package of vermillion; an article which the savages value above all price. He gave the packet to the proud & haughty Brave, with an air of respect & affection & bowed his final farewell.”
This air of bravery earned Glass the respect of the chief, and as a result, not only was his life spared, but the chief adopted him as his son.
As such, he lived with the Pawnee for several years, taking one of the Pawnee women as his wife. He learned their language, customs, and how to live off of the land. He joined them in war with their enemies and this experience taught him skills he would use to survive when he later joined the ranks of the mountain men.
According to Edmund Flagg, in 1822, Glass joined an expedition of the Fur Company of Henry & Ashley leaving St. Louis and charged with following the Missouri River upstream to trade on both sides of the Rocky Mountains.
This was a huge party, totalling some 160 men. They departed in March of 1822 in two large keelboats filled with all of the provisions and trade goods necessary to undertake the planned expedition.
At some point in the expedition, a smaller party under the guidance of a Major Andrew Henry, ascended present-day Grand River as it branched westward off of the Missouri.
This group was quite small, travelling through the territory of the Arikara, or Rees as the traders referred to them. These indigenous peoples were known to attack fur trading brigades and so the group tried to move very stealthily. Henry ordered everybody to remain together at all times.
Grizzly bears were a constant danger to mountain men in the American west. In a 1930 article by Lieutenant Phillip St. George Cooke in the Southern Literary Messenger, Cooke stated:
“The white, or more properly, the grey or grizzly bear is, next to the Indian, the greatest enemy the hunter meets with in this region; it is the lion of our forests; the strongest and most formidable of all its animals. It is about 400 pounds in weight; its claws more than three inches long; the buffalo bull, perhaps stronger and more active than the domestic, is a certain victim to its strength. If a grizzly bear is reported to be in the vicinity of an Indian camp or village, fifty or an hundred warriors turn out (as in the East for a lion or tiger) to hunt to its death so dangerous and dreaded a neighbor.
The grizzly bear never avoids, very often attacks a man; while on the other hand, the hunter, but under the most favorable circumstances, carefully avoids him.”
Depending on which historic source you read, Glass and a companion, regardless of Henry’s orders, set off on their own in search of food.
The Port Folio story credited Glass’s rifle as “being esteemed as among the most unerring”. It was said that he and his companion went out to hunt game for the party.
According to Flagg’s version, it was wild berries they were looking for. This would seem to make more sense as the party was trying to move as quietly as possible and would want to avoid the sound of gunfire which might alert the Aricara to their presence.
According to the Port Folio story:
“He was a short distance in advance of the party, and forcing his way through a thicket, when a white bear that had imbedded herself in the sand, arose within three yards of him, and before he could ‘set his triggers,’ or turn to retreat, he was seized by the throat, and raised from the ground. Casting him again upon the earth, his grim adversary tore out a mouthful of the cannibal food which had excited her appetite, and retired to submit the sample to her yearling cubs, which were near at hand. The sufferer now made an effort to escape, but the bear immediately returned with a reinforcement, and seized him again at the shoulder; she also lacerated his left arm very much, and inflicted a severe wound on the back of his head. In this second attack, the cubs were prevented from participating by one of the party who had rushed forward to the relief of his comrade. One of the cubs, however, forced the newcomer to retreat into the river, where, standing to the middle in water, he gave his foe a mortal shot, or to use his own language ‘I burst the varment.’ Meantime, the main body of trappers having arrived, advanced to the relief of Glass, and delivered seven or eight shots with such unerring aim as to terminate hostilities, by despatchmg the bear as she stood over her victim.”
If you watch The Revenant, this scene is portrayed with similar ferocity. By the end of the battle, Glass was left torn, mangled, and broken. According to Flagg’s account:
“He had not less than fifteen wounds, any one of which under ordinary circumstances would have been mortal. He was conveyed carefully in the arms of his companions across the Chian, and his wounds were bound up, though it was as thought by all he could not possibly survive. A litter was constructed from the boughs of trees, and during that day and the succeeding one, he was borne onwards, as a corpse upon a bier. On the third day the party arrived at a fine grove some distance from the route of the wandering tribes, in the middle of which was a large spring supplying a creek.”
At first, it seemed like there was no way Glass could survive this attack. Yet on the third day, while he stubbornly continued to breathe, the group held a meeting. It was too dangerous for the party to remain indefinitely and so after a collection of $300 was taken, two of the party, John S. Fitzgerald and a young Jim Bridger would stay to wait for the wretched man to die, bury him, and then rejoin the party.
The longer Glass kept breathing, the greater the risk of them being discovered by the Aricara. According to Flagg:
“…what a situation! A man languishing from wounds thousands of miles from all surgical succor – surrounded by roving savages – almost destitute of the necessaries of subsistence – and in the care of two lawless men, whose interest it was that their patient should, as soon as possible, cease to live, and who, even with the most kindly intentions, were unskilled to afford the aid and attendance so imperiously demanded!”
According to the Port Folio story:
“They remained with their patient five days, and supposing his recovery no longer possible, they cruelly abandoned him, taking with them his rifle, shot-pouch, &c. and leaving him no means of either making fire or procuring food These unprincipled wretches proceeded on the trail of their employer; and when they overtook him, reported that Glass had died of his wounds, and that they had interred him in the best manner possible.”
The only problem with their story was that, by some strange miracle, Glass held onto life. When he regained his senses slightly and began to fathom his dire circumstances, he managed to find unimaginable strength.
Somehow, he managed to crawl a few metres to a small stream for water. He began to pick a few cherries and buffaloberries to gain some strength. He spent 10-days in this one spot, before starting an arduous journey towards Fort Kiowa some 560 km distant.
Travelling 560 km alone in this landscape would be incredibly dangerous and difficult even for a healthy man. Glass, on the other hand, could not even stand up. He simply began to drag himself, metre by metre, day by day, closer and closer to the distant fort.
He had neither a rifle or a knife. All he could do was eat berries when he could find them and keep crawling, day after day after day.
One afternoon, he saw a pack of wolves killing a bison calf, and when he was sure the calf was dead, he managed to spook the wolves from their feast and claim the carcass.
Unfortunately, lacking basic tools such as a knife to butcher it, or a flint to cook the meat, he simply dug in, feeding on it in whatever manner he was able to without the most basic implement. Regardless, it was meat, and it was nourishment.
With no witness to his journey, all of the historic references vary in the telling of his story. Eventually, he managed to crawl, stumble, and limp all the way to Fort Kiowa, arriving in early October.Click To TweetWith no witness to his journey, all of the historic references vary in the telling of his story. Eventually, he managed to crawl, stumble, and limp all the way to Fort Kiowa, arriving in early October.
Here he was finally bandaged and had an opportunity to build his strength and heal. After a few weeks, he and 7 other trappers headed out towards the Yellowstone River where his previous comrades had travelled.
He would be travelling late in the season, as autumn gave way to winter, but Glass was fueled with thoughts of revenge against Fitzgerald and Bridger for abandoning him. He wanted his revenge, but also the return of his rifle.
They ascended the Missouri River towards a series of Mandan villages. The Mandan were friendly with the traders but while Glass was separated from the rest of the party hunting, he was discovered by a group of Aricara.
They took chase and Glass would have surely perished had two Mandans not also discovered him, rode their horses right into the melee, and grabbed Glass before his pursuers could finish him off. When he arrived at the Mandan villages, he learned that the other 7-men in his party had all been killed by the Aricara. He alone survived.
From the villages, he continued upstream to the point where the Missouri River crosses the Montana border, arriving at Fort Henry on New Year’s Day 1824.
Instead of revenge, Glass learned that Fitzgerald had been sent to Fort Atkinson, Nebraska. Not to be deterred, Glass volunteered to be a mail courier to take letters to the fort. He departed on Feb 29th, 1824 with four men.
This journey wasn’t without mishap. They were once again set upon by Aricaras and two of the men were slain. After 15-days, he arrived at Fort Kiowa before continuing further down the Missouri River to Fort Atkinson and his nemesis.
When he arrived at Fort Atkinson, he learned Fitzgerald had enlisted in the army and was thus untouchable by his quest for vengeance. Any attempt to harm Fitzgerald would result in Glass being hanged. He was thus forced to let Fitzgerald live, although he did receive his rifle back, and according to one source, $300 to appease his quest for revenge.
Later, when he encountered young Jim Bridger, he realized that he was just a 19-year old kid and decided to forgive him. Bridger would later become one of the most well-known and respected of all the mountain men.
At this point, Glass moved on with his life. By this time, the fur trade was beginning to wane in the west. The beaver had been largely trapped out, and fashion trends in Europe were abandoning beaver for silk felts.
He continued his work as a trader though, travelling through many areas of the Yellowstone region. In 1828, he was present at the Bear Lake Rendezvous. These annual events allowed the mountain men to sell their furs, socialize, and drink.
By March of 1830, Glass was working near Fort Union (the former site of Fort Henry), as a hunter. He apparently was able to shoot so many bighorn on the hills opposite the fort that the area became known as the Glass Bluffs.
In 1832, Glass relocated to Fort Cass at the junction of the Bighorn and Yellowstone Rivers. He was hired as a hunter to supply meat to the fort. The following spring, Glass, along with two companions, was sent to trap beaver a short distance from the fort. As they crossed the frozen river, they were attacked by a large war party of Aricara who had been hiding in the bushes.
After so many harrowing escapes, this was the final adventure of Hugh Glass. The three men were shot, robbed, and scalped. The west had lost one of its great explorers. Glass had spent a little more than a decade in the west, but he had gained a great reputation as a fearless individual that could work well under pressure.
At this point, if you remember the movie, you’ve probably already noticed a number of discrepancies from the story as related by the historic sources.
First, the story didn’t occur in the mountains in winter. In fact, his grizzly attack took place on the border between North and South Dakota, hardly a mountain landscape – and in the summer.
The real discrepancies in the film relate to the reasons for Glass’s quest for violence and the resolution.
While Glass may have had a native wife, there is no evidence that he had a son. In the movie, it was the murder of his son by Fitzgerald that fuelled his quest for vengeance. Fitzgerald also didn’t murder the expedition leader Andrew Henry as he did in the film. In fact, Henry retired from the fur trade in 1824.
Fitzgerald vanished from the story after he was discharged from the army in 1829. Glass had long since given up his quest for revenge, forgiven the young Jim Bridger, and continued his various exploits along the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers.
While the story didn’t take place as and where it was filmed, the mountain landscape lends an imposing character to the story. Like most Hollywood films, often it’s the story that counts the most.
Director Alejandro González Iñárritu had great plans for this movie when he decided to bring it to the screen. Actors like Leonardo Di Caprio would be pushed to their limits in order to make every moment of the film seem real.
When it comes to the bear attack, well there wasn’t even an actual bear. It was entirely computer-generated. According to a story in Business Insider, production designer Jack Fisk had rubber trees placed around the site where the attack would be filmed. This would keep Di Caprio from being injured when he was tossed against them during the attack. A series of cables attached to the actor allowed production crew to yank him back and forth. The bear was added in post-production.
In another scene, Di Caprio jumps off of a cliff on his horse to escape a band of Aricara. The actual jump scene was CGI and the horse that Di Caprio slices open to crawl inside to stay warm was another creation of the production department.
In the end, the movie won three Academy awards including best actor for Di Caprio, best Director for González Iñárritu and Best Cinematography.
The filming took place in 12 different locations in three countries, Canada, the U.S., and Argentina. Most of the wild landscapes were filmed at Fortress Mountain in Kananaskis and the Spray River Valley. The fort built for the movie was also in the Spray Valley not far from Canmore, Alberta. Other scenes were filmed in Calgary, Drumheller, Squamish, and Burnaby, British Columbia.
The final scenes were filmed in Argentina simply because the winter weather in Kananaskis Country had warmed up and they needed more snow.
The Revenant has become a classic film that once again showcased the magical landscapes of the Canadian Rockies. With each new film produced here, there is more and more motivation for additional crews to make their way to the local mountains.
The next time you’re watching a movie that takes place in a mountain landscape, take a moment to study the backdrop, you may recognize some local features.
Over the years, I’ve tried to compile a list of movies filmed in the Canadian Rockies but I still get surprised from time to time. I remember watching my favourite Dustin Hoffmann film, Little Bit Man, when all of a sudden I noticed the distinctive face of Mount Yamnuska in the background. I hadn’t realized that it has been partially filmed on the Stoney Reserve and in Calgary.
Other classic panoramas in films include Anthony Hopkins movie Legends of the Fall, which was also filmed on the Stoney Reserve along with locations in Calgary and Vancouver.
There have been so many movies filmed in and around the Rockies that I could never list them here. The important thing is to watch movies for more than a great storyline – look at the background and you may see a few familiar panoramas.