Native Arizonan said:
Practically every person has some kind of endless stare, like they were enduring some kind of awful existence.... I always thought the Rocky Mountain fur trade years were good times, with some fighting from time to time, but basically the beaver was the creature that was really getting the raw end of the stick, while both the trappers and NDNs were doing pretty well. Lots of new toys and partying going on.
The classic "thousand yard stare" of the battle weary, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. These men had just been in a battle where most of their party were killed by the Arikara.
"Back then" may seem like "good times...new toys...partying" to us, but they were hard times to the men who lived them.
There were no toys, but weapons on which your life depended. Most of your time and efforts even while hunting and trapping, were spent making sure no one was getting close enough to kill you.
The occasional rendezvous allowed for partying and letting off steam, because there were enough armed men and friendly Indians there to forestall any attack by unfriendly Indians.
Ten year after this event, Hugh Glass was killed by Arikaras. Not too bright a future. The Indians fared a lot worse.