During the
fur trade of the early 1800s to the late 1840s in the Western United States, the word was spelled "niggur," and is often recorded in literature of the time.
George Fredrick Ruxton used it in his "
mountain man" lexicon, without pejorative
connotation. "Niggur" was evidently similar to the modern use of "
dude" or "guy." This passage from Ruxton's
Life in the Far West illustrates the word in spoken form—the speaker here referring to himself: "Travler, marm, this niggur's no travler; I ar' a trapper, marm, a mountain-man, wagh!" It was not used as a term exclusively for blacks among mountain men during this period, as Indians, Mexicans, and Frenchmen and Anglos alike could be a "niggur." "The noun slipped back and forth from derogatory to endearing."