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Post by seetsseeba on Aug 16, 2009 10:16:03 GMT -5
As my husband and I are new to re-enactment. What would be commonly had by a trapper and an Indian wife? We are going to our first event soon. I'm hoping we can make things as comfortable as possible and stay very authentic at the same time. I would like to have a pillow if possible. I would also love to have a mirror and brush and a few other luxuries. We have decided to leave most things like our water cooler and ice chest in the parking lot and do not want to have anything in our camp that even vaguely looks out of place. I'm also wanting something to sit on, and be at least some comfortable. How do we manage this?
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Aug 16, 2009 13:03:42 GMT -5
a very good question. i hope that this will bring up a good discussion, as i'm sure there will be many different opinions on this. as far as a pillow goes, i know of no documentation of a pillow being used, other than a saddle or a rolled up blanket or coat. but i wouldn't let that discourage you from having a pillow. just make it look like something that would belong in a trappers camp. some thoughts i have for a pillow. take a small pillow and some brain tan and sew that over the pillow. or maybe a deer hide with the hair left on and do the same or maybe some other fur such as a beaver or a coyote. if you don't have the hides or pelts to spare for a pillow case, use a natural colored canvas. many trappers would bundle supplies up in a canvas like material or a oil cloth. though the oil cloth my be a little sticky to rest your head on. maybe take a scrap of wool blanket and make a pillow case. the ideas are endless on this. you could buy a square shaped pillow and sew a canvas pillow case over it and claim it is a bundle of beaver pelts. with yall portraying a white trapper with a idian woman you can get away with a few more things. for a chair you could use a willow back rest. i would think they would be easy enough to transport on a horse. cover it with a elk or deer hide with the hair left on or a buffalo robe and your set. it is known that most trappers would spoil there indian wife, and all women like to look at thereselves and make sure they look good, rather it be a eastern colony woman or a western indian woman. so i don't think it would be too far fetch for you to have a mirror or a brush. remember your trapper husband had to barter for you from your father which means he would have given his best pelts horse and rifle for you if'n your purdy enough . he also had to catch your eye as well so he would had spoiled you with all kinds of geehaws and fooforahs to catch your eye. so fancy trade cloth dresses and vermillion and other "trinketts" i think should be part of your "outfit"
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Post by seetsseeba on Aug 16, 2009 13:33:28 GMT -5
Thank you! Mr.Buckskin Billy. Since that post I have found a little about pillows on Peabody but the search really only revealed a few and the pictures are bad. They are made of cloth but I do not know what kind. I'm finding out they were stuffed with fur and that shouldn't be a problem to find around Joe's shop. The chair I have been working on one and hope to finish it soon, but i don't think I will make many of them. Something to cook with is going to be one important thing soon.
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Post by Cody ( The Patriot ) on Aug 16, 2009 13:35:18 GMT -5
A tipi bag would do for a pillow .Now Im old and decrepid and I use what is called a pack frame chair it does me real well but I dont know if such was used but plenty have them
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Aug 16, 2009 13:52:09 GMT -5
i would think that any fabric that was around during that time would be a safe bet. linen, would be good. many kinds of fabric was brought to the rendezvous by the traders. i'm sure beaudro would know more about that than i do, but linen and calico or any other kind of trade cloth. i forgot to mention that you could probadly find a mirror or brush at jas townsons. as for cooking a wooden tri-pod made from down tree limbs lashed together with a rope or a old trap. take a limb with a fork in it and tie to the end and use the forked end to hang your kettle. or a deer horn would work for hanging cooking wares from. and of course the "S" hook or meat hook here is a couple of pictures of mine and beaudro"s camp from last year at critter's. you can see how we made our tri pod to cook from and to hang our cloths on after the rain to dry
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Post by beaudro on Aug 16, 2009 16:46:21 GMT -5
Good topic were on, for pillows I searched on peabody also but couldn't really tell what I was looking at , several other places I looked showed very little on pillows. It's clear they were used however, even a few trappers talked about the want of a real pillow. I know cotton pillow ticking was used and traded, cotton is fine to use. Silk was common too. You could use trade wool I suppose. As an Indian wife you get more luxuries. Joe Meek spent 300 bucks on a horse for his native bride, and a bunch for her saddle and tack. Mirrors are big on the trade lists, it's one of the more common trade items, and hair brushes, combs, colonge, beads, silver jewelry, brass , copper and anything else you can think of. The part of portraying a trappers wife is showing off all the fineries of a mountain indian attire. I would look into how the lifestyle was, then it's easy to decide what you might have owned. This is rather long, but from Irving's Bonneville chapter 14,
Idleness and ease, it is said, lead to love, and love to matrimony, in civilized life, and the same process takes place in the wilderness. to experience the force of that great law of nature, "it is not meet for man to live alone.'' After a night of grave cogitation he (the trapper)repaired to Kowsoter, the Pierced-nose chief (nez perce), and unfolded to him the secret workings of his bosom. "I want," said he, "a wife. Give me one from among your tribe. Not a young, giddy-pated girl, that will think of nothing but flaunting and finery, but a sober, discreet, hard-working squaw; one that will share my lot without flinching, however hard it may be; that can take care of my lodge, and be a companion and a helpmate to me in the wilderness." Kowsoter promised to look round among the females of his tribe, and procure such a one as he desired. Two days were requisite for the search. At the expiration of these, Kowsoter, called at his lodge, and informed him that he would bring his bride to him in the course of the afternoon. He kept his word. At the appointed time he approached, leading the bride, a comely copper-colored dame attired in her Indian finery. Her father, mother, brothers by the half dozen and cousins by the score, all followed on to grace the ceremony and greet the new and important relative.
"The trapper, while a bachelor, has no greater pet than his horse; but the moment he takes a wife (a sort of brevet rank in matrimony occasionally bestowed upon some Indian fair one, like the heroes of ancient chivalry in the open field), he discovers that he has a still more fanciful and capricious animal on which to lavish his expenses.
"No sooner does an Indian belle experience this promotion, than all her notions at once rise and expand to the dignity of her situation, and the purse of her lover, and his credit into the bargain, are taxed to the utmost to fit her out in becoming style. The wife of a trapper to be equipped and arrayed like any ordinary and undistinguished squaw? Perish the grovelling thought! In the first place, she must have a horse for her own riding; but no jaded, sorry, earth-spirited hack, such as is sometimes assigned by an Indian husband for the transportation of his squaw and her pappooses: the wife of a free trader must have the most beautiful animal she can lay her eyes on. And then, as to his decoration: headstall, breast-bands, saddle and crupper are lavishly embroidered with beads, and hung with thimbles, hawks' bells, and bunches of ribbons. From each side of the saddle hangs an esquimoot, a sort of pocket, in which she bestows the residue of her trinkets and nick-nacks, which cannot be crowded on the decoration of her horse or herself. Over this she folds, with great care, a drapery of scarlet and bright-colored calicoes, and now considers the caparison of her steed complete "As to her own person, she is even still more extravagant. Her hair, esteemed beautiful in proportion to its length, is carefully plaited, and made to fall with seeming negligence over either breast. Her riding hat is stuck full of parti-colored feathers; her robe, fashioned somewhat after that of the whites, is of red, green, and sometimes gray cloth, but always of the finest texture that can be procured. Her leggings and moccasins are of the most beautiful and expensive workman-ship, and fitted neatly to the foot and ankle, which with the Indian woman are generally well formed and delicate. Then as to jewelry: in the way of finger-rings, ear-rings, necklaces, and other female glories, nothing within reach of the trapper's means is omitted that can tend to impress the beholder with an idea of the lady's high estate. To finish the whole, she selects from among her blankets of various dyes one of some glowing color, and throwing it over her shoulders with a native grace, vaults into the saddle of her gay, prancing steed, and is ready to follow her mountaineer 'to the last gasp with love and loyalty.' "
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Post by beaudro on Aug 16, 2009 17:52:16 GMT -5
Something to cook with? this gets fun. For a Minatare indian wife... theres no doubt you would have had known a brass trade kettle. The word "pot" shows up less than the word "kettle", so lets use that word. Your kettle came in many different sizes. From a "pint kettle" to a 5 gallon kettle or maybe bigger. Copper kettles were around also, The famous sheet iron kettle is very common, looks almost like a paint can. Some were tin lined, some not. The devil is in the details on how they were made during the time. Crazy Crow sells a few decent brass trade pots, and I think they sell the Hudson's Bay copper kettle. They are a decent replica for the money. www.crazycrow.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=820-300-000 Another place to buy, and a good one is Jim Kimpell highhorsetrading.com/Finally,, the best but expensive. Carl Giordano , www.cg-tinsmith.com/order.htm This should get a person started good, it's just a bad thing that correct cooking gear is so expensive.
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Post by longtrail on Sept 13, 2009 12:43:41 GMT -5
Yes, great thread going here !!!
It isnt hard to go from a non-primitive pork eater camp to a primitive pre 1840 camp. Bedding being the easiest, just pay attention to color, no white with rainbow strip ends, they came much later, stick with the reds, greens basic colors. Course if you lucky enought to have a nice thin buff robe, thats good too. Usually items that could be rolled up into a bed roll and would have been easy to transport on a horse.
Unless you heart is set on staying in a lodge, tipi, then a diamond shape canvas with privacy flap is perfect. easy to transport. I have dragged quite a few lodge poles from the parking lot to the camp site and usually ended up string one between trees and hanging the canvas over that, opening it up to a nice size in order not to have to drag the rest of the poles in.
Food containers are pretty easy to come up with. Forget the tupperwear, and go with brown paper or canvas bags, old metal tins with paint burned off. Bring dried foods that dont need preserved or buy a book on edible plants in the area where you will be. I have made some delicious meals from the food I found around the camp. Rosehip syrup on cattail pollen cakes for one.... tubers growing in the shallows of lakes and mushrooms, but be careful with those !!!!
Utensils were pretty basic, knife and sticks, mostly. Enamel was used I guess but the more primitive the better. There is a lovely little item you can find called a Mucket, a cross between a mug and a bucket with a bale on it for hanging above the fire. Great for cooking in or making coffee or tea in.
One time, while having the amazing privledge of camping On Henry's Fork of the Green River in Wy. on an origional Mountaim man camp site, we took a whole hind quarter of a deer, peppered it heavily, and hung it in a tree at our camp. I had made a willow frame for around it and hung cloth loosly over it, just to keep the critters away and we cut meals off the quarter, re peppering it heavily as we went and it kept for the week. In JUly.
NOt sure how, but it never did smell bad or taste bad. If you have a creek handy you can keep perishables in it or under canvas that you keep wet, good for lards or butter you dont want to melt in the summer sun. Anything you have to hide should not be in camp.
There are exceptions at most camps, usually if you have kids in diapers, as long as they arent showing, then they are acceptable. I have spent many a night changing diapers in the dark rather than finding my strike a light flint and steel to light the lantern.
Probably the most important item is your clothing. Be sure to do research. I have made many dresses, only to have to take them apart because I mixed tribal design or was using styles that were not pre-1840. LIke the ribbon shirts and wing dresses commonly seen at porkeater rendezvous.
I did an article once for a publications and said if you want ot see what was commonly worn during those times, look at the paintings and drawings of that era.
Small hand mirrors were available as trade at forts so if you have a compact you can jsut break the plastic off and use the mirror. Or a shiny piece of metal. A bone comb is pretty easy to make as well as one from horn. Soft dust works well as powder, nothing like the smell of summer dust and fir needles to make a gal feel good !!!! It isn't hard to have a primitive camp. Simplicity is the key. lt
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Post by longtrail on Sept 13, 2009 13:10:47 GMT -5
One interesting camp competition in the AMM group I camped with in the NW brigade, was a prize given to the camp who showed the least footprint when camp was broke. In other words, when you broke camp, and stood back and looked at where you camp was, the idea was to not see any sign there was a camp there at all. Pretty amazing to spend a few days with a fairly large group of people and when camp is broke, and you walk through the area, you can hardly tell anyting went on there. Unlike the disgusting Pole Bridge rendezvous in western montana I attended ONCE, beer cans down gopher holes, crap all through the woods, toilet paper all over the place, garbage just thrown about. a true pork eater rendezvous. No wonder rendezvous arent held there anymore. A NMLRA shoot. Obviously da dog soldiers were not employed there. I was at a AMM doing once, infact it was on Henry's Fork again, and some guy came walking into camp with a bright orange blow up mattress for his wife to sleep on. He was told he would not be bringing it into camp, a ruckus a rose and he left back for Ohio with wife and orange blow up mattress in tow. So keep in mind the rules of the doings your going to. Respect the rules. Its that simple. there are plenty of people who have worked hard for many years getting thier camps and accoutrements straight, practice elsewhere, when you got it, then go to a pre1840 camp. Snob? No, just been there, done that. We all have to learn and we all have to know our boundaries and when we are ready to move on ahead. If you dont want to take the time and the effort to make yourself primitive, then go to a not so strict rendezvous. Its like taking a ford to a chevy run. It aint gonna fly. And you shouldnt even try.
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Post by longtrail on Sept 13, 2009 16:53:52 GMT -5
As I re read the part about the deer hide quarter, I wanted to add that when we did cut a piece off, it was the whole muscle, in layers, not cut cross the meat so that it bled.
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Post by beaudro on Sept 14, 2009 7:01:14 GMT -5
One of the best ways I've hauled meat into camp is by wrapping it up in wool. If it's a large peice I cover it with canvas, then wool, then ice, then another layer of wool. keep this in the shade somewhere the best you can. I've taken pre-cooked meat, sausage keeps a good while, and of course dried meat (jerky) , dried corn, lyed corn, anything you can dry in a dehydrator can be used.
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Post by longtrail on Sept 14, 2009 9:05:48 GMT -5
Ever hear of parched corn? You take the corn from the ear and cook it in an open skillet until it is dry and "parched". it keeps well like this for a bit, and tastes good. You can also dry it on a cooke sheet in the oven on low heat and can do the same thing with cooked rice.
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Post by beaudro on Sept 14, 2009 18:17:44 GMT -5
i make parched corn , or dried corn , by just pulling the husk back off a few ears of corn, hang it up in a warm dry place, in about a week or more it's ready. Just twist it off the ear and save until ready to eat. At camp reconstitute by boiling in water. If you use a sweet corn it shrivels up, because of the sugars, if you use traditional flint corn it won't shrivel. Back in history it was more common to make Lyed Corn, or we call it hominy today. It was made by soaking in wood ash lye, making it expand and lose the hard shell around the kernel. Many times either corn was prepared with buffalo grease, eaten for breakfast as a mush. Not much different than grits. Many would prefer to dry corn when it is in the milk stage, and this was called sweet corn, but not recognized as a variety that we know today. It was only a flint corn, pulled when in the milk stage. It's softer, and digests better. You cannot subside on whole kernel corn alone, if you had to live on it. Only a small part of it will digest because of the hard shell. It's not a problem today because we eat only a little of it compared to 200 hundred years ago.
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Post by Cody ( The Patriot ) on Sept 14, 2009 22:04:32 GMT -5
I was reading about the hominy and remembered that my indian friends like that and they also make what the call blue corn mush like the mush you spoke of its like grits and aint as bad as it sounds .Blue corn makes some wicked looking hot water bread
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Post by beaudro on Sept 15, 2009 10:28:49 GMT -5
Cody , I put in a period garden and grew Mandan corn. You could buy heirloom seeds for squash, beans, corn , just about anything. I think I got seeds from Fort Union where they have a period Indian Garden and sell proceeds from it. That was a fun project, I learned a lot.
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