Post by beaudro on May 24, 2011 17:36:32 GMT -5
There are many myths about the mountain man, perhaps its hollywoods fault. The word mountain man wasn't even a term used to describe trappers until the advent of hollywood.
No matter who a rocky mountain trapper was , he had to eat. And just the same as his eastern brother he was always looking for a food source. They all found it many times in the water they were traveling on. From leaving St.Louis on the Missouri River, to the salmon runs on the Columbian River, to the pacific coast these guys were fishing.
Nathan Wyeth set out to start the Columbian Fishing and Trading company at Fort Hall, his idea of bringing salmon over the rockies in barrels was not shunned by the trappers like in the movie "the mountain men" , he was actually envied instead.
Here's a typical inventory lists of goods for the year 1834.
5 1/2 dz small buckles
5 whet stones
500 fish hooks
3 doz fish hooks 1.50 4.50 24
400 Fish Hooks $0.50
" 3 Bundles Lines
Fish nets
cod lines $0.40.
The list goes on and on , and in personal effects as well. Each man listed under Jedediah Smith's party recieved fish hooks.
It's also an item used in trade with the indians.
In a short time the Indians came to us in great numbers, with bundles of dried salmon in their arms, and a few recent ones. We commenced our trading immediately, giving them in exchange, fish-hooks, beads, knives, paint, &c., -Townsend.
many trappers told tall tales of the huge fish they caught ,
He had been down the Missouri on several occasions in boats connected with the fur trade. On one of these voyages, while in the act of reaching over the boat-side for a drink of water, he dropped his cup, which immediately sank to the bottom of the river and was lost.
Three years afterwards he again passed the same place, with hooks and lines attached to the boat-stern for the purpose of catching fish as he glided along.
A large cat-fish, attracted by the tempting bait borne upon the hook, greedily swallowed it, and, in a trice, found himself translated to a new and strange element.
The creature was so heavy, it took two men to pull him into the boat, while his gigantic proportions astonished all beholders.
But the most surprising thing was revealed on opening him; — there, snugly stowed away in one corner of the monster's capacious maw, reposed the identical cup our voyageur had lost, three years before, with his name and the date marked upon it!
Many who fell upon hard times survived by fishing, many would use a trot line just like we know today.
The common hook had no eye , but were barbed as any modern hook is. At the end of the shank it's simply flattened out and a special leader of cord is tied with a special knot. They were made mostly in England at needle factories , soon they would be largely made in Philidelphia on a large scale. It didn't take long the fish and tackle industry was born.
Everyone should have these in their kit if they are playing mountain man or Native. You can buy reproductions pretty much anywhere accoutrements are sold, but most are real small hooks and primitive looking. They look like a backwoodsman made them on the run , that is fine for some personas , but the hooks out west were trade goods that came from a factory and look much like modern hooks, less the round eyelet.
I have made dozens of these , you can buy hook wire from www.historicanglingenterprises.com/ and also template benders. It takes some doing to make them, annealing , hardening and tempering , but it's a reward to actually make your own and catch fish with them.
No matter who a rocky mountain trapper was , he had to eat. And just the same as his eastern brother he was always looking for a food source. They all found it many times in the water they were traveling on. From leaving St.Louis on the Missouri River, to the salmon runs on the Columbian River, to the pacific coast these guys were fishing.
Nathan Wyeth set out to start the Columbian Fishing and Trading company at Fort Hall, his idea of bringing salmon over the rockies in barrels was not shunned by the trappers like in the movie "the mountain men" , he was actually envied instead.
Here's a typical inventory lists of goods for the year 1834.
5 1/2 dz small buckles
5 whet stones
500 fish hooks
3 doz fish hooks 1.50 4.50 24
400 Fish Hooks $0.50
" 3 Bundles Lines
Fish nets
cod lines $0.40.
The list goes on and on , and in personal effects as well. Each man listed under Jedediah Smith's party recieved fish hooks.
It's also an item used in trade with the indians.
In a short time the Indians came to us in great numbers, with bundles of dried salmon in their arms, and a few recent ones. We commenced our trading immediately, giving them in exchange, fish-hooks, beads, knives, paint, &c., -Townsend.
many trappers told tall tales of the huge fish they caught ,
He had been down the Missouri on several occasions in boats connected with the fur trade. On one of these voyages, while in the act of reaching over the boat-side for a drink of water, he dropped his cup, which immediately sank to the bottom of the river and was lost.
Three years afterwards he again passed the same place, with hooks and lines attached to the boat-stern for the purpose of catching fish as he glided along.
A large cat-fish, attracted by the tempting bait borne upon the hook, greedily swallowed it, and, in a trice, found himself translated to a new and strange element.
The creature was so heavy, it took two men to pull him into the boat, while his gigantic proportions astonished all beholders.
But the most surprising thing was revealed on opening him; — there, snugly stowed away in one corner of the monster's capacious maw, reposed the identical cup our voyageur had lost, three years before, with his name and the date marked upon it!
Many who fell upon hard times survived by fishing, many would use a trot line just like we know today.
The common hook had no eye , but were barbed as any modern hook is. At the end of the shank it's simply flattened out and a special leader of cord is tied with a special knot. They were made mostly in England at needle factories , soon they would be largely made in Philidelphia on a large scale. It didn't take long the fish and tackle industry was born.
Everyone should have these in their kit if they are playing mountain man or Native. You can buy reproductions pretty much anywhere accoutrements are sold, but most are real small hooks and primitive looking. They look like a backwoodsman made them on the run , that is fine for some personas , but the hooks out west were trade goods that came from a factory and look much like modern hooks, less the round eyelet.
I have made dozens of these , you can buy hook wire from www.historicanglingenterprises.com/ and also template benders. It takes some doing to make them, annealing , hardening and tempering , but it's a reward to actually make your own and catch fish with them.