Back in the day when free range mountain men traveled the vast open spaces and deep into the tall snow covered mountains things were not always glamourous. In fact it was a far cry from glamourous despite what the movies show.
It was often beyond cold or blisteringly hot. It was unbelievably difficult to get around and often just plain dangerous. One had to be constantly aware on a level we virtually never experience today. To stay alive took an enormous amount of effort and if you were out on the trail the way you kept safe was to stay awake and as alert as if your life depended on it, because it did.
There was a certain amount of safety in being a part of a group as there were more eyes to keep watch and you could post a guard at night so you could get some rest. Maybe. Because as you know if you’ve ever spent a night in the wilderness with nothing more than a campfire to keep the terrors at bay, there are things that go bump in the night and do not have your best interests at heart.
You could be weary and tired beyond reckoning but you still had your job to do and you did it because you had no other choice. This was your life and even at the end of a long day you wouldn’t trade it for any other.
Any adventure worth its salt starts with a single defining moment. In this case it is the first bend in the river at the beginning of an unknown journey, an untested trip down the Arkansas river. The sun is shining, the river is calm, its surface showing the first indications of white water, not huge rapids but still a change from it placid meandering into a focused point of energy. A rapid movement of water where it will soon sluice between large rocks and over hidden snags, drop several feet in elevation with startling rapidity into shallows that can tear the bottom out of the boat, all unknowns that can alter the course of this journey in an instance. But all those possibilities lie ahead, after all the unknown, that which makes it into an adventure, are still to come, around the first bend in the river.
Gabe Hanratty and Bruce Day Launching the Bull boat on the Arkansas river
Got to get it in the water if you want to go downstream. This is a big task for just two guys even if they are mountain men. But these are tough mountain men and they get it done with the minimum of salty language.
You can get a good look at the sturdy construction and workmanship of this vessel as it is being rolled over. It’s pretty remarkable especially considering that it was created using the most simple of hand tools, the hatchet and and awl and needle. The frame is made from varying sizes of tree limbs which have been bent and fashioned together with lacing of hide and sinew. Then covered with the hides of buffalo stretched over the frame and the seams where they join sealed with pitch from pine trees. Certainly a remarkable example of early boat building created out of the necessity needed to travel the waterways of the west.
Bruce Day – Gabe Hanratty in Bull Boat on the Arkansas river
Bull Boats, they’re all the rage on the Western rivers in the 1830’s- 40’s. Here’s one now loaded to the gunnels with everything necessary for a journey. Including but not limited to beaver traps, miscellaneous beaver trapping paraphernalia other than traps, supplies, sundries, ointments, unguents, bandages, fulminate of mercury tablets, food stuffs, a book on how to trap beaver and make money, another book of maps of unknown beaver rich tributaries, 12th ed., fire starting gear, tobacco, pipes to smoke tobacco with, extra things to repair the boat in case it gets ruin’t, pen and water proof ink to write help messages with, many small letter size pieces of parchment to write on, compass, hatchet, extra gunpowder in Arkansas river-proof containers, 200 hundred individually flaked flints for their rifles, two rifles, musket balls, lead to make musket balls, small cast iron pot to melt lead, little patches of cloth to separate ball from gunpowder in rifle, another hatchet in case head comes off first one, English to Comanche dictionary, complete foldable chart of American English to Indian sign language with full illustrations, pistols, very sharp knives, extra feathers for hats, sinew to sew feathers back on if loosened by turbulence, extra leather soles to put in moccasins in case of walking in rocky river, small needles to remove splinters from eye if not ducking in time, beeswax to maintain buffalo tails at either end of boat, good intentions, two excellent mountain men bull boat drivers and other things too numerous to mention. All in all a perfect set up to be a successful river runner.
Journey’s beginning – Launching onto the Arkansas river
The Arkansas river is one of the major tributaries to the Mississippi river and as such has been a favorite river to travel on for fun or profit for years. More fun now than it was in the past when people used it to move goods by using small boats to carry freight from here to there so they wouldn’t have to lug it on their backs, or deal with cranky mules and other beasts of burden. A boatload of stuff gained in value when it didn’t take as much effort to get it from one place to another. It wasn’t unusual to see small wooden boats called pireaux, a form of flat bottomed canoe, floating down the river sunk nearly to the gunnels, filled with hides and other items of value. Captained by hearty but not necessary fearless captains, they traveled over placid stretches of the river, or if unlucky, through class 5 rapids when they didn’t make the cautious decision to portage around them. Traveling through class 5 rapids usually meant disaster in one form or another and was considered a mistake by those that tried it.
Another form of watercraft used on the river was a small usually two man boat called a bull boat. This was a more definite canoe shaped boat made out of buffalo hides stretched over a crude wooden frame constructed of tree parts of some type. A small log about 3-4 inches in diameter ran the length of the boat and served as its keel. Thinner branches were bent into ribs and placed perpendicular to the keel and held in place by a gunnel, which gave shape to the boat and allowed buffalo hides to be stretched over them to complete the craft. The seams between the hides were then sealed with pitch obtained from pine trees. This allowed a certain fragility to be introduced into the making of these boats as the seams were the weak link in its manufacture. However when luck prevailed these were sturdy and serviceable craft.
They were much more maneuverable than the other form of bull boats in use, which were round bowl shaped craft that were obviously designed by a committee. They were completely impossible to steer or direct in any manner whatsoever, due to not having a front or back, and being round were completely at the mercy of the wind and currents. They were used in an attempt to somehow cross a body of water while carrying people and their belongings. Normally the boatspeople in this type of bull boat wound up on the other side of the water they were attempting to cross merely by good fortune and helpful currents their constant and frantic paddling not withstanding. Their main contribution to river use was to keep the passengers less wet than if they had to wade or swim across the body of water obstructing their travel.
In the spirit ot times past the folks in the picture above are starting out with high hopes and gentle souls in the belief that they will have a delightful but uneventful trip down the Arkansas river. Given how life works we know the odds on this happening are roughly one in several hundred thousand. You have a better chance of finding a solid gold nugget the size of your ex-mother-in-laws head. One can say with certainty however, that they did have a trip. It was eventful, and their gentle souls were tested by the vagaries of river travel of which more will be written later. At this point in time the launch was successful and it looked as if it will be clear sailing ahead. May the winds be at their backs.
It’d been a rough couple three days at the rendezvous. The whiskey ran out just when things were going strong and the boys faced a dry spell until the next wagon got there with a fresh supply. The trader, who went into hiding shortly after he found out the whiskey was gone in fear of his hair being lifted by his customers or worse, frantically sent his assistant out to see where the incoming wagon was. The Mountain men only had one chance to drink this season and their supply was gone. The boys were getting perturbed. Things could get real dicey if they didn’t replenish the supply before somebody brought out the Hawkins.
Turned out the wagon was near but unfortunately it was upside down in Little Cowfoot creek due to the inattentiveness of the driver and the whiskey barrels were halfway down to the Green river bobbing along without a care in the world. A rescue team was sent out immediately with strict instructions to save the inventory and bring it back to camp forthwith without breaching a single one of the barrels. However Mountain men being Mountain men those instructions only lasted until they got the first barrel located and then those instructions were immediately modified due to the prevailing theory that water may have infiltrated the kegs and ruined the whiskey by diluting it. There was nothing for it but to crack the keg and check it.
A second team including the trader himself was dispatched and they found the first team in need of rescue due to incapacitation. Some were laying half in and out of the creek, some just sitting there mumbling in tongues and some just lost. Finally amid much gnashing of teeth, and threats of great harm to those rescuers if they had busted into the barrels by those left in camp, the whiskey reached the trader’s tent amid great cries of huzzah, and jubilation rang in the air. Everyone rushed to the make shift bar set up in the trader’s tent and with only a small amount of disorderly shoving and knuckle busting and an infrequent bite to the ear or back of the neck if a line jumper dared to try and improve his chances of getting his drink first, their thirst was finally satisfied.
When there were trappers and mountain men staying in the fort for awhile it was time for them to replace worn out gear, maybe buy a new pistol or rifle if they got a good price for their pelts. And to decide to pick up anything they thought would make life easier when they were out on the trail.
This old boy decided he needed a new pistol to balance out the one he wore on the other side of his sash. Now today this would be a rather simple matter. He’d go into a gun shop and choose the appropriate gun then meet the following easy requirements.
The buyer must be a current citizen of the United States or a permanent resident (green card holder).
The buyer must not be under indictment for a crime punishable by a year in prison, or to have been previously convicted of a crime with a similar punishment.
The buyer must not have a current restraining filed by an intimate partner or child, and the buyer must not have been convicted of domestic violence. This means that ex-wife. The mean one.
The buyer must not be a fugitive, or a user of controlled substances.
The buyer must not be committed currently to a mental institution. Or have done really crazy stuff like Andy Stillson shooting off Lars the Earless’s ear.* This last requirement would have caused a certain amount of apprehension for the buyer as it was thought that you had to be a little crazy to be a mountain man in the first place.
Then complete the following.
You’ll need to furnish a photo ID and fill out Form 4473. This is used to confirm your status as a citizen who is qualified to own a firearm in the United States. Then a background check is made. While this is going on you wait. Sometimes the retailer provides comfortable seating while you wait, sometimes you wait in your car listening to country and western music, sometimes you just go home and they call you to inform you that you are indeed a splendid fellow and worthy to buy a gun. So you race back there to pick up your brand new weapon.
When the image above was taken things were much more difficult. To buy a weapon during this time the customer went to see the trader in his store there in the fort, tried to bargain him down from the outrageous price the customer thought the trader was charging, and the trader did his best to convince the customer of the incredible deal he was getting, and the third guy stood there at the ready to whack one or both of them on them on the forehead with his Hawkins 50 if the negotiations got out of hand.
Once the price was set the buyer would many times load the weapon, walk over to the door, and shoot one of the chickens roaming around in the plaza to see how good the gun worked. It usually worked just fine. Payment was concluded and that was that. He owned a new pistol. Difficult I know but you got to remember these were the old days. Things were harder then.
So it’s up to you. Do you want the easy way of doing things like we have today, or do you want the old difficult way they had back then. Course if you choose the old difficult way, you have to go back there. That means new leather clothes, moccasins, mules or horses, a quick course in how to trap animals, and how to get along with the neighbors out in their lodges. Let us know what you decide.
You must be logged in to post a comment.