Frontier America Trading Company Ramblings

The American continent has a history of emigration and migration. It is believed that the first human inhabitants on this continent were emigrants from Asia. Their descendants migrated over the whole of North and South America. They adapted to the environment; building, in some cases, civilizations rivaling the sophistication of the civilizations existing in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

The most recent five hundred years saw a wave of emigration from Europe. Initially the incentive was conquest and exploitation. Spain was a powerhouse of European countries. They were able, through dominance of the seas, to control most of the territory in South America, Central America, and the southern parts of North America. They managed to squander their advantage through mismanagement, decadence, and internal politics. France, England, and the Dutch staked out claims to control North America. While the Spanish directed their efforts at conquest and exploitation of the riches of the indigenous peoples, the French, English, and Dutch finding no great stores of gold, silver, and jewels, concentrated their efforts in trade and in the land itself. The Indians living here having a different concept of land ownership were pushed ever westward by waves of new immigrants.

European settlement of North American began on the Atlantic coast along the bays and inlets, rivers and streams convenient to navigation. Early on, the whole of the population was engaged in subsistence farming supplemented by exploitation of the abundant fish, wildlife and timber resources. Southern estates were able to expand their exportable wealth in cotton, rice, and tobacco. As the population increased, migration towards the west was always the way to find space for the new inhabitants.

Early on, every manufactured item was imported. Enterprising individuals found that iron existed in the bogs of Massachusetts. Rivers and streams provided power for machinery. Abundant hardwoods were available for the manufacture of simple machinery and the production of charcoal. A man with a deposit of clay on his land, might begin to produce pottery. Craftsmen immigrants settled in the towns and villages to provide essential goods. Cottage industries grew up on the farms during slack times.

Every new generation produced new explorers to test the edges of their known world. They blazed to trails toward the West. The continued influx of new settlers eventually drove some from the Atlantic coast to move over the spine of the Allegheny mountains into the interior of the continent. And on the heels of Lewis and Clark, the government topographical surveys of the Louisiana Purchase territories, and the exploits of the mountain man fur trapper, a migration followed into Oregon and California. The discovery of gold in California brought a further impedance to the migration. The central plains were initially passed over, but soon families recognized even this part of the country as a place to set down roots.

Everyone has to eat. Food is better when cooked. Propagation, preservation and preparation of food is vital to our lives. What we eat depends on where we are, what is available, what time of year is it, what tools are available, what are our circumstances. What we have to eat and how it is prepared depend on who we are and whether we are moving, starting a new life, settled in, or in an urban setting.

On the move, individuals and small parties could live off the land; hunting and gathering seeds. roots and fruit. They were subject to possible feast and famine. Families and larger parties had to carry provisions to supplement the variable results of hunting game. Migrants, once they reached their destination had to have provisions to last until their first crop was harvested. On the road, food and its preparation were reduced to basics. Once settled on farm or in a town, facilities and utensils for cooking could be more sophisticated. What every you had to work with depended in large part in your economic status.

Enamelware first invented in 1799 by a Dr. Hinkling on saucepans. The process was extended to other kitchenware in 1839 by a Mr. Clarke.

The friction match "lucifer" was invented in 1827 by John Walker in England. The first American manufacturers Chapin & Phillips at Springfield, Massachusetts in 1834 with the patent granted October 24, 1836.

Marking of goods with country of origin began in 1890.

White sugar was stored in green buckets.
Brown sugar was stored in red buckets.
Soft maple sugar was stored in unpainted buckets.

Cords and cords of wood were burned in the homes of Americans. The ashes were always saved for the lye barrel. Lye is essential for the making of soap. The lye leached out of ashes with water. It was strong enough when an egg would float.

Lard is the rendered fat from hogs. Always saved for cooking.

Tallow is the rendered fat from cattle. It was always saved for making candles and soap. The candles of the common man were made from tallow.

Beeswax candles were reserved for the rich and the church.

Natural Rubber to waterproof cloth 1818 James Syme patent 1823 Charles MacIntosh Vulcanization patent 1844 Goodyear. Rubberized clothing, pants, jackets, and boots were carried and used by travelers on the Oregon Trail.

Russell "Green River Knives" were not the first choice of the buckskinner/trapper.
Mr. Russell didn't start producing knives until 1838. Most knives in the mountainman era were imported from Sheffield, England.

Before the Bessemer converter in 1856 and the open hearth furnace in 1866, steel production was a hit or miss proposition. Success relied on the skill of the shop master and the location of the facility. Regional special steels, such as Swedish Steel, are the result.

The Victorian era (the reign of Queen Victoria in England) 1837 to 1901.

The Industrial Revolution began in England in the 1700's with the textile industry. The invention and perfection of the steam engine allowed manufacturers freedom to locate away from water power sources.

The Industrial Revolution moved to American shores early in the 19th century. Invention and production really took off around and after the civil war.

European white emigrants to the Western hemisphere have put the screws to the native population since 1492 and it’s still happening. Culture and technology clash. Force of arms, lies, deceit, discrimination, and debilitating disease have devastated the indigenous peoples yet there is still a glimmer of hope, pride, and dignity among them. I always wonder when a tribe attempts to accomplish some task to better their life that is opposed by the majority community whether that opposition is genuine or a realization of an underlying prejudice.

I have done no formal research on this thought but, my guess is that more Hawken rifles were sold to emigrants on the Oregon trail then were ever used by mountain men, trappers, or buckskinners.

I love rendezvous. That said, I have a problem with the stated date period covered by most rendezvous events. While, yes, the actual mountain rendezvous occurred between 1825 and 1840, the participants in modern rendezvous seem to span the time frame from colonial up to the Civil war. There are two solutions to my perceived problem, either expand the date range or restrict the camp, equipment, and costume requirements

Clubs that do not want their annual rendezvous to wither for lack of new blood need to get the word out early to at least regional lists. Vacation time needs to be planned ahead, vendors need to set their routes. You all know at least a year in advance when and where your next rendezvous will be held. You need to spread the word beyond your own little circle. Email is so simple and every club has at least one member with access who could handle one little mass mailing.

We have noticed the last few years the dwindling participation at rendezvous. If your number of shooters has been declining, don't you think that you need to reach out and find new participants. Rendezvous and other living history events that fail to advertise to and welcome the general public are doing a disservice to the sport. It's darn cheap entertainment under the stars with good friends and a bit of competition.
We prefer canvas and wood smoke, but never ever relegate the modern camper to second class citizenship. They realize the aesthetics of maintaining a primitive main camp, but need not be shut out of the rendezvous experience. It's okay to maximize the visual separation. Please minimize the physical separation and those long walks.

There was more than one fur trade on the North American continent. There was the early French and English trade in all kinds of pelts. There was the since romanticized beaver trade in the American West. There was an equally important trade in sea otter pelts on the West coast.

The mountain man was not truly a loner. They all traveled into beaver country in groups. The later groups traveled up the Missouri on steamboats. In the Oregon territory of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the trapping parties were upwards of 100 men, women and children supporting a handful of Eastern Indian trappers. The rocky mountain trappers split into ever smaller parties until they split individually to trap out a drainage area. Whenever possible they took Indian wives to make life easier.

We ought to see more Blacks at rendezvous. The western beaver trade was not a whites only affair.

We ought to see more Blacks at cowboy action shooting events. The black cowboy was a prominent part of the West.

We ought to see more Blacks at all re-enactor events. Some free Blacks were prominent citizens in early American society. If they did’nt mind the stigma, they could even attend as slaves.

On the West coast, we ought to see Hawaiians and other Polynesians. They made up a large portion of the crews on ships in the fur trade.

Until the great cattle drives after the Civil war, beef was not the preeminent meat on the American table. Cows were more valuable as producers of milk, butter, and cheese. Bulls were more valuable as draft animals (Oxen) or for their hides. The herds of cattle in Mexican California were grown for their hides not their meat. Hides were transportable. With no preservation technology available, the meat spoiled. This held true in the later decimation of the buffalo herds on the plains.

Pork was the meat most available prior to the Civil war. It preserves well with salting and smoking.

For all you buckskinner, mountainman, black powder muzzleloader shooters out there, contrary to the depictions in the movies, the folks in the wagon trains on the Oregon trail carried muzzleloading firearms. No Winchester 1894’s, no Henry’s, no Colt model “P”’s ever made the trip. Those folks never rode up on a seat in the wagon, they walked. Oxen were the most popular draft animals.

Men rushing to the California gold fields carried muzzleloading firearms. Cartridge arms hadn’t been invented yet.

While almost all blacks came to this continent as slaves, they were not the only people here working in servitude. Large numbers of people came here as indentured servants, a program still practiced today. In exchange for passage a person agrees to work for a master until the cost is amortized, often at usurious rates.

Rice and tobacco were more important southern cash crops than cotton before the invention of the cotton gin in 1793.

The foundation of the whiskey business in Kentucky was the need to transport excess crops to market. Transportation to the coastal markets of bulk grains was an expensive process. A bushel of wheat distilled into whiskey could be carried easily.

American iron production began in the bogs of Massachusetts in colonial times.

Charcoal was an important fuel source, more important than coal in fact.

Machinery powered by the abundant water sources of New England were the impedance of the industrial revolution in America.

Re-enactors who complain about dry cleaning costs should be ashamed. Dry cleaning is a 20^th century invention. Wool uniforms and other clothes were cleaned by brushing off loose dirt. Regular soap and water were used to remove oily stains. Block out to shape. Steam over a kettle to remove wrinkles. BO was a fact of life, that’s why perfumes were invented.

Re-enacting the past assumes we leave modern conveniences behind. Case in point, the ice chest. There is only one reason to have refrigeration at a rendezvous or other historic re-enactment and that is to preserve meat. Leave the soda pop at home. If you have to have a beer, bring it in a wood keg or stoneware jug. I doubt you could have found a chicken egg or butter at the real rendezvous. Since current law eliminates the possibility of hunting our meals, we need a source of meat. I suggest that all ice chests be left in our vehicles in the parking area. Once a day, make the trek to the chest to pick up the days supply of meat. Carry your gear just like you would if you were going on a real hunt.