Re: MtMan-List: packs

[amm944 <amm944@prodigy.net>]

Frank Fusco wrote:
> 
> I wasn't there, so cannot say what they did for packs. Like most writers
> on this subject have pointed out, there was a variety of solutions to
> carrying necessities without horses. I believe I know what I would do if I
> had to contrive something to transport a large pack of goods under my own
> foot power and using only nature provided materials. I would construct a
> travois-like device that I could pull. There would be some drag but I
> believe the gain in comfort from not having to carry the entire weight
> would more than offset that.
> Frank
> http://www.galstar.com/~osiris/letter.htm
> http://www.thecore.com/~sparkler/brent.html
> Visit them.
> 
> ----------
> > From: Lee Driver <tdriver@laplaza.org>
> > To: hist_text@xmission.com
> > Subject: MtMan-List: packs
> > Date: Monday, March 31, 1997 11:41 AM
> >
> > About being period correct about packs, I would say:
> >
> > Probably the one historical incidence that most lends itself to this
> > question is John Colter's long trek  in 1807, to look for the Crow
> > Indians at Manuel Lisa's request.
> >
> > "Carrying a thirty-pound pack containing powder, lead, traps, jerkey,
> > and a buffalo robe he left the fort alone, armed with his Hawken
> > rifle and skinning knife." This quote comes from _Views of Louisiana_
> > by Breckenridge in which he says he is quoting The Missouri Gazette,
> > presumably around 1810.
> >
> > If we're to believe the reports, Colter walked 750 miles or so. I
> > guess we could assume he carried that same pack the whole way, but I
> > seriously doubt it. Anyone who's ever packed any distance at all
> > with a good load in something on the order of a handmade pack rig,
> > would be able to tell you that that pack is constantly undergoing
> > adjustments, improvements, redesign, and that the final version
> > probably worked pretty well for Colter, and not necessarily for just
> > anyone. We can know for certain that it was made out of period
> > correct elements. I think we can assume too, that he didn't go very
> > far, if any distance at all, before he knew he needed to have both
> > hands free, which narrows it into some kind of back pack. From
> > there, using whatever would have been available to hand, from skins
> > to bones to antlers to sinew to branches to shaped wood... use your
> > imagination. I'll guarantee you that's what Colter did, or any other
> > of those mountain men who ever found themselves in need of having to
> > carry their own gear. He'd been all the way to the Pacific and back
> > with L&C, so he probably already had a few good inclinations with
> > regards to packing before he started on this trip for Lisa. After a
> > while, walking in rough terrain, carrying 30 or 50 pounds, you'd come
> > up with a design that would work for you that was period correct,
> > that would be it's own documentation. The ability to come up with
> > solutions, then, can't be all that different from now, under similiar
> > constraints.I guess we'd have to assume too, that some would come up
> > with better solutions than others, which also would be period
> > correct. (I do recall that the great Jed Smith and his small
> > party, on their spy mission up to Flathead House in the winter of
> > 1824, couldn't figure out how to make snowshoes, though. One would
> > think that someone who could cooly instruct another on how to sew his
> > own ear back on could come up with snowshoes, but, I guess not.)  Of
> > course, just stealing or trading for a horse or two, would curtail
> > the backpack research experiment some, or certainly change the
> > problem to one of horsepacking.. But, once one comes up with a pack
> > that works, all there is left to do is scan a picture of it onto the
> > web for all us unhorsed ones to take a look at.
> >
> > Lee Driver
well I have tried travois on a long trek this was on a maintained FS
trail.  Wouldn't worked no mater how hard I tried.  give it a try down
the forrest.  wildernest travel is tough even on maintained trails. 
Later jon towns