Figure a shows William Clark’s drawing of the tomahawk design specified by the Mandans.

Figure b presents an Osage axe of an early—pre–Lewis and Clark—style.

Figure c is a copy of an Ogallala war hatchet.

Above are examples of three styles of spiked tomahawks. These types tended to be trade items but were also commonly used by the white trappers as well.

Above is a drawing of spiked tomahawk taken from the body of a Sac Indian. The haft is studded with brass tacks.

The hammer-hatchet was an ordinary trade item, used by every manner and class of mountain man.

BROADAX AND ADZ AND OTHER TOOLS

The broadax and the common adz have changed little over time and are still the best hand-tools for roughing out and shaping large pieces of wood, whether it be shaping a post, squaring a beam, or scooping out a dugout canoe.

Figures a, b, and c are renderings of ordinary broadax blades of British make.

Figure d is shows a small hammer-hatchet head.

Figure e represents a heavy sledgehammer head.

Figure f is a rendering of a common carpenter’s adz.

Figures g and i represent the heads of ordinary trade hoes.

Figures h and J are drawings of the heads of ice hatchets.

Figure k shows a common cold-chisel.

Though these iron tools were only inexpensive trade items, they were of real importance in the workaday life of the Native American. The trader made sure he was well supplied with these easily carried little tools and would often present them as little gifts.

SAWPITS AND TRESTLES

In an age before power tools, some version of the sawpit was an absolute necessity if you wanted to cut log into board. The idea was to maximize the cutting power of the two sawyers. In Europe and in the more or less crowded cities of eastern America, where the work was often done indoors and where space was at a premium, the tradition was to dig an actual pit in the floor of the shop. However, in rural America and out West, sawyers commonly worked from trestles. The problem was to get the logs up onto the trestle.

One answer to this was to build the trestle into a hillside, and then the logs could be rolled onto the frame.

FIREARMS OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN

SWIVEL GUNS

In the Golden Age of the mountain man, swivel guns acted as the artillery of the trapper and trader. As they required a substantial and stable platform from which to operate, their uses tended to be defensive in nature. They were most often mounted on blockhouses or palisades, but were also frequently positioned in the larger of the watercraft, in keelboats, and pirogues.

The swivel-mounted blunderbuss above has a flared muzzle of about 2 inches in diameter and a barrel of 22 ½ inches in length. It fired ball, either as a single shot or as scattershot and buckshot.

The canon styled swivel gun, usually a one or two pounder, was 30 inches in length, with a bore of roughly 2 inches.

When loaded with powder only, it made an unholy boom when discharged and so proved useful in the firing of salutes, signals and farewells.

Another firearm of the period was the swivel-mounted musket, both long and short barreled. This 33-pound behemoth (top) was of English manufacture and was of a type commonly used by the Hudson’s Bay Company.

FLINTLOCK RIFLES OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN

The following are four examples of flintlock rifles most commonly employed by trappers and traders.

Figure a is an example of the U. S. Musket. Manufactured in 1795, it had a barrel 44 inches in length, threw a ball of just under one ounce, and was the standard firearm of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Figure b represents a shortened version of the same essential firearm. Like the U.S. Musket, it fired either single ball or “fine shot,” but was a lighter and—given its shorter length—more manageable weapon. Nicknamed the “fuzee,” it was a favorite among the trappers, and often praised for its “elegance.”

Figures c and d are examples of the U. S. flintlock Kentucky rifle. They featured barrels of 42 and 34 inches, respectively, and were greatly prized for their accuracy.

TRADE GUNS

The following illustrations represent firearms that were manufactured specifically for trade with the Native Americans. The comparatively low-priced musket of this class of firearm was apportioned much more widely than were the rifles of the period.

H. E. Leman of Pennsylvania was perhaps the best-known American manufacturer of guns for trade with the native peoples. His aim was to create an American gun that would rival the finest of British manufactured trade guns in both its quality as a weapon and in its decorative features.

Another standard trade gun was the J. Henry, both musket and rifle.

This gun featured a weighty 35-inch, eight-grooved, rifled barrel, and threw a .52 caliber ball. Though heavy and awkward to handle, the J. Henry was a popular trade item, due to its accuracy, and to the stopping power of its heavy shot.

THE “PLAINS” RIFLE

The third decade of the nineteenth century saw the introduction and the wide acceptance of a new class of rifle. It went by a few different names; some people called it the “plains rifle,” others the “mountaineer’s rifle,” still others called it simply the “short rifle.” We know it today as the “Hawken,” after the brothers Hawken—Jacob and Samuel, St. Louis gunsmiths—who perfected it. The typical Hawken Plains rifle had a heavy 34-inch octagonal barrel. It threw a .53 caliber ball, was low sighted, with a second, or set trigger. Percussion fired, it had an odd little steel basket (called a snail) that enclosed the nipple, a half stock with a ramrod carried under a metal rib. The butt stock was of a sturdy construction with a crescent-shaped plate. Altogether it weighed in a 10 ½ pounds. This proved to be the perfect gun for the mountain man, a most dependable firearm, light enough and short enough to be easily managed on horseback and throwing a ball-weight sufficient to stop a buffalo or grizzly.

THE PISTOL

For reasons that must seem obvious, the pistol was a weapon much less commonly employed by the mountain man than was the musket or rifle. However there are numerous reports in journals describing its value as a weapon of “last resort.”

BLACK POWDER

Gunpowder or black powder, as it was commonly known in the time of the mountain man, was a mixture of, roughly, 75 percent saltpeter (potassium nitrate), 15 percent charcoal, and 10 percent sulfur. Mixed and milled in the east, it was shipped west to the trading posts in lead boxes, which were then opened and the propellant apportioned into individual powder horns and flasks; the lead containers, in their turn, melted down for musket and rifle ball.