Mr Fisher this is a delightful discription, thank you
very much. Can you tell us the year that this took place
in? Can you tell us anymore about the post or the men. I
assume they were provisioned by the HBC. Was the one
described a man of wealth or a trapper type? Any of that
info would be wonderful if you have time and know.
Thanks
Wynn
----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis Fisher
To: hist_text@???
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Belt buckle
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:47:38 -0800 (PST)
> Contemporary descriptions of the mountain men that
include
> the level of detail we would like to know are pretty
> scarce. The following description of Donald Sinclair
was
> written by Issac Cowie in his book "The Company of
> Adventurers" about his service in the HBC at a buffalo
> provision post called "Le Belle Qu'Appelle. Dennis
> Fisher#612 Shortly after Mr. b??McDonald had left for the
> plains, one afternoon Kennedy came in to report that a
> free traderb??s man, named Donald b??Sinclair, with
liquor
> , was visiting the menb??s quarters, which was strictly
> prohibited by the rules. I met the man just as he was
> going from one house to another, and he at once greeted
me
> in good English and by name, although an utter stranger
to
> me. He was a smart, good-looking, medium-sized fellow,
and
> evidently self-satisfied as a dude of that day. He
wore
> his black hair in long oily ringlets reachB­ing his
> shoulders, under a low crowned, broad brimmed, soft black
> felt hat, adorned with a b??black foxtail feather,b??
> which was an ar ticle of trade at the time and resembled
a
> small ostrich plume. He wore a new navy blue cloth
capote,
> with double rows of flat gilt buttons in front; trousers
> of the same material, over which, of the same cloth, were
> leggings reachB­ing half-way up the thigh, heavily
> decorated by broad
> stripes of beadwork on the outer sides and fastened
below
> the knee by broad garters completely covered with beaded
> patterns of flowers and leaves. Beautifully made,
> yellowish brown moose moccasins, topped with fine
silkwork
> , embellished his finely formed feet. To support his
> trousers was a broad, vari-colored Lb??Assomption belt,
> under which was tucked a profusely ornaB­mented
firebag,
> in which flint and steel and tinder were always carried
> with the ubiquitous pipe and tobacco. Waistcoats were not
> usually worn, and he was strictly in the mode by
> exhibitB­ing a fancy colored flannel shirtb??of the
> b??Crimeanb?? variety of the timeb??with a big black silk
> handkerchief tied in a sailorb??s knot round his neck. On
> his left hand was a finely silkworked buckskin glove, and
> in it he held its mate while greeting me with the right.
> ----- Original Message ----From: Wynn To:
> David Scott ; rjbublitz@???;
> Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 9:19:33 AMSubject:
Re:
> MtMan-List: B elt buckle ----- Original Message
> -----From: David Scott > Everyone says the Miller
> work is unquestionable butto> me the rifles always look
> more slender than they shouldbe> and you never see any
> saddle bags/trap sacks on any ofthe> horses/mules. I
have
> never heard anyone claim Miller wasunquestionable. Even
> guys who are big Miller fans admithis weaknesses. >
> > There's another mule book, I think the title is
"The>
> Superiority of Mules" by John Hauer. He claims the
mule>
> is smarter than the horse and won't blindly follow
> orders> and that accounts for a stubborn reputation
that
> doesn't> really exist. For example a mule may freeze if
> danger is> present until it figures out the best option
> is to run. A> mu le wouldn't run itself to death or
> overeat/drinkitself> to death. My grandfather had a
> great horse that> unfortunately ate itself to death. Got
> into the oats. I like it stubborn equals inteligient.
> I feel smarteralready. Have you guys ever heard that
> border collies arethe most inteligient dogs? The reason
> they get so muchpress is they are highly trainable. By
> that definition mules are really stupid. You can train a
> quarter horse to be solight that you can not see the
> reins move and they willcut and slide stop and spin on a
> dime. Maybe pitbulls arereally the smartest dogs
> because they have the most self preservation instinct
> that makes them bite more people. David, no offense, I
am
> just having some fun with this.These are just silly
> statements that are printed andspoken so often that I
> wonder if anybody even thinks toquestion them. What is
> the definition of inteligient and dowe use the same
> definition for dogs and horses or evenpeople? I had a
> kidney stone last summer. I wanted
> to kill thenext person who compared it to the pain of
> giving birth.Why don't they compare it to amputation
or
> constipation? I loved it when the fire service guys came
> down to helpget me out of the back country, not a single
> woman anywhere,and some guy pipes off with the birth
> thing. Like any ofus know how painful giving birth is!
> So on a practical side. Mules can be trained to
> trustpeople and get themselves into trouble they
would
> besmart enough to avoid on their own. They can also be
> todumb to know that the mud puddle will not kill them.
> Theywill shy from perceived danger, I near hit the
> groundwhen a couple dogs came happily running up to me
> lastsummer. They will also freeze when the Indians
> areattacking as Joe Meek confirms. They a re a lot more
> lovable than a canoe but you canstill want to kill
> them. Wynn
>
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