naterflint
32 Cal
if there was ever binoculars or spy glass type stuff, people would have used while hunting when Flint locks were all they had. And if so, does anyone know of any good reproductions?
Did mountain men use anything like a binocular?
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Yes, they could have. Spyglasses have been around for a long time; even the early binoculars were basically two spyglasses placed side by side.
Brokennock
Cannon
Pure conjecture/supposition, unless you have a period reference you haven't shared.
Given the technology of the time, and packaging/baggage options of the time, would one really bother with something so fragile? A rugged spyglass would have been heavy, and a lightweight spyglass would have been fragile,,,,, and the Rocky Mountains were no place for fragile anything.
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The first recorded use of a telescope in a war in the American colonies was during the French and Indian War in 1758. Captain Robert Rogers sent men to use "Prospective Glasses" to look down a lake.
I don't see why they wouldn't have used them.
Robin
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The first recorded use of a telescope in a war in the American colonies was during the French and Indian War in 1758. Captain Robert Rogers sent men to use "Prospective Glasses" to look down a lake.
I don't see why they wouldn't have used them.
Robin
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if there was a demand, there would have been a supply. I there was a supply there would be written record/advertisement. have never seen anything.
Brokennock
Cannon
Okay, so that is an "officer" during the F&I at one specific place in a specific instance,,,, and a long way by time and mileage from the "mountain man" era. How does this really extrapolate put to a rocky mountain fur trapper or, "mountain man" carrying and using one?
It doesn't even remotely mean they would have been in common use during the F&I by common people on a regular basis.
What kind of telescope?
As the telescope was invented in 1608, I highly doubt it was not used in wartime until 1758.
Ah! Realized that's "in the colonies."
https://www.cabinet.ox.ac.uk/invention-spyglass-1608
Ah! Realized that's "in the colonies."
https://www.cabinet.ox.ac.uk/invention-spyglass-1608
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Here is an interesting list of necessary supplies.
https://www.monticello.org/thomas-j...ring-for-the-expedition/lewis-s-packing-list/
https://www.monticello.org/thomas-j...ring-for-the-expedition/lewis-s-packing-list/
Pete G
76 Cal.
Did you not know? All mountain men had eyes like an eagle. 
Brokennock
Cannon
Hubbell
I could see them having them, ship Captains had them for years. But I really don't think so because if anybody had them I am sure Lewis and Clark would have and there is no mention of them in their journals or packing list. I have never seen anything about MM having spyglasses.
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I guess that this pretty much clears things up -
https://vegavision.co.uk/blogs/rela...WLr1jHriZ4tZPtrxD47l_AxB_bz6t279eVZisBqGkDm1G
https://vegavision.co.uk/blogs/rela...WLr1jHriZ4tZPtrxD47l_AxB_bz6t279eVZisBqGkDm1G
I have had and carried a telescope, made in France over a hundred years ago
I made a leather case for it and have never had any problems carrying it, even on walk through's. Open it's about 18" and I would guess about 15 powers
But I doublet the average mountain man would have toted along one
I made a leather case for it and have never had any problems carrying it, even on walk through's. Open it's about 18" and I would guess about 15 powers
But I doublet the average mountain man would have toted along one
I don't recall ever seeing them listed on any trade manifests of the western fur trade.
Brokennock
Cannon
No, it does not really clear up the question/proposal in the OP...
The question doesn't seem to be, did "they" have them, did binoculars/spyglasses exist, in the 18th and early 19th century.
The original OP speculated on their use by so called, "mountain men."
When people in this arena refer to "mountain men," I have to assume they are talking roughly Rocky Mountain Fur Trade and westward expansion time period, and western locations. (Otherwise they would probably use the equally overused and incorrectly used, "longhunter)
Did spyglass and binoculars exist at that time? Obviously. Did some people have and use them? Obviously.
But did so called "mountain men" have and use them during the Rocky Mountain fur trade and westward expansion? Highly doubtful, not impossible, but doubtful.
I don't know either. I wasn't there but I read a book that said so...lol
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Read Osborne Russell's "Joudescribed Jim Bridger as using a spyglass to "look out for squalls."<
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Sorry for premature post.
See Os borne Russell's "Journal of a Trapper (1834-1843)".
On page 21 he describes herds of mountain sheep in the Wind River district: "... some so high that ut required a tescope to see them " more to the point on page 52:
"Feby. 22d. Mr Bridger according to his usual custom took his telescope & mounted a high bluff near the escarpmentto look out for "squalls" as he termed it. About 1 o k PM he returned appearing somewhat alarmed...He said the great plains. Below was alive with savages. ."
So there you go, at least one mountain man, leading a party, using a telescope in the correct fur trade time period. This is in a 1963 Bison Book reprint of the 1955 edition by the Oregon Historical Society. ISBN # 0-8032-5166-1
