G.F. Ruxton

[Desert Ratxx]

I've just started reading "Life in the Far West". Ruxton states that "The reader is informed that 'Life in the Far West' is no fiction. The scene and incidents described are strictly true." Italics as shown in the book.

My question is...really?

The book is good and offers little tid bits here and there. One part in paticular that I'm on right now that doesn't seem right is how he explains one of his main characters getting his rifle.
It reads "To effect this, he first of all visited the gun-store of Hawken, whose rifles are renowned in the mountains, and exchanged his own piece, which was of very small bore, for a regular mountain rifle. This was of very heavy metal, carrying about thirty-two balls to the pound, stocked to the muzzle and mounted with brass, its only ornament being a buffalo bull, looking exceedingly ferocious, which was not very artistically engraved upon the trap in the stock."

If I am reading this correctly the hero was there 1825 or 1826 at the latest. I believe the rifle to be flint because of a passage later on about picking flints before a fight, but the rifle doesn't sound like a typical Hawken being mounted in brass. I know there were some half stocks later on that were but never any reference to a full stock. I also didn't think the Hawken had that kind of reputaton that early.

Thoughts?

 

Its Ruxton's interpretation of campfire stories told to him in 1846-47. This is basically THE source that popularized the Hawken, the Green River knife, and 'the Mountain man patois'. Since then we've found that the actual picture of what a Rocky Mountain trapper shot and carried and how he likely spoke was much more complex and varied. Its a good read and has some interesting details sprinkled in that date mostly to the mid-40's. But I prefer his non-ficton writings. Look for 'Ruxton of the Rockies'. Ol' George was a tough son of a gun and an interesting character... for an Englishman.

Sean

 

Rat,

To add to that a bit. Read Hanson's Hawken book on the rifle issue. There is no documentation for flint Hawkens being produced during that time period. Its not impossible, but at best they would've been extremely rare. Hanson also wrote a lot of stuff on butcher knives in the trade. Look in the back issues of the MFTQ. These were English, not American Green Rivers. And not all Rocky Mountain trappers were from the Appalachians. They also came from places like Maine, New York, Scotland, Ireland, and New Mexico. Some were Red River Metis, Frenchmen from Canada and the Mississippi Valley, and of course Delaware, Shawnee, Iroquois, etc. I don't think Ruxton meant to represent the Rocky Mountain trapper as simplistically as his work has been taken over the years. He just reported what he saw and heard without knowledge of specific changes in style or equipment over the previous 20 years.

If you find a copy of the other book I mentioned (edited by Hafen), you'll find that Ruxton was a trail-worn, hard-case adventurer who was kicked out of school in jolly-old England at 15, was a battle-hardened soldier from the wars in Spain by 17 with a Knight's title. Afterwards, he served with the British military in Ireland and Canada and explored and hunted Africa before making a mostly solo trip through Mexico, Apacheria, New Mexico, up into the Southern Rockies and across the Plains to St. Louis. On the trip across the Plains, he was bucked off a horse and landed on his back on a picket pin. The injury stuck with him and his health steadily declined. It finally caught up with him after returning to England and coming back to the States on his next trip to the Mountains. He died at the ripe old age of 27 in St. Louis having lived a hard life over the previous decade or so. Some have speculated that he was even a British spy. My feeling is that was unlikely. He had a hunter's heart and a wandering foot. The story of him weathering out a blizzard by himself on the open prairie up near the upper Arkansas with little more than a pipe to keep him warm during the big snow winter of '46-47 is well worth the price of the book.

I was lucky enough to see one of his rifles in person last fall. Unlike the doubles so often mentioned in his writings, it was a single-barrel English sporting rifle. It was also published in a recent article in the MFTQ.

Sean

 

[Desert Ratxx]

Thanks for the input Sean, I figured you'd have the low down. It wasn't until after I got the book that I figured that the book I wanted was Ruxton of the Rockies.
Even from this book you can get the sense he "walked the walk" so to speak. It has many tidbits that are interesting, one that I found that I thought was paticularly interesting is he mentioned leggins in the present tense, like the trappers were still wearing them in the mid 40's, he didn't specify what they were worn with them but I thought the reference was interesting . Ever since he mentions pantaloons or trousers (so far).

 

One thing I always thought was interesting was that the Arapaho thought his puckertoe moccasins unique enough to comment on as being strange. Makes you wonder about all those puckertoes in Miller's, Ranney's, Deas' paintings, etc. just a little.

Sean

 

[Desert Ratxx]

I hadn't picked up on that (usually have to read a book a couple of times) Is his Adventures in Mexico worth a read? Is it factual?

 

Haven't read that one yet. Let me know if you pick it up.

Sean