Kentuckywindage
62 Cal.
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2006
- Messages
- 2,529
- Reaction score
- 6
Its still an entertaining show. I put it on TV almost every night when im up on the computer late at night. Just something to listen to and watch when i need a break.
HISTORY CHANNEL Mountain Men
- Thread starter Bullmoose
- Start date
Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:
Good job Sean, I agree with you. I have read fairly extensively on the fur trade and its characters and if I had to chose one person to be with when things went bad, it would be Carson. He got more people out of bad fixes than anyone I ever read about. Another bad thing about the history channel show was I recall seeing blue enamel ware being used around a campfire. That is terrible for a show and channel that proclaim "history" in their title.
Black Hand
Cannon
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2005
- Messages
- 9,348
- Reaction score
- 897
whiskey said:
I once heard it said "that they never let the truth get in the way of a good story".....
I was to busy skinnin'Griz to watch :rotf: :rotf:
Very nice. I have been interested in Carson for most of my years. I have visited the old home in Taos, NM. He was quite a guy. He would never set next to a fire at night. That tells you a lot about his knowledge in general. He knew how to stay alive on the frontier.
His later years were like many older people today he had very little. He did not have much to show for all his struggles. He died in Colorado while checking out a lawmans job, offered by an old friend. I think he was 68 at the time of his stroke. The night he died in his sleep, as always on the floor wrapped in a Buff'ler robe.
He died a long way from his birth place in Ole Ky. where he was born about 30 miles from Abe Lincoln. I think they were born on the same day.
His later years were like many older people today he had very little. He did not have much to show for all his struggles. He died in Colorado while checking out a lawmans job, offered by an old friend. I think he was 68 at the time of his stroke. The night he died in his sleep, as always on the floor wrapped in a Buff'ler robe.
He died a long way from his birth place in Ole Ky. where he was born about 30 miles from Abe Lincoln. I think they were born on the same day.
Guest
Didn't mean it as a tantrum thrown at any one in particular, just tv. Its an evil little box meant to enslave you, not educate you.
Sean
Sean
Guest
Terry,
You'da been hard pressed to find a bed in that country or most of NM for that matter. It was the custom of the country to use woolen mats and buffalo robes for your furniture. They slept on them, rolled them up and sat on them and stacked them along the walls when not in use. I just can't quite talk my wife into a traditionally furnished New Mexican rancho.
Sean
You'da been hard pressed to find a bed in that country or most of NM for that matter. It was the custom of the country to use woolen mats and buffalo robes for your furniture. They slept on them, rolled them up and sat on them and stacked them along the walls when not in use. I just can't quite talk my wife into a traditionally furnished New Mexican rancho.
Sean
Thanks, never knew about that. It sort of sounds like the Shakers. The Shakers would hang their chairs on the wall when not in use.
There is a very nice story about Carson and Fremont on a sign near down town Ogden. Ut. It deals with their trip to map the Salt Lake Basin.
The issue about Carson trapping. In most of the writings about him he trapped for about 12 yrs. after going to the west. I always found it interesting that he did not learn to read or write until he served in the Civil War. They had a GI Bill back in those days of sorts. Join up you will get shoes and we will teach you to to read and write in English. :grin:
There is a very nice story about Carson and Fremont on a sign near down town Ogden. Ut. It deals with their trip to map the Salt Lake Basin.
The issue about Carson trapping. In most of the writings about him he trapped for about 12 yrs. after going to the west. I always found it interesting that he did not learn to read or write until he served in the Civil War. They had a GI Bill back in those days of sorts. Join up you will get shoes and we will teach you to to read and write in English. :grin:
Guest
Terry,
According to Mark Simmons, he never really learned to read or write. As an NDN agent to the Ute and Navajo, he dictated all of his paperwork to an assistant. If I remember correctly, it was a source concern for his superiors and occasionally an opening for corruption. An unscrupulous assistant could change orders or put completely different orders in front of him to make his mark on. I know this was a source of trouble and frustration for Kit. The man wasn't slow by any means he was apparently fluent in English, Spanish, Ute, Navajo, Cheyenne, Flathead, plains sign language and probably others. However his inability to read and write caused him no end of difficulties in his forays into the mercantile business, mining, and government work. Kit was a great man, but not a great business man or bureaucrat.
Interestingly enough Kit wasn't much of a self promoter either. He dictated his life story. Can't remember the name of the fellow who did it right now, but he found Kit's version somewhat needing spice and added quite a bit of 'seasoning' to it. When the final product was read to Kit, he pronounced it a pile of bull and tall tales.
Although it doesn't cover Kit's years as a trapper in depth, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Simmons' book "Kit Carson and his Three Wives". Simmons has spent decades researching the man and has a real handle on who he was.
Sean
PS Its not about polygamy.
According to Mark Simmons, he never really learned to read or write. As an NDN agent to the Ute and Navajo, he dictated all of his paperwork to an assistant. If I remember correctly, it was a source concern for his superiors and occasionally an opening for corruption. An unscrupulous assistant could change orders or put completely different orders in front of him to make his mark on. I know this was a source of trouble and frustration for Kit. The man wasn't slow by any means he was apparently fluent in English, Spanish, Ute, Navajo, Cheyenne, Flathead, plains sign language and probably others. However his inability to read and write caused him no end of difficulties in his forays into the mercantile business, mining, and government work. Kit was a great man, but not a great business man or bureaucrat.
Interestingly enough Kit wasn't much of a self promoter either. He dictated his life story. Can't remember the name of the fellow who did it right now, but he found Kit's version somewhat needing spice and added quite a bit of 'seasoning' to it. When the final product was read to Kit, he pronounced it a pile of bull and tall tales.
Although it doesn't cover Kit's years as a trapper in depth, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Simmons' book "Kit Carson and his Three Wives". Simmons has spent decades researching the man and has a real handle on who he was.
Sean
PS Its not about polygamy.
Very good post as always. Thanks. I have read a number of times where he did learn to read and write during the Civil War. Now, it may be that he only learned to sign his name. Do you know if he was able to sign his name later in life?
His Civil War duty was mostly involved with the 300 mile forced march of the Navajo people. I was a little taken aback one time. I worked with a Navajo fellow who told me the Navajo hate Carson to this day. He told me that when he was young his grandmother would scare him if he was bad. She would tell him that the Devil Carson would come and take him away. :hmm:
He had that many wives, and no hand carts? :wink:
His Civil War duty was mostly involved with the 300 mile forced march of the Navajo people. I was a little taken aback one time. I worked with a Navajo fellow who told me the Navajo hate Carson to this day. He told me that when he was young his grandmother would scare him if he was bad. She would tell him that the Devil Carson would come and take him away. :hmm:
He had that many wives, and no hand carts? :wink:
Guest
Should they be able to write good in English as well as spell right? :rotf: Wright or rong?
Guest
How many languages did Bridger or Carson or many others speak BEFORE they served in the military? That kept them alive and made them valuable to the military. Being multilingual is in fact a PC skill, and in general, not particularly a bad skill for anyone to have. How many languages do you speak?
Sean
Sean
Guest
50 more times on the chalk board before recess!!! :rotf:
Similar threads
