Swan shot

[Rod Lassey]

The eyewitnesses at the time say different--the price of a tradegun did indeed vary from time and place, but a Native would have to be very naive or very desperate to pay that much. They were far better bargainers than that, and knew they had something the fur traders wanted. Here's some examples:

Standard of Trade, Ft. George, Columbia district 1824 (HBC)
Guns, 4 1/2 foot 10 Made Beaver
Guns, 3 1/2 foot 12 MB
Guns, 3 foot 11 MB
Guns, fine 1/2 stock 30 MB
Rifle, American 30 MB
Rifle, English twist barrel 40 MB
pistol, common American 3 MB
pistol, English brown barrel 4 MB

Prices of goods at Ft. Des Prairies 1775 (NWC)
Gun 20 beaver

Prices at Ft. Union, 1835 (UMO)
Steel mounted rifles $17.50
Rifles, Hawken 20.00
Indian rifle, Leman 7.45
Northwest gun 7 buffalo robes

Ft. Hall, 1834 (Wyeth)
Rifle 12 beaver or robes
Fuzee 8 beaver or robes

The prices given in cash at Ft. Union may be wholesale as opposed to retail.

Yes, if you bought a fine rifle at Ft. George, that 40 beaver would make a fair pile, but nowhere near the height of the rifle.

Rod

 

[tg]

There are also many records of earlier gun prices that never mention a pile of beaver, this one has probably been passed on for a long time but that does not make it a fact, everything in period records refutes it.the following from the HBC factor 1716, they are taliking about 3 1/2 ft. and 3 ft, guns traded to the NDN's

"The longest will trade at 9 Beaver per gun with most of the Indians and the short for 5 cats or 29 Martin"

 

[tg]

I forgot to add that the armchair is a very comfortable place to study the period records and writtings of those who have spent most of their lives researching hard, documentable facts, opposed to recording the multitude of handed down by word of mouth stories. I would hope the majority of history students put more faith in the former.The latter are interesting but often becme diluted and distorted as time goes on, some do support what was left in period writtings others do not, some may have a basis in fact but have evolved into something more along the lines of Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill.

 

[Many Klatch]

It's a double gang mold. It casts about 8 on one side and then I flip it over and cast 7 on the other side. Once I cut them off with a sidecuts they are ready to shoot.

Many Klatch

 

[Elnathan]

I forgot to add that the armchair is a very comfortable place to study the period records and writtings of those who have spent most of their lives researching hard, documentable facts, opposed to recording the multitude of handed down by word of mouth stories. I would hope the majority of history students put more faith in the former.The latter are interesting but often becme diluted and distorted as time goes on, some do support what was left in period writtings others do not, some may have a basis in fact but have evolved into something more along the lines of Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill.

Not to mention that "traditional" stories may not be very traditional - I had a friend in college who told me that a "tribal elder" (he was about 1/400 Cherokee) told him that whites introduced scalping to North America. Not only is that demonstrably false, but I strongly suspect it goes all the way back to the 1960s or so. I don't know if the elder intended to convey the impression that this was traditional lore or not, but one can see how a person could arrive at this conclusion. The moral of the story is, the "old timers" can read, too, and they can read the wrong things.

 

[Stophel]

I don't have a horse in this particular race, but I never put much faith in old stories or family histories.

How many times have you watched the "antique roadshow" and seen someone bring their set of china that their great-great-great-great grandmother brought to America from England in 1685... the set of china that was actually made in the 1920's...