The topic of California rifles comes up on this forum now and then. We had a pretty good discussion in a thread started by @BP Addict a couple of months ago (see What is a California Rifle?), and more recently @sequoia started a thread and posted a photo of a really cool old California bear rifle (see "Grizzly Gun"). The discussion on that thread has wandered a bit off topic, so I thought I might start a new one based on this old photo I found on the web:
It is my understanding that this picture was taken in 1888, and it shows members of the San Bernardino Society for California Pioneers. The fellows in the image are (left to right) Bill Holcomb, John Brown Jr., John Brown Sr., George Miller, and B.B. Harris. While membership in the Society had very stringent requirements, male descendants of men who qualified were also allowed to join. This explains the presence of the two younger fellows.
The three older guys were the real deal. There is a nice newspaper write-up on William F. "Pappy" Holcomb online right here: San Bernardino County's Early Days. He gained fame as a bear hunter, evidently using his muzzle-loading rifle.
Looking at the weaponry, we definitely see three muzzleloading rifles, and possibly four. John Brown Jr. appears to be holding a Colt-style cap and ball revolver, although I can't see well enough to positively identify the model. Three of the gentlemen are wearing shot pouches and powder horns. The two visible rifles held by Holcomb and Brown Sr. look like half-stocked "plains" rifles, while George Miller is holding what appears to be a full-stocked Hawken-style rifle. I think this may actually be the Hoffman & Campbell rifle carried by mountain man Jim Waters, who was also a member of the Society of Pioneers. His rifle is rumored to be in a museum in San Bernardino County, and if any of you California boys can track it down and show us some pictures, it would be greatly appreciated. Meanwhile, the best we can do is this:
Jim Waters played an active part in the Rocky Mountain fur trade, and I believe he may have been mentioned by R.L. Wootton in the book Uncle Dick Wootton. His fullstocked rifle was reportedly made by Hoffman & Campbell, a subsidiary of the Hawken shop, and therefore essentially a Hawken rifle. The historian, Arthur Woodward, wrote a piece on Jim Waters which has been republished on the City of San Bernardino website, right here: Jim Waters
Getting back to the group photo, there is a lot to see. I blew the image up to get a better look at some of the accoutrements:
You can see Bill Holcomb's pouch and horn pretty clearly here. However, we also see how he carried the greased patches for his rifle... Strung on a cord and hanging from the front strap for his shot pouch. That circular device higher up on his chest is probably a leather percussion cap holder. I think I see a Bowie knife under his left hand. He may have been a geezer like most of us by the time this photo was taken, but by then he had a number of grizzly kills under his belt, taken with a single-shot muzzleloader, and he was likely not a geezer anybody would want to tangle with.
Anyway, this picture gives a good look at some old guns and accoutrements, and it tells us a lot about how the gear was carried. If any of you reading this see any more details that I missed, that might be of interest, by all means point them out!
Best regards,
Notchy Bob
It is my understanding that this picture was taken in 1888, and it shows members of the San Bernardino Society for California Pioneers. The fellows in the image are (left to right) Bill Holcomb, John Brown Jr., John Brown Sr., George Miller, and B.B. Harris. While membership in the Society had very stringent requirements, male descendants of men who qualified were also allowed to join. This explains the presence of the two younger fellows.
The three older guys were the real deal. There is a nice newspaper write-up on William F. "Pappy" Holcomb online right here: San Bernardino County's Early Days. He gained fame as a bear hunter, evidently using his muzzle-loading rifle.
Looking at the weaponry, we definitely see three muzzleloading rifles, and possibly four. John Brown Jr. appears to be holding a Colt-style cap and ball revolver, although I can't see well enough to positively identify the model. Three of the gentlemen are wearing shot pouches and powder horns. The two visible rifles held by Holcomb and Brown Sr. look like half-stocked "plains" rifles, while George Miller is holding what appears to be a full-stocked Hawken-style rifle. I think this may actually be the Hoffman & Campbell rifle carried by mountain man Jim Waters, who was also a member of the Society of Pioneers. His rifle is rumored to be in a museum in San Bernardino County, and if any of you California boys can track it down and show us some pictures, it would be greatly appreciated. Meanwhile, the best we can do is this:
Jim Waters played an active part in the Rocky Mountain fur trade, and I believe he may have been mentioned by R.L. Wootton in the book Uncle Dick Wootton. His fullstocked rifle was reportedly made by Hoffman & Campbell, a subsidiary of the Hawken shop, and therefore essentially a Hawken rifle. The historian, Arthur Woodward, wrote a piece on Jim Waters which has been republished on the City of San Bernardino website, right here: Jim Waters
Getting back to the group photo, there is a lot to see. I blew the image up to get a better look at some of the accoutrements:
You can see Bill Holcomb's pouch and horn pretty clearly here. However, we also see how he carried the greased patches for his rifle... Strung on a cord and hanging from the front strap for his shot pouch. That circular device higher up on his chest is probably a leather percussion cap holder. I think I see a Bowie knife under his left hand. He may have been a geezer like most of us by the time this photo was taken, but by then he had a number of grizzly kills under his belt, taken with a single-shot muzzleloader, and he was likely not a geezer anybody would want to tangle with.
Anyway, this picture gives a good look at some old guns and accoutrements, and it tells us a lot about how the gear was carried. If any of you reading this see any more details that I missed, that might be of interest, by all means point them out!
Best regards,
Notchy Bob
