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The Pioneer West

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Joined
Aug 27, 2010
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Location
The Woods
Found this old gem at a second hand store. Looks like it will have some good stories!
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Great find!

I'm familiar with the writing of a few of those authors, but there are a lot of them whose work I have never read. I've never heard of that book before, but it looks like a terrific collection of excerpts from first-person accounts. With a publication date of 1924, the stories have undoubtedly not been "sanitized," and should retain their original flavor.

Thanks for showing the book!

Notchy Bob
 
Once again, I would like to thank @bigmac for posting this. While I prefer books made of actual paper, and may try to find a copy of this one, a lot of the books that interest folks like us have been digitized and put on the web to read for free, and this is one of them: The Pioneer West

If you read nothing else that's in it, by all means read "A Frontier Duel," by Emerson Hough (page 115). This tells the story of a remarkable shooting match between two old mountain men, Bill Jackson and Jim Bridger. The author actually knew a thing or two about muzzleloading rifles, and described the fellows wiping out the bores with tow and a worm before and after shooting. He knew about silver blade front sights and double set triggers. Probably most remarkable of all, he had Bridger shooting a Hawken, and Jackson with a Virginia rifle by Sheets! Bridger probably had several rifles over the course of his lifetime, but his Hawken is the best known. It still exists, in the collection of the Montana Historical Society:

Jim Bridger Hawken.jpg


There really was a mountain man named David Jackson, who was from Virginia, and there was sort of a dynasty of gunmakers named Sheets or Sheetz, also from Virginia and West Virginia. This is an early longrifle attributed to Phillip Sheetz:

Phillip Sheetz Rifle.jpg


...and a percussion rifle, circa 1840, by Henry Sheets:

Henry Sheets Rifle.jpg


There are some continuity errors in the story. As noted, there was a David Jackson, but I could not find a record, in a quick review, of a Bill Jackson. Jim Bridger and David Jackson were both members of Ashley's Hundred, and they would have known each other. However, the story, "A Frontier Duel," depicts both of them as older men in 1848, with Bridger evidently having left the mountains for good. Bridger would have been about 44 years old in 1848, and he didn't really retire to the farm in Missouri until about 1875. David Jackson, on the other hand, was a few years older than Bridger, but died in 1837. So, we could pick the story to pieces based on these historical discontinuities, but it was, after all, a bit of fiction. The author got enough right to make it a very entertaining read.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob
 
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I love these contemporary accounts. They reveal so much more than just the words used. I just ordered a paperback edition. The Kindle price is reasonable at 3 bucks and the free link is nice, but this is the kind of book I like to hold in my hands. If our local used book store had a copy from 1924 (I checked) I would jump on it.

Jeff
 
Once again, I would like to thank @bigmac for posting this. While I prefer books made of actual paper, and may try to find a copy of this one, a lot of the books that interest folks like us have been digitized and put on the web to read for free, and this is one of them: The Pioneer West

If you read nothing else that's in it, by all means read "A Frontier Duel," by Emerson Hough (page 115). This tells the story of a remarkable shooting match between two old mountain men, Bill Jackson and Jim Bridger. The author actually knew a thing or two about muzzleloading rifles, and described the fellows wiping out the bores with tow and a worm before and after shooting. He knew about silver blade front sights and double set triggers. Probably most remarkable of all, he had Bridger shooting a Hawken, and Jackson with a Virginia rifle by Sheets! Bridger probably had several rifles over the course of his lifetime, but his Hawken is the best known. It still exists, in the collection of the Montana Historical Society:

View attachment 90547

There really was a mountain man named David Jackson, who was from Virginia, and there was sort of a dynasty of gunmakers named Sheets or Sheetz, also from Virginia and West Virginia. This is an early longrifle attributed to Phillip Sheetz:

View attachment 90548

...and a percussion rifle, circa 1840, by Henry Sheets:

View attachment 90549

There are some continuity errors in the story. As noted, there was a David Jackson, but I could not find a record, in a quick review, of a Bill Jackson. Jim Bridger and David Jackson were both members of Ashley's Hundred, and they would have known each other. However, the story, "A Frontier Duel," depicts both of them as older men in 1848, with Bridger evidently having left the mountains for good. Bridger would have been about 44 years old in 1848, and he didn't really retire to the farm in Missouri until about 1875. David Jackson, on the other hand, was a few years older than Bridger, but died in 1837. So, we could pick the story to pieces based on these historical discontinuities, but it was, after all, a bit of fiction. The author got enough right to make it a very entertaining read.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob
Interesting Information, Bob. I did a quick search on Hough and found this, so he definitely lived through muzzle loading era.

Emerson Hough
Biography


Born June 28, 1857 in Newton, Iowa, USA
Died April 30, 1923 in Evanston, Illinois, USA (heart and respiratory complications)
 
Interesting Information, Bob. I did a quick search on Hough and found this, so he definitely lived through muzzle loading era.

Emerson Hough
Biography


Born June 28, 1857 in Newton, Iowa, USA
Died April 30, 1923 in Evanston, Illinois, USA (heart and respiratory complications)
Good information! Thanks!

Also, I may have made an error in post #3, above. I looked up Jim Bridger's biography, and found he actually did go back to Missouri and start farming in about 1850. However, that only lasted a short time, until duty and the mountains called him back. He worked for a number of years as an Army scout, with occasional short stints back in Missouri, at his farm. He returned to the farm for good in the early 1870's, with failing eyesight and declining health. So, maybe Mr. Hough was not so far off, in that Jim at least tried to quit the mountains at an earlier age than I thought.

It was a great story.

Notchy Bob
 
Once again, I would like to thank @bigmac for posting this. While I prefer books made of actual paper, and may try to find a copy of this one, a lot of the books that interest folks like us have been digitized and put on the web to read for free, and this is one of them: The Pioneer West

If you read nothing else that's in it, by all means read "A Frontier Duel," by Emerson Hough (page 115). This tells the story of a remarkable shooting match between two old mountain men, Bill Jackson and Jim Bridger. The author actually knew a thing or two about muzzleloading rifles, and described the fellows wiping out the bores with tow and a worm before and after shooting. He knew about silver blade front sights and double set triggers. Probably most remarkable of all, he had Bridger shooting a Hawken, and Jackson with a Virginia rifle by Sheets! Bridger probably had several rifles over the course of his lifetime, but his Hawken is the best known. It still exists, in the collection of the Montana Historical Society:

View attachment 90547

There really was a mountain man named David Jackson, who was from Virginia, and there was sort of a dynasty of gunmakers named Sheets or Sheetz, also from Virginia and West Virginia. This is an early longrifle attributed to Phillip Sheetz:

View attachment 90548

...and a percussion rifle, circa 1840, by Henry Sheets:

View attachment 90549

There are some continuity errors in the story. As noted, there was a David Jackson, but I could not find a record, in a quick review, of a Bill Jackson. Jim Bridger and David Jackson were both members of Ashley's Hundred, and they would have known each other. However, the story, "A Frontier Duel," depicts both of them as older men in 1848, with Bridger evidently having left the mountains for good. Bridger would have been about 44 years old in 1848, and he didn't really retire to the farm in Missouri until about 1875. David Jackson, on the other hand, was a few years older than Bridger, but died in 1837. So, we could pick the story to pieces based on these historical discontinuities, but it was, after all, a bit of fiction. The author got enough right to make it a very entertaining read.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob
Notchy Bob: Not wanting to get off track of the subject matter, but....
Kudos for mentioning we folk who like the feel of paper in our hands when we read!
I, for one, can barely read the print on a newspaper page, let alone sit in front of a digital screen and stare at it all day! I'm NOT one of the new generation. I'm still an old fart with old fart ways and beliefs.
Digital will NEVER replace paper...for ME. I never taught from a digital screen, only from text books or other printed materials.
God bless:
Two Feathers
 

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