Found this old gem at a second hand store. Looks like it will have some good stories!
Interesting Information, Bob. I did a quick search on Hough and found this, so he definitely lived through muzzle loading era.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
Born | June 28, 1857 in Newton, Iowa, USA |
Died | April 30, 1923 in Evanston, Illinois, USA (heart and respiratory complications) |
Good information! Thanks!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)
Notchy Bob: Not wanting to get off track of the subject matter, but....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
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