Maximilian's clothing notes

[Rod]

Volume two of Prince Maximilian's journals just came out last month from the University of Oklahoma Press. This volume is more interesting (to me, anyway) than volume 1, as it covers the trip upriver from St. Louis to Ft. McKenzie, with stops at Ft. Lookout, Ft. Pierre, Ft. Clark, and Ft. Union.

South of Ft. Pierre, Max had this description of an engagé named Seroux:

Like all men in this remote wilderness, he looked like a wild man, with his bare neck, an old hat, and a rough coat. He was tanned and had a long beard, Indian shoes and leather leggins, a leather belt, a broad knife, and over his shoulders a powder horn and a shot bag. This is how most of these engagés look; they often wear coats that are made from woolen blankets.

At Ft. Union, Max noted:

People mostly make use of Indian moccasins, twelve pair of which cost one dollar, if the leather for them is provided. Most people dress partly in leather, which is a big savings for a hunter frequenting the forests. Other articles of clothing are expensive, since the company must charge much higher prices for its goods than the cost in settled regions because of the long and difficult transportation.


Rod

[Chuck Burrows]

Rod - thanks for those quotes!!! Guess not all of the "locals" disliked dog faces..........

[Rod]

I'd suspect the trader dealing with customers might want to be shaven and well dressed, but an engagé didn't have anyone to impress, and could dress and wear a beard as he pleased. The reference to a "long beard" is pretty interesting---most artists that painted guys wearing beards in that era seem to have had them rather closely cropped.

Rod

[jeffp]

Rod-

My friends and I have discussed this same subject before;
it could be that they (the trappers) trimmed up their beards or shaved
outright for Rendezvous, seeing as how the "ladies" were used to clean shaven faces,
they also may have frankly been tired of all that hair on their faces from the winter season. Interesting speculation anyway, since you really don't see much regarding
the "whys" of this in many accounts.

[Rod]

Very likely---a guy out on the trtapline might not be shaving too diligently, but would clean up before rendezvous (where Miller would be around to paint him ). It's also interesting to go through the sales records at rendezvous or at the various forts, and see who was buying shaving soap.

I've come to believe that, at least by the 1830s, beards or not tended to be a personal decision, not necessarily dictated by fashion back east---and of course, beards were coming into fashion, to the extent that by the 1860s they were almost mandatory.

Rod

[Mark]

Here is another one from Townsend:

Such things as spare waistcoats, shaving boxes, soap, and stockings, have been ejected from our trunks, and we are content to dress, as we live, in a style of primitive simplicity. In fact, the whole appearance of our party is sufficiently primitive; many of the men are dressed entirely in deerskins, without a single article of civilized manufacture about them; the old trappers and hunters wear their hair flowing on their shoulders, and their large grizzled beards would scarcely disgrace a Bedouin of the desert.

Mark

[jeffp]

Not shaving in the wilderness was nothing new; Upon Boone's return
to "civilization" after more than a years absence, he attended a dance/frolic
where he actually danced with his wife Rebbecca unrecognized, and in a fully
bearded state, before taking leave and shaving. Upon returning to the dance,
where he was at once recognized by his beloved.

I believe it was Kaspar Manskar who also came upon Boone in the Kentucky
wilderness, naked & bearded, lying in a meadow singing.


So these guys weren't shaving as regularly, as some, and especially
as regular as those in the settlements did. Although there were some
men like Jed Smith were the exception to the rule.

[isaac]

In the Maximilian quote... what is "long." Remember how horrible long the Beatles hair was when they were on Ed Sullivan in '64. I don't because I wasn't born yet BUT... I am told that many folks were freaking out because it was so horrible long... I have seen photos and it didn't look to long to me. www.edsullivan.com/artists/the-beatles/#

How about this... “Mr. Chaboillez had on a Capot, which had been once white, a good leather Brix, & a weather-betten Hat, with a stout black Beard of nine day’s growth – Mr. Henry differed only in the Capot for he had on a corduroy Jacket…” - Charles Mckenzie 1806 (in Early Fur Trade in the Northern Plains p. 285)

A STOUT beard... of nine day's growth. That wouldn't be to darn long, even if you were a hairy SOB.