Introduction

[isaac]

Hello all. I am pretty new here and figured I would introduce myself. My name is Isaac Walters and I live in Western WI on the Trempealeau River about 40 mi. from the Mississippi. I have been reenacting for a bit over a dozen years and focus on WI history (check out my website to see what I all do). I recently came across this site with a renewed intrest in Western Fur Trade.

I started into this "hobby" with an interest in mountain men, but quickly got away from it since I live in WI and wanted to do local history. I was for a short while a member of the AMM (Bossloper #1763) but got out as I felt bad since I didn't do a western impression. My interest in western stuff started to be picked when I first started seeing some of the work of Rex A. Norman and others that were putting out good info. This was right after my father sold the dairy herd and started a horse stable. The thought of taking a horse into a western rendezvous then became a bit of a dream (and is still a goal... bucketlist type of thing).

As I have learned more about history here in WI (and spent 4 years working for the NWCo HQ of Grand Portage as an interpreter) I started to see that there was a lot of back and forth out into the west from out my way... even pretty early. Also, I went out to the Rockies this summer with my wife and have been bitten by a bit of a bug and am now reinterested in the west.

ANYWAY... short story long... I am here and excited to learn.

Isaac

[Cody]

Welcome

[isaac]

Sept 7, 2010 8:47:53 GMT -7 isaac said:

I have been reenacting for a bit over a dozen years and focus on WI history (check out my website to see what I all do).

S'pose I should have added a link... frenchinwisconsin.yolasite.com/

[Iche Iia]

Isaac, Howdy-Do!

My name is Iche Iia which is Crow Indian for Foot Mouth which is where mine usually ends up.

Glad to see you with us and hope you continue on with your fur trade thinking.

[Rod]

Good to see you here, Isaac. You're certainly correct about the eastern-western exchange and blurred lines between them. Plenty of Red River Métis working the western fur trade, the NWC and HBC trading in central North Dakota in the late 1700s, even the la Verendrye's out here in 1738.

Rod

[pathfinder]

Isaac

by my observation and a number of photos I have seen, Isaac is the consament living historian. He will compliment the growth and development of this site, as well be an aid to anyone researching and developing their own persona. It's good to have you here Isaac.............this goes back to my original roots.

[sean]

Welcome, Isaac. Glad you joined us and I hope you'll let us know how your bear hunt turns out.

Sean

[isaac]

Thanks everyone!! Doug, you are making me blush. Sean, I will certainly let you all know how the hunt goes. I leave tomorrow after work!

IW

[pathfinder]

Isaac

will you be wearing that Bender topper as part of your western fur trade impression?

.........also where did travel in the Rockies?

Did you say what you were hunting the bear with?

Doug

[isaac]

Sept 8, 2010 11:05:36 GMT -7 @pathfinder said:

will you be wearing that Bender topper as part of your western fur trade impression?

Hadn't thought of that... I guess it depends on where I portray it (assuming I get a chance to) what period we are doing, and what I am portraying... I am thinking French Canadien mixed blood... likely Red River originally...

Sept 8, 2010 11:05:36 GMT -7 @pathfinder said:

.........also where did travel in the Rockies?

We were in Canada. We went across MN and ND to Bismark and then north up into Saskatchewan. Across into Alberta, through Calgary and then spent 9 days bumming around Banff (park not city), Yoho, Kootenay, and Jasper. Then came home through Edmonton, Saskatoon and back. 11 1/2 days = 4, 230 mi.

Sept 8, 2010 11:05:36 GMT -7 @pathfinder said:

Did you say what you were hunting the bear with?

repro 1730 Fusil de chasse from Tulle made by myself and Jai Mather.

Isaac

[pathfinder]

repro 1730 Fusil de chasse from Tulle made by myself and Jai Mather.

Isaac

My very first bear was taken with GRRW Leman .58 cal. full stock flinter. At short range, not a problem.

11 1/2 days = 4, 230 mi.


I'll be taking a similar trip to San Antonio next month...hmmmm, rather take a beating! ..............but I got a new grandson to meet!

I have been to the Canadian border...but as my pass port has expired, turned around and came home, about 3 hours from where I live.

[sean]

Doug,

If you are coming through the Texas Panhandle, let me know and I'll buy you a cup of coffee.

Isaac,

I took a similar trip many years ago across the Canadian Plains to the Rockies and then down through MT and back. I'm originally darned near one of your neighbors (a down-state FIB). Left the midwest in the early nineties with a short stint up around Duluth after that. I've been an extranjero all over the SW for the better part of 16 years now. Pretty much lived and worked in every state in this region now. BTW, its nice to see a history teacher doing reenactments. I bet that stuff could be fun for your students. I'm a wildlife biologist... and a closet historian. I try to do as much education stuff for kids as I can.

Sean

[pathfinder]

Sean

Where exactly on the "Staked Plains"?

Doug

[sean]

Doug,
I'm in Lubbock. I'm a recent addition to the state of Texas. Moved over here two years ago from NM and still refer to myself sometimes as an 'extranjero cibolero in Comancheria'. However, the buffalo hunting has been decidedly poor.

Sean

[pathfinder]

.............but better than Northern Idaho!