I know all

[Duane]

I know all,mountaineers all shot Hawken rifles,they all used Green river knives and loading blocks,they wore rubber boots because the water was so darn cold,they all road quarter horsesCome on will some please just tell me that I am full of s... we need to get something going around here.

[isaac]

Oct 12, 2011 17:48:26 GMT -7 Duane said:

I know all,mountaineers all shot Hawken rifles,they all used Green river knives and loading blocks,they wore rubber boots because the water was so darn cold,they all road quarter horsesCome on will some please just tell me that I am full of s... we need to get something going around here.

Actually, I think you are spot on, Duane

IW

[Rod]

Well, we could talk about those India rubber shoes that are listed on the Fort Hall records.....beats soaking wet moccs, I'm sure ;D

Rod

[Mark]

Does anyone have an idea what these rubber shoes looked like? I have never seen an image or an interpretation of them. Mark

[Duane]

they got them from L.L Bean

[Rod]

I have no idea what they looked like---I've never seen an example from that period. You'd think that something would exist in a museum somewhere, but I don't know where. If they were reasonably common enough to be shipped out to Ft. Hall, one would think there'd be some evidence of them back east. Since Wyeth was from an area [Mass.] that has a seafaring tradition, maybe they were used there? Also, Wyeth's man at Ft. Hall was Captain Thing--being a ship's captain, perhaps he had some influence as to what was taken out for sale?

Rod

[sean]

Oct 12, 2011 17:48:26 GMT -7 Duane said:

I know all,mountaineers all shot Hawken rifles,they all used Green river knives and loading blocks,they wore rubber boots because the water was so darn cold,they all road quarter horsesCome on will some please just tell me that I am full of s... we need to get something going around here.

Always and never are the two most over used words in the English language.

Sean

[sean]

Oct 14, 2011 11:02:37 GMT -7 Rod said:

I have no idea what they looked like---I've never seen an example from that period. You'd think that something would exist in a museum somewhere, but I don't know where. If they were reasonably common enough to be shipped out to Ft. Hall, one would think there'd be some evidence of them back east. Since Wyeth was from an area [Mass.] that has a seafaring tradition, maybe they were used there? Also, Wyeth's man at Ft. Hall was Captain Thing--being a ship's captain, perhaps he had some influence as to what was taken out for sale?

Rod

Rod,

I'm sure you saw the article a while back on the India rubber products in the MOFTJ. It didn't have the shoes in it. Latex is not particularly durable stuff. It breaks down over time. I'm not aware of any that have survived.

Sean

[Rod]

I typed in 'rubber shoes 1840' into Google, and came up with a startling number of hits---although most informative ones appear to be on Google books, which with my slow dial-up connection is about impossible for me to view. Might be worth a look for some one with a faster connection.

Rod

[sean]

Did a quick scan through of this book and found a description but no pics. It said the the first India rubber shoes in the US were imported by Thomas Wales of Boston in 1825. They are described as pure gum (raw latex) slippers to stretch over a shoe. Straight lasted and one size fits all.

books.google.com/m?source=mog&gl=us#Read?id=dTINAAAAYAAJ&page_num=221

Hope the link works. I'm doing this off my phone.

Sean

[Duane]

could be they were something like Totes that were sold a few years ago...D

[sean]

I suspect they were just low top slipper with no tread.

One thing I've learned is that if you look hard enough, you can document just about anything for the period. The issue is how common it was. Chuck and I have had a lot of discussions about the concept of "common". His take is that he is not common now and wouldn't have been then. I think that wanting some uncommon, nicer things for your kit is fine as long as it passes the sniff test. If your kit is a collection of rarities from broadly different places, times, and socioeconomic strata, then the whole thing ends up like a gorgonzola, jalapeno cheeseburger served with escargo, caviar, and a Budweiser. It may be good, but you are likely the only one buying it.

Sean

[Mark]

Sean, good to see you back on the board. It has been kind of lonely.

Trouble with what we are re-enacting is even when we read the lists we do not really know. To paraphrase I quote I use often, "He who recreates the past, lies even when he tells the truth." It does not mean we cannot keep striving to improve what we play at.

Mark

[sean]

Thanks, Mark. Life sorta got in the way for the last few months.

Sean

[jasper]

Just saw this discussion about India Rubber shoes. There was an excellent article on them in "The Watchdog" about 6 years ago or so. You might could contact them www.civilwarnews.com/watchdog.html and see if they might have a back issue of that article.

At that time, I did a peddler/vendor with cart impression and carried some of these shoes in my stock. After reading the article and speaking with the author of the research article, I and he determined that Tingley Rubber's overshoes www.tingleyrubber.com/product/3/0/dress-rubber-overshoes.html, specifically the "Women's Sandal" looked very close to the original specimens. The only modification I did to them was to take a Dremel and remove the modern markings from the bottom.

There is some more info, albeit a little later time period, but still good info about rubber shoes with some period images of such.

steamboatarabiamuseum.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

Great discussions on this board, enjoy them very much and glad I found it!

Chris Utley
South Union Mills
www.southunionmills.com