Uses of Fat on the Frontier
Read more to learn about the various use of fat on the American frontier.
In most crowds in modern America, fat carries with it some negative connotations. Lots of people buy low-fat foods, eat a low-fat diet, and otherwise steer clear of it. Recent experiments with the ketogenic diet have called into question whether this stigma is accurate, but as of 2014 most Americans still watched their fat intake more than anything else. While the ideal diet for modern Americans can be debated endlessly (and quite commonly is) it’s no doubt that folks on the American frontier had a completely different relationship with fat than we do.
Unlike our modern world, fat on the American frontier came at a premium. In fact, as early as the 1700’s, Spanish missions in present-day California were managing their cattle herds for production of tallow (or fat) as much as anything else. After Mexico gained its independence, the hide and tallow trade from the missions really picked up. US demand for tallow was great, not to mention the demand within the Mexican territory as well. But what were people on the frontier using fat for? Well, let’s take a look at some primary and good secondary sources to learn several uses of fat on the frontier.
Candles
One of the most common uses of fat on the frontier was to make candles. Although there are many sources on the topic, the following is an excerpt from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Farmer Boy:
“The end of butchering-time was candle-making. Mother scrubbed the big lard-kettles and filled them with bits of beef fat. Beef fat doesn’t make lard; it melts into tallow. While it was melting, Almanzo helped string the candle-molds…
When every (mold) had its wick, held straight and tight down its middle, Mother carefully poured the hot tallow. She filled every tube to the top…
All one day Almanzo helped Mother make candles. That night they had made enough candles to last till butchering-time next year.”
In a time before electricity, candles would have been an essential part of frontier living.
Lubrication
Another important use of fat on the frontier was as a lubricant. Primary sources often indicate this fact. Here is one journal entry made by Capitan Meriwether Lewis after his watch got rained on.
“It rained the greater part of the last night and this morning untill 8 OCk. the water passed through flimzy covering and wet our bed most perfectly in shot we lay in the water all the latter part of the night. unfortunately my chronometer which for greater security I have woarn in my fob for ten days past, got wet last night; it seemed a little extraordinary that every part of my breechies which were under my head, should have escaped the moisture except the fob where the time peice was. I opened it and founded it nearly filled with water which I carefully drained out exposed it to the air and wiped the works as well as I could with dry feathers after which I touched them with a little bears oil. several parts of the iron and steel works were rusted a little which I wiped with all the care in my power.”
Meriwether Lewis - May 17, 1806
With no other alternatives, you can see why Lewis would have used rendered bear fat to keep his watch working.
In another source on the subject, we again turn to Laura Ingalls Wilder, this time to her book Little House in the Big Woods. In that book, she remembers her pa using bear oil to keep his gun and traps working.
“After supper Pa brought his traps in from the shed to grease them by the fire. He rubbed them bright and greased the hinges of the jaws and the springs of the pans with a feather dipped in bear’s grease.”
Still today, living historians use bear oil to keep their primitive firearms working. Check this video out:
Medical
Yet another use of fat on the frontier was in conjunction with other resources for medicinal purposes. Here is an entry recorded by William Clark while he was on the Lewis and Clark expedition.
“we gave the Indian Chief another Sweat to-day, continuing it as long as he could bear it. in the evening he was very languid but Still to improve in the use of his limbs. the Child is recovering fast. I applied a plaster of Sarve made of the Rozen of the long leafed pine, Beas wax and Beare oil mixed, which has Subsided the inflomation entirely, the part is Considerably Swelled and hard—.”
William Clark - June 5, 1806
In 1841, trapper Rufus Sage also notes:
“The flesh of (prairie dogs) is tender and quite palatable, and their oil superior in fineness, and absence from all grosser ingredients, to that of any other known animals; it is highly valued as a medicine in certain cases.”
Rufus Sage - 1841
Food
Last but certainly not least, frontiersmen used fat in many ways related to food. Again we turn to the journal of Rufus Sage to hear him describe a tasty frontier meal.
“After butchering the greasy victim, and bringing our erratic horses back to camp, we regaled ourselves with an ample feast of bear’s liver, heart, and kidneys, basted with fat, - a dish that epicures might well covet. Then, filling a large camp-kettle with portions of the “fleece” and ribs, we allowed it to boil till the next morning, and thus prepared another delicious entertainment, such as is rarely met with in any country other than this.”
Rufus Sage - 1841
Lewis and Clark also enjoyed a little fried fish during the fall of 1805:
“one of the guard at the river guiged a Salmon Trout, which we had fried in a little Bears Oil which the Chief we passed below the narrows gave us: 〈thought this〉 this I thought one of the most delicious fish I have ever tasted.”
William Clark - October 26, 1805
Meriwether Lewis also notes that at times bear fat was consumed as part of the meal:
“our Meat being exhosted we issued a point of Bears Oil to a mess which with their boiled roots made an agreeable dish.”
William Clark - June 27, 1806
Still today there are hunters and outdoorsmen that understand the value fat contains. Here is modern hunter Steve Rinella showing how to use bear fat in the backcountry:
Hopefully, by now, you have a better understanding of the relationship frontiersmen had with fat. Unlike our modern world, there was no stigma with fat. Fat was an essential ingredient to life on the American frontier. It was used for making candles, it was the WD-40 of its time, had medicinal uses, and was used extensively in cooking. If you are reading Shinin’ Times hopefully you’ll now have a better idea of why Jemmey made the extra effort to collect the fat for winter.
