Guns of the Mountain Men - Primary Sources
Browse this collection of resources to learn about the guns of the mountain men.
Mountain men have become the American icon for wilderness survivors. They were men who prowled the unmapped Rocky Mountains for the first half of the 19th century. They moved nomadically from stream to stream in search of beaver “plews.” There’s was a life where oftentimes a blanket or buffalo robe spread on the ground was the only shelter they had. It was a here today, gone tomorrow, sort of life. Even today, this type of nomadic life affords little in terms of material goods. Simply put, nomads don’t own many things. Even if they wanted to own things, it’s not practical to constantly pack and move lots of gear every few days. Instead, nomads around the world pick a few important tools and learn to make do with them. In that regard, the guns of the mountain men were some of the most important tools they owned.
Just like firearms today, the guns of the mountain men served a variety of purposes. It’s hard to overstate how important firearms were, and are, to life in the wilderness. Mountain men often used their guns as tools of personal protection. In a wild and raw land, it wasn’t uncommon to have to defend your life and your property. In addition to personal protection, mountain men needed a firearm that could “make meat.” Aside from a few basic food items like coffee, sugar, and salt, the mountain men basically lived off the fat of the land. In order to do so, they needed to be able to procure food, particularly meat, regularly. One method they employed to stay fed was trapping. Of course, they ate the beaver they pulled from the streams. Although they did trap for their food, they also hunted extensively. That’s when a mountain man’s gun became his best tool for filling his stomach.
When it comes to mountain men, there are a lot of sources out there on the subject of firearms. It’s a topic that interests many people. Part of that reason is that many outdoorsmen still enjoy the tradition of hunting for a portion of our food. People also enjoy firearms and appreciate their rich history. Anyone with experience in traditional muzzleloaders can also share an experience with the many hunters of days gone by. In many ways, traditional muzzleloaders are similar enough to those old mountain man guns that the experience is more or less the same. That connection to the past is an allure for many people.
Like many subjects in history, the guns of mountain men are a topic that you can think about in different ways. The first way is to study the specifics. You can learn about all the specific guns they had access to, how they worked, and the particulars of each. Another way of thinking about it is as more of a concept, or a “zoomed out” approach. Basically, this approach can help us wrap our minds around the more common themes of a time period. In this article, we’ll take a look at some primary and secondary sources describing the basic guns of the mountain men. For the most part, we’ll be focusing on the “zoomed out” approach. Now, let’s browse some primary sources on the subject.
Primary Sources
One of the best ways to learn about the guns of the mountain men is to research the primary sources. In this case, there is probably no better source than the trade inventories of the time.
Business Records
Business records are one type of primary source that people can neglect. However, they can offer a good glimpse into the reality of the time. As mentioned, these documents only show one part of the world, but they show a share of what guns traders were bringing west. This line will take you to the American Mountain Men online archive of business records. If you’re interested, I’d encourage you to browse them for a very detailed look at the subject.
If you don’t browse them, here are some big takeaways.
First, the guns of the mountain men were mostly flintlocks. Many records indicate a large number of flints were sold over the years. You can go to about any of the years and find gun flints in large numbers. As a result, if you want to imagine the most common gun at rendezvous, it was a flintlock. That being said, percussion caps did begin showing up by 1836. Percussion caps were a convenient new technology that made firearms more dependable. However, like any new technology, it wasn’t quickly adopted by everyone. Long story short, in the 1820s and early 1830s, mountain man guns were almost universally flintlocks. However, by the end of the 1830s percussion caps had gained a foothold.
Another big takeaway from the business records is the different types of guns they identify. From what I see, it appears that Northwest Trade Guns were the most common in many years. In fact, in 1836, there were over 100 NW guns listed. For those who may not know, the Northwest Trade Gun was a large caliber smoothbore. It’s worth noting that not all guns in these trade inventories were destined for mountain men. Native people came to rendezvous and traded as well. Northwest guns were very popular with Native people, so a good portion of the inventory probably probably went to them.
After NW Trade Guns, there is a smattering of other guns listed. In several of the inventories, 1837 for example, the Hawken rifle appears to have been common. Several of the inventories also identify American Rifles as well.
Finally, in at least one of the accounts (1825 if you’re interested) several dozen pistols are listed. Although pistols don’t show up in great numbers, they were certainly one of the guns of the mountain men.
Journals
Another set of primary sources are the journals the trappers left behind. Here are a few different examples.
One from Osborne Russell’s famed Journal of a Trapper at a point where he is describing a trapper’s gear.
“He then mounts and places his rifle before him on his Saddle.”
Notice he says “rifle.” Throughout the document, Russell uses the words gun and rifle at different points. One might assume, he is then referring to a rifle being commonly used.
Another comes from Charles Larpenteur.
“I then drew my pistol from under my pillow and placed my gun near at hand.”
Larpenteur also mentions pistols at other points in his record.
In all journals, firearms are constantly mentioned.
Secondary Source
A secondary source is a source that is made using a primary source. There are lots of good resources about firearms mountain men used. One I’ve used quite a bit is Carl P. Russell’s Firearms, Traps, and Tools of the Mountain Men. This book was first published in 1966, and it has been used for over a half-century by historians interested in mountain men. Russell offers a deep dive into each of the topics. If you’re interested in any of the tools used by mountain men, you might consider purchasing it. When it comes to firearms, this is what Russell has to say. Russell breaks his study into different categories and we will follow his breaks.
Rifles
In this section, Russell states that “…many of Lisa’s men were born and bred to the use of the ‘Kentucky’ rifle, and it is a foregone conclusion that the contemporary references to the ‘rifle’ in the hands of Lisa’s men usually meant that they carried the long rifle.”
For those of you unfamiliar, Manuel Lisa was one of the first leaders of a fur expedition up the Missouri River. His first expedition took place in 1807, and he made several more expeditions in the 1810s to 1820. The Kentucky long rifle he mentions is the often glorified rifle of the eastern frontier. These guns were developed in Pennsylvania in the mid-1700s and earned the name “long rifle” from two attributes. First, with an average barrel length of 44”, they were long. Secondly, the rifling grooves of the bore were an improvement over the smoothbores commonly used. One thing that seems worth noting about the Kentucky rifle is that they were sometimes made in smaller calibers. According to this source, calibers as small as .28 were used. That doesn’t mean that every early firearm on the Missouri was a Kentucky, but they were probably prevalent.
The Plains Rifle
Next, Russell moves on to explain the ascent of what he calls the “Plains Rifle.” There were a few things that set the Plains Rifle apart. First, the barrel was shortened to around 34 inches. Likely, this is in part due to the increased caliber size. Russell states that by the late mountain-man period .53 caliber was common.
So, why the decreased barrel length for increased caliber? The answer is that to withstand the increased pressure in the bore, barrels were constructed with thicker walls. This, of course, increased the weight. To adjust for the heavier barrels, they were shortened. Another feature of the Plains Rifle that became common was the half-stock design. Again, this may have been in part in an attempt to decrease the weight. By the later mountain-man period, a Plains rifle was probably more common than a Kentucky design.
Trade Arms: The Northwest Gun
As mentioned in the primary sources, the Northwest Trade Gun was one of the most common guns of the mountain men. The Northwest Gun was a flintlock, with a long barrel, that was a smooth bore. Basically, it was a shotgun. They were likely so common because they were so versatile. A trapper could load one with shot for some situations, and then load it with a large caliber ball for big game hunting. As mentioned, these were very popular with Native people. For interested people, you may enjoy this video from the Wyoming State Museum on the Northwest Gun. Here is a link to a good article on these popular guns.
Trade Arms: Indian Rifles
Next, Russell moves on to discuss what he calls Indian Rifles. He notes that at the time of his writing, little research had been done in this category. He offered a brief section of this chapter about how the US government purchased firearms for trade with Native people. Partly, he says, this was to arm some members of the tribes to be “meat-getters.” Another reason for the purchase was to fulfill treaty obligations. As time went on, the government demanded more rifles to meet their obligations. In the late 1830s alone, the US government purchased over 11,000 Indian rifles. Generally speaking, these followed the same trends as the guns of the mountain men. At first, they resembled Kentucky rifles, but by the late 1830s, they were more of a Plain’s style.
Handguns on the Beaver Front
Finally, Russell gives attention to the handguns used by the trappers. As already noted in the primary sources, there were handguns taken out West. According to Russell, “The personal handguns of the mountain man varied with the whims of the individuals. Some were flintlocks, some were cap-and-ball, but the majority were single-barreled smoothbores of the horse-pistol (‘dragoon’) type.”
He also goes on to write, “Ideally, the caliber of the pistol was the same as the rifle or musket carried by the owner, so that a single bullet mold would serve both guns.”
Many historians of the frontier will notice the similarity here with the 1873 Winchester later in history. It was just more practical.
Admittedly, this article on the guns of the mountain men is not comprehensive. Like many topics in history, you can spend months researching the details of each of the different guns. That being said, hopefully, this article has helped paint an accurate general view of the subject in a way that helps the average person get a better sense of the firearms that were used. Understanding the guns the mountain men used can not only help us better understand that history, but it can also offer us some things to consider when purchasing our own firearms.
