5 Archetypical Frontier Skills that Will Make You a Better Outdoorsman
Develop these 5 archetypical frontier skills, and you’ll follow in the footsteps of America’s great outdoorsmen.
The past few years, I’ve been turning a question over in my mind. That question is, “How does studying the American frontier help me in my own life?” Personally, I believe that to make history meaningful, it has to help people’s lives in the present and future. That being said, I do acknowledge that at times history is worth studying just because some things are important to know. Information about the past helps us know where we came from. It gives people a story, and that is one important outcome of history. However, it doesn’t have to stop there. History should also help you live a better life in practical ways. This is the sort of thing I’ve been thinking about.
When studying the American frontier, the period is typically broken into different eras. For example, units of study might be about the mountain men, the Oregon Trail, cattle drives, the Plains Indian Wars, or homesteading. This is what I’d call a “zoomed-in” approach. It’s worth zooming in on these topics because they were different eras with their own hallmarks. It’s how most history classes, shows, documentaries, and articles focus in order to address a specific topic. On the other hand, if you take the entire 19th-century American frontier as one topic, you’ll see there are some common threads that run throughout. This “zoomed-out” approach can provide you with an understanding of more general themes that made up the American frontier. In my mind, if you find similar themes throughout the entire time period, you could define those things as archetypical. In other words, they were the things all frontiersmen shared across time and place. It’s in this “zoomed-out” frame of reference that I’ve approached this article.
It also may be important to emphasize that my focus has been specifically on skills of the outdoors. Like many of you, I most enjoy my time spent outdoors. As an outdoorsman, I like to consider myself fairly competent but have still been working to learn more and more. Studying frontier skills, or “survival skills”, is a good way to build a good foundation of outdoor skills. Here is an article I wrote on why a person might want to build a skill-set of traditional skills. The next step in the thought process is the article you are reading, It looks at what frontier skills are worth learning.
At this point, it might be worth a quick recap. This article addresses archetypical frontier skills of the 19th century, in terms of what outdoor skills are still relavent in the modern world. These skills span place, cultures, and time. Now that we’re all on the same page, let’s dive in.
Firearm Skills
First off, firearms skills were almost universal across the entire frontier period. It would be hard to find a topic of study where firearms did not play a significant role. Partly, that’s because firearms were so central to daily life on the frontier. Guns were and are tools. These tools were/are used to feed and protect people, and, at times, served other functions as well. Although firearm technology changed dramatically during the 19th century, at the end of the day, they were still guns.
At this point, it might be worth interjecting addressing the modern argument that guns weren’t carried all the time. While, it’s true that guns were not allowed everywhere, all the time, on the frontier, they were still universally used and most people were more or less competent with them. That being said, there were plenty of accidents when it came to firearms. Today we benefit from improved firearm safety and education, and that is a good thing.
People interested in frontier skills today might spend time developing skills and knowledge related to firearms. This is one area loads of people are likely to be competent. If you’re not, and you spend significant time outdoors, it might be worth becoming comfortable with a gun in the near future. Frontiersmen carried guns for a variety of reasons, but one reason was so that they had one when they needed it. Even in our ultra-safe modern world, there are times when a gun is a tool you’ll need. Some things never change, and being handy with firearms, whether modern or primitive, is one of them.
Here are some primary source images showing the widespread use of firearms.
Animal Handling
Animal handling is another frontier skill that might not jump to your mind. However, having the ability to handle animals was another skill frontiersmen had in common. Out West, horses and mules were undoubtedly the most important animals to be familiar with. Mostly, this is due to the geography of the region. Space was a larger adversary out west than it was in the East. To overcome that adversary, people needed horses or mules. Horses and mules allowed people to move greater distances, at a faster rate, and do more work than on foot. Simply put, out West, a man without a horse wasn’t a man.
Horse handling skills are still prevalent today, but for a smaller percentage of the population. Horses are big, require room to move, are expensive to buy and feed, and require expensive equipment to haul. However, they still offer the same advantages as they did over a century ago. Like all things that are true, horses’ ability to withstand the test of time proves their utility. If you’d like to carry on a frontier tradition, learning your way around horses is important.
Dogs were the other animal commonly found on the Western frontier. Though not quite as universal as horses, dogs were certainly a noticeable part of life. Dogs offered a number of traits that made them useful companions. First, dogs possess senses that complement human senses for hunting. They have an excellent sense of smell and superior speed. Dogs also served as watchmen and protectors in a place where safety wasn’t guaranteed. As with dogs today, people trained them for a variety of tasks suited to their specific lives. In today’s world, it is easier for most people to have a dog than it is to have a horse. The big question seems to be, what breed of dog best suits your lifestyle and needs? We’re lucky to have such a variety of well-bred and talented dogs. Whatever you want to do, there is a dog for the purpose.
Click on the primary source images below to scroll through them.
Survival Skills
Frontiersmen also had to possess a set of survival skills. Many specific skills changed based on time and place. However, regardless of where they were, they still had to be competent in a few areas.
First, they had to be able to make a fire. During the 19th century, this ranged from friction fires to matches. Although lighters were invented during the 19th century, they were not widely available. Just like today, fires were used for cooking, staying warm, safety, and circling around. Remember, not all frontiersmen were “super survivors,” and many perished because they could not get a fire going. Today, there is a wide variety of emergency firestarters available to help you survive where they died. At a minimum, it would be wise to use and carry these.
Knowing how to shelter yourself is another important skill. Keep in mind, shelter building isn’t always the assembly of a structure. Sometimes, it is as simple as wrapping yourself in a buffalo robe or putting a saddle over your head in a hailstorm. Knowing how to protect your body from the threats of nature is important today as it ever has been. At times, this might be an actual shelter, and at others, it might be dressing appropriately for the weather.
The final survival skill this article will discuss is navigation. You don’t need to be reminded that people of the frontier lived in a time before electronics. However, you might appreciate a reminder that many lived in a time before accurate maps were widely available. As a result, they had to get from Point A to Point B using basic navigation skills. Things like knowing north, understanding how rivers work, and a general understanding of nature all came into play. For example, mustangers on the Texas plains understood that wild horses spread mesquite seeds. They also knew that mustangs generally traveled less than 15-20 miles from water. As a result, they knew that if they were on the waterless plains, and started seeing mesquite trees, that meant there was likely adequate water somewhere nearby. Nature is nature, and its habits do not change as quickly as ours. If we learn some of those habits, we can use that information to travel without being burdened by electronics.
Hunting Skills
Another frontier skill set that was ubiquitous across the frontier was related to meat. Before beginning, it’s important to realize that some people were strictly hunter-gatherers, some were semi-sedentary, and others were sedentary. No matter their lifestyle, all frontiersmen at some point needed meat in their diet. While some frontiersmen raised their own meat, many of them were familiar with hunting.
When it came to meat, there were different ways of getting it. You could hunt it, trap it, or fish for it. It could be small game or large game, but at some point, almost every frontiersman had to know how to get their own source of protein without depending on someone else. It’s worth noting that this is not the same with farmed goods. For example, lots of mountain men purchased flour or sugar, and they did not need to know how to grow it. The same cannot be said for protein. Although at times frontiersmen could, and did, trade for meat, being able to “make meat” was a skill they all possessed.
If you live in the US today, we are fortunate to still have the ability to hunt, fish, and (in most states) trap. There are lots of different ways to pursue the variety of animals living in North America. If you’d like to sharpen your frontier skills, any of these activities is a good way to connect with that tradition.
Medical Skills
The final skillset that frontiersmen had to have was a basic understanding of at least folk remedies. By definition, there were little to no medical services on the frontier. That meant, if you had an accident or got sick, you, or those around you, had to try and handle it. We all have heard horror stories of frontier medicine, and realize it does not compare to our modern medical achievements, but knowing basic First Aid is something important. As with many of these other skill sets, there are a variety of products you can use to help you take care of yourself. You’ll never hurt yourself by having a few of the basics, but denying modern medicine altogether may not be the wisest choice.
Conclusion
It seems worth reiterating that this article is a “zoomed out” view of the American frontier. It helps us to look for common themes over a long time span. However, the details of these skills can get vastly different if you choose to “zoom in” on one particular era. For example, the art of handling a horse varied greatly between the mountain men and the Californio horsemen. But, at the end of the day, they all accomplished the task.
Hopefully, you found this list of archetypical frontier skills helpful and informative. It was written for someone interested in frontier living that is curious about how those skills are relevant in today’s world. In my mind, despite the time difference, if you are an outdoorsman these 5 skills are still worth your time to develop. As you develop yourself more and more, you’ll not only connect with the past, but you’ll make yourself a more well-rounded outdoorsman in the present.
