MtMan-List: Packs

[Casapy123@aol.com]

Another refernce to packs is made by James O. Pattie.  On Dec. 12, 1824,
while on the Gila River, Pattie says: "The next morning, accompanied by
another man, I began to ascend the band of the stream to explore, and
ascertain if beaver were to be found still higher, leaving the remainder of
the party to trap slowly up, until they should meet us on our return.  We
threw a pack over our shoulders, containing a part of the beavers we had
killed, as we made our way on foot."  . . . "We made but little advance this
day, as bluffs came in so close to the river, as to compell us to cross it 36
times.  We were obliged to scramble along under the cliffs, sometimes upon
our hands and knees through a thick tangle of grape-vines and underbrush."  

This entry indicates a pack that was held snuggly enough to the body to allow
hands-free scrambling. 

Jim Hardee
AMM #1676