Re: MtMan-List: Pack Cloth

[Dale Nelson <"dnelson@wizzards.net"@wizzards.net>]

Rick Williams wrote:
> 
> In looking over the "INventory of goods at the 1825 Rendezvous..." on
> Dean's website the next to last entry is "1  pack  pack cloths".

My quick guess based on having been a packer long long ago is he was
talking about what we'd call "pack tarps."  A tarp on a pack load keeps
off rain and dust, plus it helps tie the load together.  The "lash rope"
actually ties the load together, using one of several "hitches" ie:
diamond, box or squaw hitch.  In my experience I've used the tarp to
help keep small stuff in place without the lash rope passing right over
it.  The rope doesn't tie the load on the animal, that would be
impossible.  The load stays on by being balanced. The pack saddle
riggin' has a "breast collar" that keeps the load from sliding back, and
a "crupper or a britchin" keeps it from sliding forward.  On a properly
packed animal the "cinch" or "girth" don't have to be tight for the load
to stay on.  In fact the end of a long day will find the "lash cinch"
and the saddle cinch both hanging loose under the animal.  What are pack
tarps good for besides packing?  Some of my most comfortable beds in the
high country were made with pack tarps and saddle blankets underneath,
my bedroll, topped off with a pack tarp.
	I guess I'll put my two bits in on this issue also.  All this talk
about cruppers and britchin's is cutting fine hairs.  Both have been in
common use ever sense animals have been put to work by humans.  If
someone wants to look long and hard enough they'll find a britchin in
the mountains.  It's a more a matter of personal choice -- except a
crupper takes lots less leather, therefore maybe the saddle was a little
less money which could have been an influence for more crupper equipped
saddles, but there were too many people that didn't fall under Miller's
brush that had livestock in the mountains for there never to have been a
britchin.  How about all them guys out of the Mexican influenced trade,
like Carson etc. -- I'm afraid if a guy wanted to feed someone a
britchin it might well be one of those really big ones off a Mexican
aparajo saddle.  Miller never painted one of those, but then he wasn't
there was he?  I'm not trying to pick an arguement, and I'm not trying
to prove anything because I haven't researched proof, I'm just trying to
point out that -- well -- put it this way, if the donkey Mary rode to
Bethlehem was saddled it no doubt either had a crupper or a britchin,
and with both in common use for at least 2000 years, one would expect to
see both used.
	Remember, Spanish/Mexican saddles in the United States were something
new in the 1830's.  They caught on very quickly in the western trade,
and there are two overlapping cultures that need to be explored when
talking about horse stuff and authenticity even though the acceptence of
Mexican gear looks like it's a one way street pretty much running from
Taos and Santa Fe to St. Louis and then up the Missouri and west.
				Dale Nelson