Re: MtMan-List: direction?

["Kurt Westenbarger" <kwesten@wyellowstone.com>]

Exactly!  But just as we can't say ocean boaters and river rafters of
today all know or agree to the "rules", I don't beleive we can say that
all trappers & traders did - whatever those rules may have been.  Such
as:  would Osbourne Russell, who spent some time on an ocean going vessel,
refer to right and left bank in the same way Jim Bridger, who worked a
river ferry for a while, would.   Or for that matter would Manuel Lisa
and William Ashely seperated as they are by  a few years on the timeline
use the same reference?  Or would Manuel Lisa change his method of
reference over time for some reason as I have since I began rafting and
conoeing?  Or what of modern writers transcribing (editing) past journals
and what bias' do they bring to the task?  The mind quails!  :-) I think
we should assume that each individual reference MAY be different  - there
are just too many variables - therefor we should look for other landmarks
or direction references within a text or between texts on the same
subject.  It's always better to have some confirmation anyway rather than
taking any info at face.

Might I also add that it also depends on who is receiving, not just who is
speaking, as to how right and left are interpreted - as is illustrated by
the diversity of opinion on this topic.

kurt

Glenn Darilek wrote:

> Howard Peacock wrote:
>
> > .  .  .  IMHO It depends on
> > who is talking.
>
> Right.  IMHO what we need is what the fur trappers/traders meant, so we
> can know what they were saying when we read the journals.  What the
> modern USCG, rafters, etc., use is not relevant to this list.
>
> Iron Burner