Re: MtMan-List: direction?

["Lanney Ratcliff" <rat@htcomp.net>]

Lord above!! The voice of reason.
Lanney Ratcliff
-----Original Message-----
From: Kurt Westenbarger <kwesten@wyellowstone.com>
To: hist_text@lists.xmission.com <hist_text@lists.xmission.com>
Date: Tuesday, November 10, 1998 10:53 AM
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: direction?


>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
>
>
>
>
>