Thursday, October 16, 2014

The Beaver Tail, For Bartering With The Indians


The vast American territories contained diverse resources that were exploited as soon as they were discovered. So it was that in 1807 a fur merchant named Manuel Lisa foresaw what could become a pelt empire. He established the first trading post on the Yellowstone to handle all of the skins in the region. In doing so, he blazed a trail that would stretch beyond the Rocky Mountains. There was no lack of furry animals on the continent, primarily beavers, but also gray, brown and black bears, as well as the enormous grizzlies, raccoons, lynxes, wildcats, silver and red foxes, wolves, coyotes, weasels, badgers, martens, otters, minks, ermines, polecats, wolverines, muskrats, sable, marmots, and squirrels, as well as mountain goats, mouflon sheep, moose, wapitis, and of course bison. Such a plethora of wildlife and potential pelts could not escape the attention of the governments of the various colonizing powers, England in particular. Two English trading companies were established in Oregon, the North-West Company and the Hudson Bay Company, whose goal was to collect as many pelts as possible and transport them back to England by sea. The number of pelts handled by these companies in the years up to 1840 was impressive. The famous “skin book” in which all transactions were noted, is most edifying on this point.

More than two hundred forts were built to safeguard transaction, which gives an idea of the extent of the operation that played an important role in the development of the continent. This trade gave birth to a new type of individual, the “mountain man,” a fearsome trapper who knew his territory like the back of his hand. Living on his own in the wild for months on end, after which time he would haul his pelts to the nearest fort either to sell them or exchange them for supplies, which might run from whiskey to a rifle and powder, a canoe, or a knife.

The Native Americans were also tempted to trade their pelts, which is how they were able to procure either knives or simply blades that they mounted on handles of their own manufacture. They were also greatly interested in tools, which they used for working the land. They started to make modifications to them after learning some of the secrets of the forge. This is how knives with large blades appeared as well as metal spearheads. Hatchets intended for shopping wood were turned into fearsome tomahawks and pipes of peace.

The type of knife most representative of this period of trade with the Hudson Bay Company is undoubtedly the “beaver tail” knife.

At this time, the vast majority of knives in the territories came from Sheffield, and certainly those traded by the company, since it was English. The shapes and sizes that suited the pioneer requirements the best were frequently developed and had nothing in common with the usual production. Having received an order for rustic blades to trade with the Native Americans, the English blade smiths opted for a “spearhead” model, sharpened on both sides. One series was flat sole, while another was mounted on a tang with two transversal fins. Nothing was simpler that fitting a handle to the flat sole and the tang to a shaft to make a spear, the fins enabling a sturdy ligature. But those two fins did not in any way prevent the blade from being used as a knife. When the company eventually closed, the Native Americans forged this kind of blade themselves from old files.


But in both Canada and America such models were later produced by various manufactures, which explains why so many of them were trades to tribes who had great difficulty in mastering the special technique required to produce double edged blades. Numerous engravings from the period show a brave or a chief carrying a beaver tail in a sheath slung around his neck, stuck in his belt, or on the end of a spear shaft or even on a “gunstock”, one of those sinister clubs that they wielded so artfully.

The beaver tail is certainly a fine representative object of this legendary time in American history.

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