Re: MtMan-List: red river carts?

["Mike Branson" <mikebransn@worldnet.att.net>]

I would refer you to the West of Alfred Jacob Miller. or I would refer you
to an early edition of "Across The Wide Missouri" Both of those books show
a train of wagons heading west to a Rendezvous. The 1837 Rendezvous if I'm
correct. There are two-wheeled carts in Miller"s  painting. I don't know
for sure if those are red river carts or just two-wheeled carts but they
sure look close. I once read that the wheels were wrapped in rawhide. There
is a two-wheeled cart from Taos and Sante Fe that was drawn by oxen also.
We used one it was called a " Carreta". We used it at Bent's Old Fort back
about 10 years ago when we had a group called "Los Empleados de las
Canadas" Lord that was a kick. A Side note,  way back in the 1970s the late
Slim Pickens had a red river cart he was having built in California. He
always told me he was planning on coming to a Rendezvous with one.
unfortunately he never made it.  I'm sorry I do not have any dimensions. M.
Branson

----------
> From: ThisOldFox@aol.com
> To: hist_text@xmission.com
> Subject: Re: MtMan-List: red river carts?
> Date: Wednesday, March 26, 1997 3:49 PM
> 
> In a message dated 97-03-26 12:09:14 EST, you write:
> 
> > I AM SURE SOME ONE WILL STEP ON ME REAL HARD ON THIS ONE>
> Only because you SHOUT so loud!!  Anyways, here are some facts I ran
across
> recently at the Canada Hall website concerning Meti Bison Hunters.
> ........................................................
> One sector of the Metis population depended on the bison hunt for its
> livelihood.  In 1801, they settled on the banks of the Red River where
> Winnepeg now stands.
> 
> Every spring and fall, as many as 1600 people would gather at Pembina, on
the
> Red River for the bison hunts.  They elected a provisional government to
rule
> and keep order during the hunts, maintaining strict compliance with the
> strict rules of the hunt and providing protection from attacks by rival
> groups such as the Dakotas.
> 
> Back at the encampment, women and children spent several days processing
the
> meat of the slaughtered bison into pemmican.  After pulverizing the
brittle
> dried meat with flails, women then mixed all the ingredients together
with a
> shovel and left this mixture to congeal into pemmican in large rawhide
sacks
> like those seen on the Red River carts.  They kept some for themselves
but
> the bulk was sold to fur trade companies, who used it as a staple food
for
> their traders and voyageurs.
> 
> Built from oak, the Red River cart hauled buffalo meat and hides during
the
> annual hunts.  Pulled by an ox, it could carry more than a half ton for
> twenty miles a day.  In the 1840 hunt, more than 1000 carts travelled for
two
> months over the Canadian prairies.  Driven by women, with their children
on
> board, the carts also transported the hunt's supplies.  Trails were cut
by
> great convoys of carts, moving sixteen abreast.
>
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