In preparation for my trip out west Ishmael has sent me about 40 books and this video, a documentary produced by a university in which five men gear up and mount up in period equipment—though with horses not quite as small—and journey down into Utah with a load of furs. The production was extremely well written, with these quotes on the modern unsuitability for survival interspersed among the historical journal readings:
“…a refrigerator mentality…”
“…an age of options and alibis.”
I was most intrigued by the segment on the evolution of the western saddle from Mexican and English prototypes and of all of the various methods for keeping your beast of burden from wondering off. Overall, I am convinced that horses are a real pain in the ass.
The navigation and weather advice is useful for imagining the everyday hassles of such journeys, particularly the note that river crossing accounted for more dead white men than Indian attacks, which were numerous. The men were unable to journey for long, once down off the mountains, without having to deal with what they termed “the fenced nightmare,” that the West has become, making overland travel ugly and difficult.
Thanks, Ishmael
Link to video?
This is a DVD, not a YouTube video.
Once asked my grandfather why he became a machinist and then an engineer. Short answer, "grew up farming with horses, got kicked and stepped on enough times, I grew to like machines a lot more"