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Mountain West

Malachite’s Big Hole

Clothing:

The stereotypical Mountain Man is always clothed in fringed deerskin.  It is clear that Mountain Men did wear leather clothing for extended periods of time from necessity and availability.  However, records of goods taken to rendezvous show that when offered a choice, mountain men would often prefer fabric clothing woven of wool, cotton, linen, or silk.  Hundreds of calico and flannel shirts were shipped annually.  Trousers or pantaloons were not quite as common. Capotes, as simple as they were to sew from a blanket, were still a common trade item.  Both men's and women's shoes were sent to the mountains at times (for more on early 1800's shoes). Other common trade items were down vests, wool hats and caps, socks, and handkerchiefs.  Sunglasses, then known as Indian Glasses or Green Glasses were simple metal framed spectacles with green lenses.  Goggles and green goggles also show up occasionally on the trade lists.   These were similar in appearance to todays swimming goggles, consisting of an oval glass lense set in a truncated cone of wire gauze such that each eye was entirely protected from sand, dust snow or glare.  As always, prices shown below are St. Louis costs.

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