Traps, tools and hardware                         Back to Camp Gear 1                                   Home
The primary occupation of the trapper was...trapping.

This occupation included traps, files, shovels, hatchets and other neccessities.
The picks and shovels were often needed for leveling trap beds or for making a cache. 
Put simply, if he didn't need it, he didn't use it!

Jeff Hengesbaugh & Wes Housler seen here inspecting plews
In construction. More Soon... stay tuned.
Common Axe and Hatchet Types. At top, is an original early-mid 19th century Pennsylvania Axe with the original straight handle.  Below this is a reproduction hatchet.  Both have the common straight handles, American or "Kentucky" pattern head, with hammer poll.  The "tomahawk" common today is patterned after trade axes- often listed as a "squaw axe."  The tools shown above are more typical of those used by trappers, and more functional.
Bait Bottle. Improvised bottles were made by men to carry special lures to attract beaver to their traps.  The mixture was primarily made from the caster (scent) glands near the beaver's tail.  To this was added ingredients according to the preference of the trapper, and included allspice, aromatic oils or other secret recipe items.

Bottles to carry this "medicine" were made from "sweet woods", such as aspen, cottonwood, alder, willow, cherrywood or river birch as in this example.  Old glsss vials were also knwn to have been used.  These were carried on the belt or the pouch.
Beaver Traps. Trappers usually carried a set of five or six steel traps.  Traps were generally made by hand, although by the 1830s, more traps were manufactured in factories. Typically, traps were between 3 and five pounds in wieght without chain. 

This old 19th century Newhouse trap has its original springs and chain.  The chain was needed to anchor the trap in the streambed by a heavy stake.  Traps were expensive to replace in the far west.  Costing $1.50 to $3 each in the east, a man may pay $12 to $20 to replace them at rendezvous or at a fort. 
Knives. By far, the most common types available and used were of two forms- scalpers and butchers.

Scalpers were cheap trade knives generally prefered by the tribes, although many trappers used them.  Butchers seem to have been prefered by most trappers.  Contrary to common belief, the Green River Knife came along after the rendezvous years.

Occasionally, a "sheath knife" is mentioned- and these may have been English made hunting knives.