Buffalo Hunter's Camp Lighting, Redux

[gw]

   James H. Cook was born in southern Michigan on Aug. 26, 1857. In the late 1860's, he and a friend arrived in Leavenworth Kansas and met some cattlemen who advised they look for work as cowboys in Sedgwick or Sumner counties. They did, and in 1870, Cook went to Texas and cowboyed in the Frio and Nueces river areas and later in the San Antonio area until 1878. Of one trip north with a herd of cattle, he related the following anecdote: "We had seen quite a number of buffalo on our way north and I had killed several that came near the herds, but they were fast being exterminated by the hide hunters. At Fort Griffin, when we past it,I saw a pile of buffalo hides near the sutler's store at least fifty yards square and ten feet high. The buffalo were now being killed by the thousands all over the buffalo range."
    Cook was never a hide hunter and often remarked that he was proud of the fact. He is listed as a Meat Hunter in the Encyclopedia of Buffalo Hunters and Skinners. However, like the hide hunters, Cook was quick to condemn those who accused the hunters of wanton waste and large scale butchery. "When, now, I hear the oldtime hunters spoken of as game butchers or game hogs, I cannot help resenting the accusation. I take pride in knowing that I never was a hide hunter-that I never took pleasure in killing game that I could not use, and I derive some consulation from knowing the game that I killed never had been anybody's pets. The wild animals had never depended upon mankind to furnish them with food or put their trust in creatures who, for either pleasure or profit, would deprive them of their lives."
    "Hunting to us meant no pleasure outing or play spell. Constant work during all daylight hours was required. The horse had to be cared for, all hides stretched, fleshed and baled after being dried. Meat and furs had to be well cared for. Reloading cartridges and cooking meals took up a portion of our time. Our only light at night was that of the moon, our campfire, a coal oil lantern or candles. We did our own laundry work and mending,and moved our camp quite frequently, this later being the simplest method of house cleaning, as well as taking us to hunting grounds where the game was undisturbed."
   James H. Cook died at his ranch home in Agate Springs, on the Niobrara River in Sioux County, Nebraska on January 27, 1942, at eighty-four years of age.
     Now, taking that the above statements were certainly true, one might surmise that the answer has been provided and all is well and good and that this chapter on buffalo camp lighting is concluded.That would be a conclusion for some. Myself, I believe that at the time this was actually recorded for posterity, Cook had seen many decades of hunting and that it is just possible, that while  every method he used to light his camp was of course  accurate, it might  not have been accurate for every period during his long career. It's like trying to remember when the first time you used a flashlite was, or what you cooked for breakfast at your very first camping trip 50 odd years ago. All I am saying about this is that many of the recorded histories by actual buffalo hunters were taken 30, 40, 50 or more years after the real events had occured and memories were starting to fade. It is remarkable that there is as much information about the actual participants in this era as there is, given the demands of the time and the rough and tumble lifestyle they endured. So what we garner from the above passage about buffalo camp lighting is up to us, we can take as much or as little as we want to believe, and be content that we're doing it right.

[Delmonico]

Yes you are right GW, but with coal oil Lanterns being both cheap and common in the era as well as the coal oil, it can't be dissmissed out of hand that they were not used on the buffalo ranges just because only one so far seemed to bother to write it down.

Anyone can do what they want, based of what they find or don't find, but with camps being hauled out in sometimes several wagons why would those not be brought along considering the cost and availbility of them since it seems that every trail herd had at least one.  Not that they were the only form of lighting but a damned good one in case you needed a good reliable portable light.  Been many a time I've camped when not doing period camping that big 6 Cell Mag-lite has been along but never used because it wasn't needed, but still there.

I do see going back over this that a typical buffalo hunters camp was not a small minimal camp, but a large affair meant for serious bussiness.  Heck out where there was not a lot of wood to find to make pegs out of they must of hauled most a wagon full of them along.  Hum, perhaps another mystry, did they take pegs or did the scrounge wood and make pegs?  So much reseach, so little time and the durn folks didn't bother writing down everything we want to know or some damned fool lost it.

['Monterrey' Jack Brass]

GW - Thanks for the thoughtful and supported information. It is a fitting closure to this topic. Your insights are much appreciated...!

Brass

[Halfway Creek Charlie]

Yep I figured my offhand comment would get me.
I should have known that Buffalo was hunted in Iowa, Shoot there were even buffalo in Indiana. Our state seal shows one jumping a fallen log along with the rising sun. I have read of hunters in early Indiana hunting everything including buffalo, but they haven't been there in the wild for many, many years. I remember reading about a Dan'l Boone type character from Ridgeville Indiana by the name of Jesse Grey I believe, he was quite the hunter explorer.

[James Hunt]

GW: you have found a small nugget of gold in a sea of grass. Your comments are thought provoking and we should keep our eyes open for further source material, but this is a fitting closure to this long, long, question we have been asking. My hat is off to you for your efforts, thanks.

By the way - if any are interested in a GREAT source of buffalo hunting information east of the Mississippi during the colonial period I would strongly recommend The Long Hunt Death of the Buffalo East of the Mississippi, by Ted Franklin Belue, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg PA, 1996. It is a great read stuffed full of primary source information. Mandatory reading for the 18th century hunter! Buffalo made it allot farther east than Iowa and Indiana, would you believe the Carolina's, Georgia, Florida and Alabama! (did not mean to start a new topic within this long running thread - start a new one if you want to pursue this)