How to Make Gunpowder and Other Dirty Little Secrets

[Tsalagidave]

Gunpowder" The Fuel of a changing land

From Ancient Alchemy to the open expanse of America's Plains, black powder fueled the weapons of the explorers, travelers and tribesmen who would capture the imaginations of generations to come.

(Popo Agie Rendezvous, 1829) American, European, and Native voices murmured in the breeze as a group of trappers, Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians gathered in the maw of Sublette's trading tent. A clerk for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company was loudly proclaiming the quality of his gunpowder brought "out from the states" and was willing to sell at a "farr price in fine skins". Feeling the need to convince his customers, the clerk produced a copper cup holding a dram from the powder keg behind him. He offered the cup to a weathered trapper who pinched a few grains. He rolled the powder with his fingertips and then touched to his tongue. All eyes were on the skin-clad mountaineer as he nodded for the clerk to proceed with his demonstration. The now grinning clerk placed a sparing pinch of gunpowder into an empty flintlock pan. The frizzen was struck followed by a flash and loud report as his rifle spoke. Eyes shifted from one neighbor to the next; each meeting with a look of approval. An Arapaho brave stepped forward with a bundle of skins motioning for 10-pounds of powder followed by a chorus of eager voices and clattering empty horns.


Read more: https://www.frontieramericanillustratednews.com/post/black-powder-on-the-american-frontier

[Tsalagidave]

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-Dave