Buffalo Hunter's Camp Lighting, Redux

[Pitspitr]

I've been reading this thread for a while and the same thought keeps going through my mind: A hunter can kill a lot more kritters in a full day than even a pretty good sized crew would be able to skin. If reloading in the dark was/is so tough, wouldn't he just quit soon enough for him to make the next day's loads in the daylight, and give the skinners a chance to catch up? Especially considering that the skinners wouldn't start working untill after the hunter was done or at least moved to a different "stand".

I'm sure they needed lighting for other things, but it doesn't seem reasonable to me that reloading was one of them.

[James Hunt]

Pitspitr: Your conjecture makes sense, except there are so many references to them making cartridges in the evening.

[Delmonico]

Since most called evening after 5pm and still do out in the west, that leaves a lot of time till dark and most folks back then went to bed about dark and got up at daylight, in the summer when most of the hides were taken when hunting the southern herd which most referance is about, that don't leave a lot of sleeping time anyway.

The northern herd was mostly hunted in the winter for robes because the market for flint hides had been saturated with the kill from the Southern herd.  Winter up there most if not all would have found/build better shelter than just a tent and bedroll for the -40 temps that could happen up there.

Also the term tallow which is used so often means rendered tallow, otherwise you'd see the term suet.  Many some of the hide hunters from 71 on had hunted, smoked meat including of course tongues and had rendered tallow also because there was a market for it.  After a while they hunted for just hides and didn't bother with tallow which is a heck of a lot of work. 

Yes a cake of tallow will make a fire bright, for a few minutes, long enough to search out something you can't find otherwise, have done it myself by grabbing a handful of lard out of an 8 pound bucket, very similar.  That handfull of lard will give you maybe 3-5 minutes of better light, depending on how much wood is on the fire and at what burning stage it's at.  Would take a heck of a lot of tallow to keep a fire going long enough to reload yer cartridges.

Grab an 8 pounder of lard before next camp and see how much it takes to keep a fire bright.  BTW the left-over will make yer baked goods much better.

[gw]

Yes a cake of tallow will make a fire bright, for a few minutes, long enough to search out something you can't find otherwise, have done it myself by grabbing a handful of lard out of an 8 pound bucket, very similar.  That handfull of lard will give you maybe 3-5 minutes of better light, depending on how much wood is on the fire and at what burning stage it's at.  Would take a heck of a lot of tallow to keep a fire going long enough to reload yer cartridges.

Del---Not to belabor the point, but Brown said they brought in 500 lbs. of tallow. Seems like that might be just enough to last a couple of nights!

[Delmonico]

They sure must a had the camp tender standin' around feedin' it, I do think I'd taken along a couple of them coal oil lamps and a couple gallons of coal oil, maybe them guys wern't as bright as I give them credit for.  If not they sure wern't as smart as trail hereders and sodbusters.

[Dr. Bob]

Well, we have yet to find where they wrote down that they tool a lamp and coal oil with them.  That is the whole point of this thread.  James & Brass want to take only what they can document was actually used in a camp.  Need a clear picture or journal entry or bill of sale to a known hunter &c., not just that it would make sense.

[Lone Gunman]

I agree, they were willing to take a few more "chances" than we do today.

In many respects human nature hasn't changed that much in the past 135 or so years. My guess is that, while maybe not documented, there were numerous instances of some buffalo camp member pouring out a handful of blackpowder and saying, "Hey, y'all watch this!" as he threw it towards the campfire. 

Seriously though, notwithstanding those 'Darwin' events, my guess is that seasoned buffalo runners ('seasoned' being defined as those whose hair didn't end up on a lodgepole) would shun any sort of artificial light when operating in hostile territory, which is where most buffalo were taken. Anyone who has been outdoors between dusk and midnight knows how accommodating human vision can be until you encounter any man-made light...then you are essentially blind to anything beyond the range of that man-made light. In a hostile environment a campfire would make you (A) easy to find, (B) a well illuminated target, and (C) virtually incapable of pinpointing the source of an incoming attack. That's not a good starting position for survival.

[Delmonico]

Makes a lot of sense, that they didn't want to light things to well.  Trail drives followed the lantern in front if they trailed at night and when someone was out they put up the wagon tongue and hung one there to guide them in.  Something worth writing about.  Trip over the lantern and burn down the barn, worth writing about.  lanterns kept for emergency, not worth writing about unless used.

George you know from my demo's flour done right works almost as good as the black powder and is a heck of a lot cheaper.

Hmm, a bit tongue in cheek but food for thought, did they document goin' poop or did they hold it till they got back to Dodge City where we know there were outhouses.   If it wasn't interesting they didn't write about it.

[Pitspitr]

Good points, both y'all.

[Delmonico]

We either have to document every stinking thing (pun intended) or we once i a while have to assume that simce an item was inexpensive and in common useage through out an area, that it would be used by someone who had spent a what in the time period would have been a fair amount on an item that could, at times be very useful in camp.  A couple gallons of coal oil would sure take up a lot less space than 500 pounds of tallow.  Not that they didn't take it along in an are where is might be useful to supplement meager fuel.  Heck I've burned a lot of lard getting wet wood to burn in a short time when needed. 

Not every thing that was done or owned was documented.  I'm pretty sure most of them, most times went to bed at dark.

[Dutch Limbach]

In many respects human nature hasn't changed that much in the past 135 or so years. My guess is that, while maybe not documented, there were numerous instances of some buffalo camp member pouring out a handful of blackpowder and saying, "Hey, y'all watch this!" as he threw it towards the campfire. 

[Disclaimer: DO NOT try this at home!!!]
I've witnessed that very thing! The gent that did it is a professional firefighter. The powder made a flash and a "POOF", but that is all. In this instance the powder isn't contained so it ignites without building up any pressure. Now, there was an incident were a buckskinner tried to get a campfire going by pouring BP from his powder horn onto the smoldering tinder. In this instance the powder ignited on the tinder and the flame shot up the stream of powder flowing out of the powder horn and set off the powder in the horn. This powder being contained DID create pressure to the extent that the buckskinner in question got a ride in an ambulance.

A couple gallons of coal oil would sure take up a lot less space than 500 pounds of tallow.  Not that they didn't take it along in an are where is might be useful to supplement meager fuel.  Heck I've burned a lot of lard getting wet wood to burn in a short time when needed. 

If you look at it from the prospective of someone that is going to be headed out into the wild, such as a buffalo runner, the tallow would make a lot more sense. With the coal oil lantern you'd have something that would be good only for one thing, light. And the lanterns would only be good for that as long as you had a supply of coal oil to fuel them. Also, the coal oil would be another thing that only had one use.

Now the tallow on the other hand would be something that would have many uses:

• tallow would be used as lube for bullets,
• flux in the molten lead used to cast bullets,
• to lube the bores of firearms,
• used on boots (or moccasins) and other leather gear as waterproofing,
• for cooking,
• lye soap (OK, buffalo hunters weren't known for there cleanliness, but lye soap is great for taking the itch out of chigger, mosquito, and most other insect bites),
• and candlemaking (Hhmmmm, candles. That just might be a source of light in a buffalo camp.),

If I was going to ASS-U-ME something, it would be that if that hunting party took 500 lbs of tallow with them, they were probably going to be using right at 500 lbs. of tallow. Given the versatility of tallow, why cut back on it to make room for a one trick pony like coal oil lanterns?

['Monterrey' Jack Brass]

Dr B, Geo., Dutch and all,

Dr Bob hits upon a good point that Mr Hunt and I are determined to find that magic bit/s of documentation regarding lighting. A couple have been uncovered and posted on this thread thanks to the good work and interest of many who have stayed interested (remarkable in itself!). This is much appreciated as we'll have a plate of tallow and crude wick at the next event where the buffalo camp is set up.

Still the coal oil/lamp issue and use of candles is worth pursuing as far as research goes to be sure. Something that would have been mundane to the fellows 'back in the day' is something that keeps us fairly engaged today. Will be interesting to see what is uncovered over time on that front.

Regarding the functional aspects of tallow. As Dutch points out it is useful stuff and has many applications. For what it's worth, and perhaps this is just a terminology issue, there is the suet vs tallow discussion. Suet is the back/organ protecting pure fat that keeps a critter fueled during lean times – it is pure energy and has different properties than normal animal fat, which is rendered into lard not tallow. After rendering suet by cutting it up into manageable sized pieces and cooking it over a hot fire in a kettle, then removing the membranes and few veins that run through it from the bottom of the kettle, it becomes 'tallow'. This tallow, after being reduced/rendered from the suet while melted looks like unused 10-40 motor oil when it is poured into a period container to cool and harden. Once hardened into a brick it is snow white in color, fairly firm, and ready for use as-is to cook with, make soap, or re-melting with bee wax for bullet lube and candles or whatever you please. I am using the term 'tallow' as a candle maker would use it as it is this refined version of suet employed for candle making: it is free of impurities (ref membranes) that could 'turn' and eventually go rancid. Pure tallow will not turn. I have beef tallow rendered perhaps six years ago and it is as clean as the day I rendered it.

As far as candle making: Though tallow candles can be 'dipped' wicks repeatedly re-inserted into a low temperature melted tallow, this is a tricky business and as often as not, in my personal experience, as much tallow comes off as stays on the wick. Also, these candles are easily damaged, very soft and don't burn too well (fast). Molds are the best way to make tallow candles in my experience, though pouring pure tallow candles is a pain as the tallow is not as firm as it should be for a proper molded candle. I've tied to remove pure tallow candles from my molds and have pulled the wicks through/out of them, this after pouring warm water over the molds to loosen them. So having the candle bodies in the mold and the wicks in my hand was not a good deal either – it takes mixing bee wax in to melted tallow to create a tallow stiff enough to use practically in molds (and a 1/3 bee wax 2/3 tallow mix provides a brighter, longer burning candle). Tallow candles also burn clean, with no smell or smoke that I've encountered in any I've made.

Why all the detail above regarding tallow candles, molds, & etc? It's worth knowing what goes into making a functional and efficient tallow candle and I believe that is germane to this discussion. I will say, and this is often the slippery slope, that we all use a healthy dose of what I call 'historic conjecture'. This is a term employed to support using something though documentation doesn't always directly support application. To wit: use of a military canteen for a buffalo hunter impression. It is plausible that it happened, we know that some army items were documented to be used by at least some civilians, it is a very functional piece of equipment and fits the bill for providing water under rough conditions, but there is no hard evidence or documentation I have that Joe Snuffy the buffalo hunter actually used one (well, not yet!). So, historic conjecture can imply that the item existed and likely could have been used. Historic conjecture does not imply or justify the 'if they had it they would have used it' drivel we hear at times. Historic conjecture is more of a scientific methodology and must be applied sparingly though at some level we all use it in all of our impressions. For a corny comparison, it's kind of like 'the force' in that it is part of everything we do at some level – give it some thought and you'll see what I mean. It can involve gunleathers, buttons, fabrics, buffalo camp lighting (candles, oil lamps), etc, etc and all of this again changes scope by considering if using an item is for an 1870 impression vs an 1880 impression and ad infinitum. I wonder if that is why this lighting thread has gone on for so long as it seems to represent the balance/battle between hard documentation and historic conjecture – interesting to see it through this angle. Much of what we are really discussing is trying to find the balance between these two things – interesting, no?

Okay, I've gone on long enough. In closing I will say that by putting 'cracklings' (the membranes from suet) on the camp fire used for the rendering process does cause a huge increase in the size of the fire. As the cracklings have some tallow in them, they burn very well and the fire gets bright when tallow-laden cracklings are dumped on it. So I can say through personal application that adding tallow to a fire is no joke – it gets big, bright and hot for longer than you might think. Don't try it at home unless you have a bucket of water near-by as you might be surprised how pure a fuel tallow really is and how well it burns. I think it is the same affet as coal oil would have.

Thanks again for all of the excellent posts and thought provoking discussion on this topic. And, just for fun, if you see a candle mold in any picture of a buffalo hunter's camp please let me know...!

YMH&OS,

Brass

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Monterrey.......
Excellent post!!

Bill

[Ol Gabe]

Just an aside observation/question on tallow...
Since the Buff Runner Crews all had wagons, and wagons need lubrication for the axles, etc., is it then plausible that the amount of tallow described above, as in 500 lbs., would also have been used for that purpose as well as the others? If so, then the 500 lbs. would be justified.
On the other hand, 'if' grease was taken along in a bucket (hanging from the bottom of the wagon?) wouldn't the 'old' grease be saved and used for something when the 'new' grease was applied? if so, then the 'old' grease could have potentially been used as a catch-all lube and fire-enhancer.
Hmmm...documentation may be difficult on this concept, but when you look at the above concept of 'historic conjecture' it may fall right into place as grease and other lubes were a necessary item when using a wagon.
Best regards and good thinking!
'Ol Gabe

[Delmonico]

Well as they say, the proof in in the pudding.  In that next camp, go prepared to try it out, a couple nights should do it.  Go to Wal_mart, they have lard cheap in 8 pound bucket or even 5 gallon ones.  You might want to stop by the canning section and get you some parrafin and melt it an mix it with your lard.  I'd say off hand a couple pounds of that with an 8 of lard would stiffen it about like tallow from wild game.

You might want to load your rounds using something like cornmeal for safety reasons.  But you could cast bullets and paper patch them one night so the patches would dry and then something like a Lyman tong tool or a Lee hand dies would be in the ball park of there tools.  You might want to take one of those hook tools for Berdan primers and deprime you brass with that, since the Sharps brass was Berdan primed I belive, you might double check, but if I'm right that same tool will remove boxer primers.

What was the average kill per day for one of these guys with 2-3 skinners to work for hin, 40-60 maybe, add a few cases for ones that took an extra round and you should be close.  Now see how loading works in the dark while feeding this fire with your tallow mix.  See if you think maybe there is a missing piece to this puzzle.

I wouldn't look for the candle mould till I found the proof for the wick material for the candles.

I will await the report on the loading and how it works out.

[Pitspitr]

What was the average kill per day for one of these guys with 2-3 skinners to work for hin, 40-60 maybe, add a few cases for ones that took an extra round and you should be close.  Now see how loading works in the dark while feeding this fire with your tallow mix. 

From what I've read it took an average of 3 shots to kill one buff.

[James Hunt]

from: Getting  A Stand, Gilbert, Miles: Pioneer Press, Union City, 1986 p. 22 - quoting George W. Brown from his experiences on the buffalo range 1870 - 1874.

"....The boys commenced to skin while I was shooting all the time. Finally the sun went down and I had killed 65 buffalo that afternoon. When I got to camp I busied myself with cooking our supper. Pretty soon the wagons commenced coming in with the hides that had been skinned that afternoon. They had skinned 51 buffalo. They also brought with them about 500 pounds of tallow that we used to make a fire at nights. When they would skin a nice , fat buffalo they would cut it open and take the tallow off its entrails. We made our fire of buffalo chips as there was no wood there. When our supper was eaten we renewed our fire and went to making cartridges for our guns."

Clearly the author is attempting to tell us that they made cartridges after the sun went down, after supper, and by the light of their cook fire. That they did this is unquestioned. Note that they do not mention candles, coal oil, or any other sort of lighting but that they had to "renew" their campfire for the project.

Further effort has revealed a few lists of items purchased by buffalo hunters to include mundane items such as soap and matches. Nowhere have we any reference to the purchase of candles, and most importantly we have found absolutely no reference to the purchase of any sort of lamp or coal oil - something they could not have made for themselves. It should be pointed out that while coal oil predates our time period, the successful development of a kerosene type lamp the we are currently familiar with (cold blast) did not occur until after the southern herds were shot out, a dead flame lantern was available in the late 1860's and a hot blast lantern by the early 1870's but neither contributed the light source that we are familiar with today. Further, the use of coal oil would have required its shipment from the east - it as yet remains to be determined if this would have made it cost prohibitive item. The use of coal oil on the frontier may not have been common or there may have been a difference in camp accouterments between the hunting of the southern herds and northern herds with a near 10 year time span between them. Point being there is an absolute dearth of information suggesting such use at this time.

This should be a cautionary note when using historical conjecture - that is just because it makes sense to us does not mean that it happened or that we should adopt its use, or work our mouths to the questioning public (if doing living history) without stating the fact that our information is not based upon any historical record. What can we say with the information available to date?

1/ It appears that they used the light of a cooking fire as their main light source.
2/ They used buffalo chips and tallow as a fuel when there was no wood.
3/ They made cartridges by the light of that cooking fire!

One further point. Consider there use of the word "tallow". In this instance it referred to the substance that was brought in from the range on the evening following the skinning. Clearly this does not refer to any rendered substance. There use of the word tallow may have simply meant to them the fat taken from an animal. I can not recall a reference of them rendering fat, but it would seem that they would (conjecture) for use on their guns. There are references of them using "tallow" on their guns and wagon wheels.

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Heres a interesting article I found on "Texas Online"

Bill


BUFFALO HUNTING. The buffalo,qv known to Europeans and Americans since the days of Hernán Cortés and Francisco Vázquez de Coronado,qv lived in countless millions on the Great Plains of the United States until the late 1880s. They had been hunted by all who found them, especially by the Indians, to whom they satisfied many necessities of life. When the frontier of the United States extended to the Great Plains, among the obstacles to be overcome were the Indians and the buffalo–the former for well-known reasons and the latter because they existed in such tremendous numbers as to make farming and ranching impossible and also because they represented the commissary of the warlike Indians.

The immediate cause for the tremendous slaughter of buffalo in the 1870s and 1880s was the completion of the transcontinental railroad. When the Union Pacific was completed in 1869, it became possible to ship hides from the Great Plains to eastern markets for a profit. A second result was the division of the buffalo into two great herds, the northern and the southern. The southern herd was the larger and was exterminated first. The slaughter in the south began in earnest in 1874 and was over by 1878. In the north the great hunts began in 1880 and were over by 1884. The rapid destruction can be seen from these figures: in 1882, 200,000 hides were shipped out of the Dakota Territory; in 1883, 40,000; and the following year, only one carload. Even so, it was estimated that for every two hides shipped, three were lost. Except for a few herds protected on government property or maintained on private ranches, the buffalo were exterminated.

The number of hunters involved in the great hunts is not known, but an estimate for the northern range indicated that in 1882 there were at least 5,000 hunters and skinners at work. Only the strong and adventurous were attracted, most being frontiersmen from Kansas and other border states who were interested in recouping their fortunes. Occasionally an adventurous Englishman was found in the camps. It took a hardy man to brave the elements and the Indians and, most of all, to stand up under the back-breaking work involved in hunting and skinning. Hunting camps often numbered about four men. A group of that size, preparing for a three-month hunt, needed a considerable amount of specialized equipment and supplies, including two two-horse teams hitched to light wagons. One of the wagons hauled the provisions and camp outfit, which might consist of one medium and one large-sized Dutch oven, three large frying pans, two coffeepots, camp kettles, bread pans, a coffee mill, tin cups, plates, knives, forks, spoons, pothooks, a meat broiler, shovels, spades, axes, a mess box, and so forth. The other wagon hauled the bedding, ammunition, two extra guns, a grindstone, war sacks, and the like. For the three months' hunt, the amount of ammunition required was 250 pounds of lead in bars done up in twenty-five pound sacks, 4,000 primers, and three twenty-five-pound cans of powder. Of the four men, ordinarily two were hunters and two cooks and skinners. On a normal day's run, the hunters would locate the herd, single out a small group, and approach as near as possible from downwind. Once close to the group, the hunters formed a "stand" if possible, so that the buffalo were shot in such a way that the rest were not frightened away. The hunter shot at a slow rate so that his gunbarrel did not overheat and expand; he shot at the outside buffalo only, or at any that started to walk off; and he would try to drop each one with one good shot, as a wounded buffalo would soon cause the whole group to bolt. Finally, the group would break, and the surviving animals would wander off, the hunter following and shooting stragglers. When it was impossible to form a stand, the hunt progressed on a trail-and-shoot form, the hunter following a wandering band of buffalo, shooting at intervals as the opportunity presented itself. This method was feasible because the buffalo was a notoriously stupid animal that evidently recognized danger only when he could smell it. He also nearly invariably traveled into the wind so that a hunter could follow with little possibility of detection. These two techniques of hunting were the most desirable and common. There were others, of course, such as lying in wait for buffalo to pass a certain concealed point. A good hunter would kill as many as 100 buffalo in an hour or two, and from 1,000 to 2,000 a season. Most hunters killed in the morning and aided with skinning in the afternoon.

After the hunter had done his work, the skinners entered the picture. The hides were removed from the carcasses with skinning knives, loaded onto a wagon, and taken back to camp. To speed the skinning process, the wagon was rigged with a forked stick to the center of the hind axle, with the end dragging the ground behind. A chain or rope was attached to the same axle; and when a carcass was to be skinned, the wagon was driven up to it and the rope or chain was attached to a front leg. After the upper side of the carcass was skinned, the wagon was moved, pulling the carcass over a bit, the stick suspended from the back axle acting as a brake. In that way, skinning was made considerably swifter and easier. When the green hides were brought to camp, they were stretched and staked or pegged to the ground with the meat side down. After three to five days they were turned, and so alternated every day until they were dry, at which time they were piled. Usually they were placed in four stacks: bull hides, cow hides, robe hides, and kip hides (hides from younger animals). Buyers ordinarily came out to the camp; the hunters received about $2.00 per bull hide with other prices scaled down accordingly. After the deal was made, the buyer generally sent a freight wagon to the camp to pick up the hides and take them to Fort Worth, Texas, Dodge City, Kansas, or some other railhead, where they could be shipped to buyers in the East.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: John R. Cook, The Border and the Buffalo: An Untold Story of the Southwest Plains (Topeka, Kansas: Crane, 1907; rpt., New York: Citadel Press, 1967). William Temple Hornaday, The Extermination of the American Bison (Washington: GPO, 1889).

['Monterrey' Jack Brass]

Mr Hunt,

I found something interesting in support of the chips concern that you might like. It comes from 'The Life of Billy Dixon', published in 1914 on behalf of her husband who died unexpectedly before he could complete the work and call it an autobiography. Also a couple of other apropos tidbits follow. The last one is triple points on this thread as it deals with tallow as lube for bullets, guns and wagons (the wagon greasing will suit Ol Gabe very well – it's the documentation he seeks) and for use as fuel as well as lighting.

Buffalo Chips:
The Life of Billy Dixon, Pg 90: " I wish here to say something in honor of the buffalo chip. In later years, as the fortunes of the settlers in western Kansas improved and their social aspirations grew stronger, there were those who looked askance upon the humble buffalo chip, though they had seen the time when they were devoutly grateful for the genial warmth that spread from its glowing fire. It was the friend and benefactor of countless hunters and settlers in hours of need and extremity. The buffalo chip was simply the dry dung of buffalo, purely vegetable, and made an excellent fire, over which coffee could be boiled and meat fried to a turn. When dry the buffalo chip caught the flame easily, and soon burned to a dull red. Many a dark night have I looked with gladness at the distant buffalo chip fire, knowing that around it I would find hospitable companions and lots of warmth."

Rendering Tallow:
Getting a Stand (W. S. Glenn reminisces in chapter six), Pg 84: "The tallow was chipped up and dried over the fire in a frying pan, and there being plenty of it, these cracklings were used for fire."
[Note that by today's terminology that the 'tallow' (we would call suet) Glenn 'chipped' (cut) into small pieces or cubes for rendering into liquid tallow. What W. S. Glenn is describing, in fact, is rendering suet into tallow in a frying pan. He doesn't even omit putting the suet membranes, called 'cracklings' even today, into the fire to burn. This is a rare case of easy detective work regarding a buffalo hunter rendering suet into tallow. This does not happen very often as you all know...]

'Tallow' (suet?) as Lubricant, Lighting and Fuel:
Getting a Stand (W. S. Glenn reminisces in chapter six), Pg 82: " As the tallow was of an oily nature, it was equal to butter; it was used for lubricating our guns and we loaded our own shells, each shell had to be lubricated and it was used also for greasing wagons and also for lights in camp. Often chunks as large as an ear of corn were thrown on the fire to make heat."

YMH&OS,

Brass

[James Hunt]

OCB and Brass: this is great stuff, great stuff... Is someone writing this down for future use?