Miner's/pyramid tent

[Longhornboot]

Hello, as you can see I'm not from around these parts.

I'm trying to accumulate any information on early use of pyramid tents. They're well documented and photographed in the 1880s and later, but there doesn't appear to be much any earlier.

A lot of tent manufacturers site Francis Parkman's journal as early provinance. I'm curenly reading Parkman's the California and Oregon trail and have come up with a few references but nothing concrete as yet.

I look forward to your replies.

Thanks in advance.
Boot.

[James Hunt]

Well Boot, I'm surprised to see you on this side of the waters..., but welcome. Can't help you prior to 1880 but I bet my good friend Books can weigh in on the issue with some good source material.

Actually this has inspired me to go back to "your" board and review the thread you guys had started. There are some good references there. If anyone else wants to catch up with their work, here is the thread:

http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/shootists/vpost?id=2141053&trail=15

[Dutch Limbach]

Longhornboot,

You might want to contact Panther Primitives info@pantherprimitives.com, or Tentsmiths info@tentsmiths.com. Both companies take pride in the authenticity of their products. They may be able to give you some documentation on the Pyramid tent. On the Tentsmith web site they tell;
"...the first reference we know of was a gentleman in the British Army who made every attempt to get the tent style accepted by the quartermaster division. His idea was to have the corners held down with bayonets and the pole to be a Brown Bess musket. Needless to say it was another seventy five years before we actually find the design in use.

Parkman mentions the Pyramid tent in his journal of 1846 while on the Oregon Trail. As cameras came into use, the tent is recorded in photographs of cattle drives and with exterior poles next to early motor vehicles at picnic/ camping trips."

They didn't state the source of this information, but if you contact them they might be able to help you.

Dutch

[Longhornboot]

Well James, you know how I like to travell !

Dutch,
         I'm currently reading the first published version of Parkman's journal "The California and Oregon trail"

I'm a little sceptical about asking vendors for there source, most appear to site Parkman's journal, but I suspect very few have read it.

Boot.

[Books OToole]

The earliest mention of a pyramid tent that I have found is 1841.  It is in Rocky Mountain Adventure by Rufus Sage.  He is describing the camp and specifically says "small pryamid shaped tent."

Parkman never says pyramid but he clearly has a one pole tent. This is either a pyramid or a conical.

Susan Moggoffin uses a one pole conical tent in her trek down the Santa Fe Trail in 1846.

Hope this helps.

Books

[Longhornboot]

That's interesting, thanks.

Aparently Nasicca Whitman in her diary of 1836 mentions a homemade conical tent made from bed ticking, large enough to sleep about nine.

Boot.

[Alice]

One other thing occurs to me on this subject - canvas being heavy and cumbersome, it often appears to have been re-utilised for different purposes, i.e. shelters made from wagon covers. So just how common were ready-made tents in the 1840's, other than for the military?

[Longhornboot]

Alice,
       Fancy meeting you here !
That's an interesting point you make, in that many early tents may well of been homemade unilising what ever was at hand be it an old wagon tilt or as in the case of Narcissa Whitman, bed ticking.

Boot.

[Books OToole]

So just how common were ready-made tents in the 1840's, other than for the military?

I don't believe the use of tents was universal; neither do I believe the lack of their usage universal.

Some of the sources used to document tent usage are;

Life in the Rocky Mountains, 1830-1835, by Warren Angus Ferris
    Ferris describes the formation that is used by the American  Fur Co. in setting up tents for defensive purposes.

Commerce of the Prairies, by Josiah Gregg. [1844]
    Gregg metions using his tent to hold council with Indians and Military leaders.

A Key to the Solar Compass and Surveyors Companion, by William Austin Burt [1880s]
    Burt compiles a list of all the supplies and equipment required for a survey of the public lands, including the ideal tent.

Five Years a Dragoon 1849-1854, and Other Adventures on the Great Plains, by Percival Lowe
    In addition to the tents used by the military, Lowe describes the tent he used [a Sibley tent] as a contract freighter.

Buffalo Harvest, by Frank H. Mayer, [Late 1870s]
    The recollections of a buffalo hunter.

Plus the previous mentioned Oregon Trail by Parkman and Down the Santa Fe Trail by Susan Shelby Magoffin and many more.

So if you want to use a tent in your living history efforts, it can be well documented.  Or you could choose to do otherwise.  (Ferris also mentions in fair weather, they didn't bother to set up the tents.)

Books
[I wonder how I got that moniker?]

[Longhornboot]

Alonzo Delano in "Life on the plains and among the diggings" published in 1854 recounts his journey to California in '59.
He actually ceases to use his tent about half way through the journey adopting ultimatley to sleep without. Also claiming that this was benificial to his health.

I think it most likely that those imigrants travelling for the States would of started off with tents even if later as with Delano opted either by choice or necessatity to go with out.
By the same token it's quite likely that many frontier types camped without tents.

Boot.

[James Hunt]

Alice: Nice to see you here, you should visit more frequently. 

Books: Nice review of the literature, I am now a smarter person for it - that is a serious comment. If you don't mind I'll share this information with others. 

[Longhornboot]

Dutch,
         I emailed the two suppliers as you sugested and have just recieved a nice reply from Sue Moore at Panther Primatives.
Unfortunatley there's no new information that we were not already aware of.

Boot.