What gear would an 1860 Californio carry with him?

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Hi Y'all,

I was putzing on the internet and came upon this painting named 'California Tandem' ... Here it is:

[WaddWatsonEllis]

WWE,
If you are still trying to find out some info about ranchos in the Sacramento area, see if you can track down anything on "Rancho San Juan"  It was an 1844 land grant, of several thousand acres.  It pretty much took up the whole northeast corner of Sacto County.  It covered the area between the present Highway 50 and I-80:  Fair Oaks (I grew up there), Orangevale, Citrus Heights, Carmichael and Folsom - pretty much everything north of the American river, up to around the Roseville/Loomis area.  Don't know if there was a "main hacienda"; I seem to remember the owner/ patrón did not actually live there.  I always thought it unusual that the main market for cattle in California in those days was NOT beef, but hides and tallow.

Guns Garrett;

I am retired from Mercy Hospitals, and for much of my career I worked at Mercy San Juan  which I was always told was part of a big ranch .... now I know that the ranch was even bigger than I supposed  ...

[Forty Rod]

I scnned back over this thread and never found a mention of the Colt Root PISTOLS.

There is a good repro out, tiny little thing, that is really a hoot.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Forty Rod,

I got a very good deal on a .44 Cal '51 Colt and that is going to be the weapon for a very long time, or until I get such a deal that I cannot turn it down .... Will Ghormley made me a copy of an original Main & Winchester California Slim Jim that I wear crossdraw. It looks good and fits well, so there it is ... although I was at a men's antique shop (i.e., he sold manly things), and there were several inexpensive pepperboxes there ... so if I find myself there again (I was at a church conference), I just might be tucking a little .31 Cal pepperbox inside my sash. Talk about run-on sentences!

[Dr. Bob]

Don't worry!  It made sense!  Better than a lot of folks can!

[Books OToole]

a .44 Cal '51 Colt

Sorry; but there is no such thing, historcally.



Books

[Delmonico]

Sorry; but there is no such thing, historcally.



Books

Yes there was/is, they've been around since the 1960's, that make them almost antiques.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Books,

Mea Culpa, you are right. Historically, there was no such thing as a '51 .44 Caliber Colt.

But I intentionally bought this larger-than-historically-correct pistol because:

It was for sale used at a rediculously low price.

Sometime just after the Civil War, the US Army did a study of battlefield mortality. One of the interesting things that they observed was officers with .36 Colts, dead with an expended Colt in their hand. The enemy lived long enough to inflict mortal wounds on the officer before dying.

99.99% of the time this will be a holster queen for reenactments, and the public will see about as much as you do in the picture below (sticking out of a historically correct Main & Winchester Slim Jim Copy).  The 0.01% of the time I would have to use this, you can bet your great grandmother's bippy that I would rather have the .44 Caliber ... of course, unless given the time to load I would be better off trying to use my Belduque ... LOL.

But that is the reason I carry an 1851 Repro Colt in /44 Cal.

[Will Ketchum]

Nice looking rig.  If it were mine I would strip that red Italian finish and restain the grips a more proper color.

Will Ketchum

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Will,

Great minds seem to run in the same tracks ... LOL.

I did exactly what you said ... and used walnut Danish oil to stain the grips ... then coated them with a marine product callled Deks Olje (pronounced ol-ya). The marine coating is more or less half tung oil and half polyurethane ... hella hardy, more or less waterproof, and is the only product that I ever used that would hold up for a year on the decks of my sailboat under the harsh California Delta sun.

The stuff goes on like a tung oil; one keeps applying coats of oil until it the coating closes off the grain, then a light coat every so often for about four hours.

The nicest thing about it is that, if the finish is scratched,one can wet sand it, let it dry, and then re-coat. Unlike varnish, the finish will feather into any scratches.

The Deks Olje I gives a satin finish ... and by adding coats of  the Deks Olje II to the top of # I, the finish goes to a high shine varnish like finish.

The weapon in the holster is the same as the one on the rug ... the one in the holster is just after stripping, staining and Deks Olje treatment ...

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Hi

I was 'color for a state banquet in which they had a professional photgapher  ... so he took my picture en mufti and as I promised, I put it in my profile ...

Whaddaya think?

[Dr. Bob]

WWE,

You look very extinguished, I mean distinguished!        A great looking jacket.   

[Texas Lawdog]

That should pass Muster.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Thanks; like I said on another forum, sometimes I feel that I look like a psychotic Mariachi player ... then there is the tourist who will gush to her child, 'Oh, look, Honey, a cowboy!' *S*

[kflach]

It looks like one of those guys in the pictures of the Californio guys!

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Kflach,

Thank you for the complements ... it is nice to get a warm feedback from someone who has watched this grow ... *S*

And the shoot with your club sounds right in line with when I will be there ...

Tonight will be the first time I will have time to pay any attention to the videos and sites that you sent, so will write back on them then ....

[Professor Marvel]

Hi

I was 'color for a state banquet in which they had a professional photgapher  ... so he took my picture en mufti and as I promised, I put it in my profile ...

Whaddaya think?

By Gum Sir, I do  believe you will fit right in with the historical mansion/museum, and you do look, to my eye, better than most docents we see!

yhs
prof marvel

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Professore,

Graci for the kind words ... and it just keeps getting better ... The Calaveras pants that I bought only buttoned from the knee down (instead of from the waist down). So I called  Hamilton Dry Goods and got some remnant fabric. The fabric will make a placquette that goes from the waistband down. It will replace the buttonholled-to-the- existing placquette and will open to the knee, but will have fake buttonholes and buttons all the way up to the waist band.

Then, when the Botas arrive, it will mean another profile pic, full length this time showing the Calveras, Botas Belduque , etc .

[WaddWatsonEllis]

May Update #1 ...
I Recieved the exra fabric fabric from Hamilton Dry Goods (Where I got the Vaquero Pants from).
( http://www.hamiltondrygoods.com/ )

A lady from this Historic Society is going to make the exteded 'buttonhole plaquette' all the way up to the waistband with the extra material.

And I am getting a set of silver 'Mariachi' botanadura in a rose patter from a Mariachi Supply company in San Antonio
( http://www.larosadancesupply.com/ ) ... and the set includes a chain 'Frog' that will connect the jacket ...

[Dr. Bob]

WWE,

Thanks for the link!