Schriber and Miller explain camping and hunting on the Illinois
prairie
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[September 21, 2012]
At the Logan County Genealogical
and Historical Society's monthly meeting on Monday, fur trader
re-enactors Sam Schriber and Marshal Miller displayed and discussed
the tools, utensils and equipment used by frontiersmen when making
camp and hunting on the Illinois prairie.
Schriber and Miller explained that fur traders were active through
about 1840, when silk became more available and desirable than furs
for making clothes. The materials and artifacts exhibited by the two
presenters represented the period from 1825 to 1840.
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Their display of fur samples included beaver, bison, mountain
sheep and coyote. Tools used by trappers -- including black powder
rifles, flintlock pistols, knives, powder horns, patches and shot --
were also exhibited, explained and demonstrated.
It was explained that once the traders had collected furs, they
came together at large meetings called rendezvous. At these
meetings, furs were traded for supplies or sold for money. Traders
had many activities available to them at the rendezvous, not all of
which made the trader more prosperous.
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Schriber and Marshal related that there are opportunities every
weekend during the good-weather months for them to be at a fur
trader re-enactment within a 250-mile radius of Logan County. They
are best known for their authentic leather clothing, full-sized
teepee and rustic campsite. They were at the 1800s Craft Fair at
Postville Courthouse during the Lincoln Balloon Festival and were
one of the exhibits at the Railsplitter Festival.
Both Schriber and Miller are residents of Logan County.
[Text from news release by Marla Blair and Bill
Donath; submitted by Phil Bertoni] |