![]() ![]() A hammer lets you apply concentrated, rapid force to something, and it opens up a world of possibilities. Just a hard piece of rock shaped to have a comfortable grip at one end and a striking surface at the other, these were the launch pad for over 2.5 million years of technological progress. The first tools men made were stone hammers. Pioneers didn’t need six different styles of small paring knife but they did need large butcher knives and cleavers. More knives would be found in the kitchen not as many as in a modern kitchen, but in a wider range of sizes. These would be used for dressing game – the major source of fresh meat in the early years of a move west – and for wood carving, plus many other daily tasks. Pioneers carried knives everywhere they went – usually a simple hunting knife on their belt, and maybe a folding pen knife as well. If you don’t have one you’re in a lot of trouble. If you have one you can start to collect what you need to make other, more advanced tools. THE BASICS KnivesĪ knife is the most basic, essential survival tool. ![]() Let’s look at the tools that built the West in a bit more detail. But those simple tools could do amazing things when used properly, and if society breaks down they’ll do just as good a job for you. There were no power tools, just simple hand-operated ones. Their tools had to be capable of a wide range of tasks, and they didn’t have the technology that we do. Sometimes there was no choice but to pay the inflated prices at the nearest general store, but wherever they could pioneers would fix or replace things themselves. The same went for most of their other possessions. That breaks or wears out eventually, and the pioneers had to be able to fix or replace it. The West was mostly powered by horses, and horses need tack. That wasn’t the only sewing that needed done either. Instead, most people bought bolts of cloth and made their own. On the frontier you couldn’t drop in to the local outfitters and pick out clothes that fitted you. Often you can’t do it without the tools to make other tools.įinally there were the small things. Anyway, for most settlers the whole point of heading west was to farm their own land, and you can’t do that without tools. The food carried in a wagon would last for a matter of weeks, half a year at the most – and while it was usually possible to buy more from enterprising traders, the cost of wagon freight made that too expensive for most people. The tools they carried had to be up to the job of harvesting natural resources and turning them into the raw materials to build a home. That’s exactly what the pioneers had to do. You’re well equipped to handle any repairs or improvements around your home. You’ll have an assortment of screwdrivers, and likely a multi-tool like a Dremel. Take a look in your toolbox and you’ll probably see a load of tools for working with wood, electrical wiring and maybe plumbing. They didn’t just want to fix things they had to be able to make things, so the tools they took with them were absolutely vital. If you like to be self-reliant around the house the chances are your tools massively outnumber the ones the typical pioneer family took with them – but yours will be more specialized, and aimed at fixing or maintaining modern appliances or carrying out general DIY tasks. If the pioneers wanted to make a serious attempt at building a new life in the West they needed to be truly self-sufficient, and the key to that was taking the right tools with them. Even the most heavily loaded wagon can carry enough to keep a family going for a few months at most. They also had to carry the tools to repair the things they needed – and then, when supplies ran out, to make more. Pioneers didn’t just carry the things they needed. It wasn’t uncommon to see a wagon propped on crates or barrels at the side of the road, while its owners worked at repairing a broken wheel or split axle. In fact wise settlers packed their wagons almost to overloading, and sometimes beyond. We often have a mental image of those pioneers loading their chuck wagon with food and gunpowder before striking out into the new lands of the West, and that image isn’t inaccurate they did carry these essentials, in the largest quantities they could. The hardy pioneers who built the West had to be self-reliant, and that meant taking everything they needed with them. You weren’t moving to a place with a fully developed infrastructure, where you could easily get your hands on all the essentials of day to day life from a choice of stores and service providers. Setting out for the frontier in the 19 th century was nothing like moving to a new city today. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |