Doing some research...

Curt Hal

Curt Hal

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Jul 8, 2014
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Does anyone know what types of axes and company names might have appeared during the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition? I know that Collins started around 1824-1826. What axe head styles would have been prominent at the time of the expedition??
 
From one of the axe books, I got the impression that an axe which looked something like a Jersey was amongst the earliest American patterns. Even before a real poll was added they have examples of axes with the "ears". There is another thread going with images of axes from the 1860s with the ears as well and those look like early patterns to me. But I'm sure there were others.
 
I wonder what long-term explorers would have taken along with them in the way of spares and parts. With regard to an axe another handle could be carved and fitted onsite (unless you're smack dab in the treeless Barren lands) but with a flintlock rifle a broken spring or damaged lock would have been bad luck.
 
300Six said:
I wonder what long-term explorers would have taken along with them in the way of spares and parts. With regard to an axe another handle could be carved and fitted onsite (unless you're smack dab in the treeless Barren lands) but with a flintlock rifle a broken spring or damaged lock would have been bad luck.
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A blacksmith and portable forge was part of the inventory taken. A recent book I read [Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose] on the trip also mentioned that when they wintered with the Mandan tribe, the smith made war axes from a scrap burned out stove for the natives in trade for corn. The smith also repaired firearms for the party and in trade with natives.--KV
 
Curt Hal said:
Does anyone know what types of axes and company names might have appeared during the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition? . . .
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The Lewis and Clark expedition lasted from May 1804 to September 1806. They may have used something like this one ("American Axes" by Henry J. Kauffman).




Here is head found at a Lewis and Clark camp site

lc2.jpg

http://www.clearwatermuseum.org/lc.html

Partial list of supplies:

Camp Equipage

6 Copper kettles (1 of 5 Gallons, 1 of 3, 2 of 2, & 2 of 1)
35 falling Axes.
4 Drawing Knives, short & strong
2 Augers of the patent kind.
1 Small permanent Vice
1 Hand Vice
36 Gimblets assorted
24 Files do.
. . .

see the rest here: http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/lewiss-packing-list
 
rjdankert said:
The Lewis and Clark expedition lasted from May 1804 to September 1806. They may have used something like this one ("American Axes" by Henry J. Kauffman).

Here is head found at a Lewis and Clark camp site

lc2.jpg

http://www.clearwatermuseum.org/lc.html

Partial list of supplies:

35 falling Axes.
. . .
Click to expand...
Initial post info said they went on expedition with 36 axes. From the jettison list I guess they weren't enamoured with lugging these things around! The 'found on site' photo example looks to be of a recent Montreal pattern. Maybe if they scrub it hard enough the (1913-1973) name "Walters" will be on it. Archaeology has got to be a lot of fun!
 
The reason I am doing the research is a friend of my daughter works in movies here in Alberta, and she will be assigned to gather authentic props for the upcoming Lewis and Clark film slated to be shot in Alberta. Any ideas for good sources for the kinds of axes they will need to find?
 
Meagre budgets for Canadian films are such that liberties will have to be taken with authenticity. Maybe JBLytle can come up with some non-collector value Jersey/Rockaway type heads and the polls get ground down to shape them to superficially resemble some of the featured oldies. I wouldn't be getting too cocky with featuring elaborately curved handles on these either.
Certainly would be useful to contact major museums to view artifacts of the period and maybe get lucky with finding someone that actually specializes in exploration history. You can be sure that subsidized explorers ordered their stuff from specific outfitters of the time much like folks frequent Canada Goose, MEC and Trailhead and such now.
For your daughter's friend this sounds like a whole bunch of fun. Neat to score a job that doesn't sound like ordinary 'work'.
What always bugs me about movie reenactments is the white beautiful teeth and the manicured clean nails of the actors and the pressed shirts and obvious costumes on the set. How do you impress these self-absorbed people to properly 'get down and dirty' for the sake of a movie take? So what if the axe prop on display is a plaster cast and one in use isn't perfectly correct; the wielder, at very least, has to demonstrate he/she actually knows how to use it. Watching actor's guild 'tin horns' pretending to chop down a tree on camera is horribly painful for me and I usually switch the channel even though the story is compelling.
 
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Curt Hal said:
The reason I am doing the research is a friend of my daughter works in movies here in Alberta, and she will be assigned to gather authentic props for the upcoming Lewis and Clark film slated to be shot in Alberta. Any ideas for good sources for the kinds of axes they will need to find?
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They could be packin' and choppin' with a Fiskars, and 99.99% of the population wouldn't know the difference..
 
Here's a replica of what's said to be the type of US military surplus hatchet supplied to Lewis and Clark's expedition:

accoutrements_axe_w_handle.JPG


It is thought that axes like these were among the military surplus given to Lewis and Clark for the expedition of the Corps of Discovery. Note the "US" on the blade. Originally made for the military in the 1790's these could have gone with the Corps of Discovery on their journey.
[from De Le Ronde Forge (dot com)]
 
From an interesting .pdf document:


Following the Revolution, riflemen in the American Army continued to carry tomahawks. In 1793 the
quantities of tomahawks in various arsenals was listed:
West Point 45
Philadelphia 6
Carlisle, Pa. 1007 with handles, 1019 without handles
Ft. Washington, Western Territory 236

Compared with other arms available, this was an impressive inventory. As late as 1819 there were still
1;074 tomahawks at Carlisle Barracks.

Soldiers on the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806 to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory
from St. Louis to the Pacific carried tomahawks believed to have been made in the national armory at
Harpers Ferry. At this time there were no regualr riflemen in the American Army, such troops having
been discontinued with the abandonment of the Legion system in 1796. But when riflemen were reintroduced
in 1808 they were again issued tomahawks and tomahawk belts which they continued to use throughout the
War of 1812. Following the War, special units of riflenmen were again discontinued, and with them the toma-
hawks disappeared from the Army as a regulation weapon, though the hatchet still continues to be issued
as a tool to the present day.

...When you got into the 19th Century there is a hammer poll specimen marked U. S, Marked in big letters
and each one has a makers mark but in every case they are too indistinct to decipher, there a couple in the
Museum of American Indian and a couple in private collections....These were apparently the type issued about 1800, between 1790 and 1810. (Pic. E)... [photograph appears in pdf document linked below]


[from NOTES ON TOMAHAWKS, HATCHETS AND BOARDING AXES USED BY AMERICANS, by Harold L. Peterson]
http://americansocietyofarmscollectors.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/B006_Peterson.pdf
 
For the purposes of a movie set, you could probably get a pretty good approximation by taking some modern Jersey axes and grinding the heels to change the profile into something more like a Georgia pattern, maybe even thin the poll down if you wanted. The cross section would be all wrong, but that would never show on film, and it would be economical and quite reasonably historically accurate. A mix of straight and curved handles would also be reasonable.
 
Curt Hal said:
http://calgaryherald.com/entertainm...-lewis-and-clark-to-shoot-in-southern-alberta

Thanks, Steve Tall. Great information.
300Six: Check out the link above. Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Tom Hanks are listed as producers. I suspect the budget will be more than adequate!
Click to expand...

Hollywood tends to take supreme artistic license with plots and scripts. In that case a custom blade maker will probably be given 'carte blanche' to conjure up something and mere army-surplus axes will become Thor fantasy pieces. I'll keep my fingers crossed!
 
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