> So my questions are 1.) was "Char Cloth" called Char Cloth 200 years ago or
> was it called something else?
Longshot,
Somewhere on one of my computers saved in its archives is a message from
Joseph Ruckman who wrote the book "Recreating the American Longhunter
1740-1790." During his research he came across a dictionary of
sorts.......which was not one of the common ones we know. It was written in
1793 and was the 13th printing of that edition, so it had been around a
while. In it was a definition of char cloth ....charred linen used as tinder
for starting a fire.
Because of this reference, we can conclude that "char cloth" was known and
used as terminology and had been for many years prior to the Rocky Mtn fur
trade era. I have no idea if there were any later editions of the book
published which would place it in the Fur Trade era. If I can find the exact
reference, I will post it later.
Dave Kanger
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Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 13:52:27 -0800
From: John Kramer <kramer@kramerize.com>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: char cloth
Lodgepole,
You wanted something different?
I decided to look up Char and Punk
From Webster's 1828
CHAR, n. A fish.
CHAR, n. In England, work done by the day; a single job, or task. In New
England, it is pronounced chore, which see. I know not the origin of the word.
CHAR, v.t. To perform a business.
CHAR, v.i. To work at others houses by the day, without being a hired
servant; to do small jobs.
CHAR-WOMAN, n. A woman hired for odd work, or for single days.
[Char-man and Char-woman are, I believe, not used in America.]
CHAR, v.t.
1. To burn or reduce to coal or carbon; to reduce to charcoal, by
expelling all volatile matter from wood. This is done by burning wood
slowly under a covering of turf and earth.
2. To expel all volatile matter from stone or earth, by heat.
The stone or earth charred from all foreign visible ingredients.
PUNK, n. A prostitute; a strumpet.
From the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
PUNK, A whore; also a soldiers Trull. See Trull.
TRULL, A soldier or a tinker's trull; a soldier or tinker's female companion.
____________
You were right the words did have a different meaning back then. Isn't
history fun?
John...
At 10:27 AM 3/28/03, you wrote:
>This topic becomes more and more interesting as it goes on. Each answer
>to the question seems to lead to more questions. Some folks seem to ghave
>thier minds made up in one direction or another, and of course there seems
>to be those who have to have written proof or it did not happen etc. Will
>we ever get the true answer? Maybe not. But just for the heck of it let
>me add a question and maybe we can keep the thread alive a bit longer.
________________________________________
Personally, I'm in favor of registration, licensing, background checks,
and a five day waiting period for all Microsoft software.
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Date: 28 Mar 2003 18:24:33 -0800
From: "Curtis Krouse" <kc16@qwest.net>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: char cloth
Longshot,
Very well said...thank you for clarifying things that I was trying to
say, but didn't seem to get it out quite as well as you. Thanks.
Blood
On Fri, 2003-03-28 at 10:27, LODGEPOLE@aol.com wrote:
> This topic becomes more and more interesting as it goes on. Each answer to the question seems to lead to more questions. Some folks seem to ghave thier minds made up in one direction or another, and of course there seems to be those who have to have written proof or it did not happen etc. Will we ever get the true answer? Maybe not. But just for the heck of it let me add a question and maybe we can keep the thread alive a bit longer.
>
> In a message dated 3/25, Blood writes:
>
> << Maybe tow is something other than what we think it is. Or it was called different things at that. >>
>
> Now this takes me back to an earlier post (can't recall who's) where they were arguing against "Char Cloth" ever being used. They showed some documentation that "Punk" was used. I took from that that this was their argument in favor of "Punk Wood." Often while researching we have discovered that what has stalled us in finding what we were looking for was that the definition of a word today was not necessarily the definition of that word 200 years ago and vice versa. So my questions are 1.) was "Char Cloth" called Char Cloth 200 years ago or was it called something else? 2.)Was what they called "Punk" 200 years ago Punk Wood or was possibly something else? Could "Char Cloth" been called Punk? 3.) over the years we've seen many references made indicating that the mountain men seem to always seemed to purchase new cloth shirts at rendezvous for themselves. When these shirts wore out what did they do with them? Cleaning patches? Char cloth perhaps?
>
> I'm not one of those hard core reenactors that has to show up at rendezvous with 32 ten pound historical volumes to authenticate everything in my camp or to discredit someone else's. I'm just in it for the fun and to learn about something that interests me much. There are many ways to start a fire and I've used most of them at one time or another. Just depends on what the circumstances are. If I've got some old cotton cloth around that isn't going to be much good for anything else anymore, I'll char it. If I come across some good soft rotting wood, I'll char that. If I have neither, I can use powder or perhaps my magnifying glass. I suspect that perhaps this may well have been the way they did things 200 years ago as well. Some things were so everyday common that it wasn't written about, so we may never know. 200 years from now when some fool wants to reenact the life and times of Longshot, how will he go about some small things? I smoked for some years. Did I use matches or a lighter to light them? I've never written about it. There is a picture I'm aware of though that shows me using matches to light one. Could this pic be used as definite proof that I used matches? I suppose so. Truth is that I rarely did. I almost always used a lighter. So the only way anyone 200 years ago will know is if someone saves this e-mail for the prosperity of the world. What does all this rambling mean? I guess that I will always keep an open mind and not say "This IS how it was done!"
>
> Longshot
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Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 01:19:52 EST
From: JSeminerio@aol.com
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Cursed!
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In a message dated 3/27/03 10:25:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,
beaverboy@sofast.net writes:
> Contact me off list if your interested. I've heard about how
> people are deceitful on the internet. Hopefully you're really a
> beautiful blonde female and not a smelly trapper.
>
>
Hey Beaverboy
For a guy that traps beaver you have a great sense of humor
John (the truly cursed) in magnificent but oh so expensive NYC
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<HTML><FONT FACE=3Darial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=3D2>In a message dated 3/27/0=
3 10:25:16 PM Eastern Standard Time, beaverboy@sofast.net writes:
