Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Outdoor clothing in the 1920/1930 era?

Recently I finished reading a book about the Mad trapper of Rat river and am currently reading Alaska's Wolf man about Frank Glaser.

In the Mad trapper book much of that ordeal took place in extreme cold down to 40 below. I didn't see any mention of the clothing worn by the trapper or the Mounties and others who chased him.

In the Glaser book He mentions Filson wool pants and mackinaw but that's all I've seen mentioned so far.


I'm curious what they would have worn in those conditions. Just wool? Fur? Goose down maybe?

Any titles of books that might have descriptions of clothing and gear would be appreciated too.

have read some, but mostly it's just living here and having an interest in our history.


and realizing folks from those eras had it much tougher than us and therefore were tougher


nothing as warm as fur, caribou hides are still one of the best insulating ground mats available

but weigh more than the stuff we typically use

shoe pacs were a popular item as they shed water better.

in the old days of fur mukluks if you went into overflow you were often well served, if you could get out of the overflow quickly enough, to insert your wet foot or feet into a snowbank, at least here in the Interior to let the dry snow suck some of the moisture out.

fire building skills were much more important and again technology was matches by and large


wool underwear, wool pants, Filson type mackinaws were hugely popular items for the frontier guys.

but fur hats and fur mittens still have a valued place in many folks kits that live and travel in places where it gets really cold.

A lot of them didn't wear what was best. They wore what they had available and lived with it.

I think Frank made himself a Caribou sleeping bag. It weighed 17 lbs and he thought it was great. Pics of him in the book shows him in furs. The Mountain Men used wool blankets to make their clothing so I think the people of the North would do the same.

You would be amazed at what people wore and got away with back in the day. To a certain point, cold is merely a state of mind.

I read an old account of an Indian leading a party of British soldiers in the old Northwest somewhere around the great lakes in the 18th Century. The British were bundled up in their great coats and the Indian guide was clad in buckskin leggings that were mostly open and little else. One officer asked the Indian how he did it in the cold. The Indian asked the officer why he didn't cover his face. The officer said that his face didn't get as cold as the rest of his body and that it was used to the cold. The Indian replied, "Me all face."

I know for a fact that an awful lot of Hudson Bay Blankets were turned into clothing.

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

Those are both great books.

I always thought I was pretty tough in my younger years. Not bar room fighting tough, but durable with a minimal amount of whining and able to get by without allot of bells and whistles, but reading Glaser's story makes one feel like a real panty waist.

As far as clothes go, as stated above, Frank was pretty proud of that sleeping bag. There are also a lot of pix of him in fur, soooo, wool and fur would be my guess.

Yeah, I've always thought I was rawhide tough (I suppose everyone does) but the more I read about these guys the more I realize I woulda' been a wimp in their day.

A few years ago I read about some research done to determine man's ability to adjust to the cold. Volunteers were put in a situation below freezing. At night, they slept almost naked and with only a sheet for covering. After thinking they'd die the 1st night, they quickly adjusted to where the could sleep comfortably.

you oughta see the size of the wrenches they used on the dredges up here

those lil bastids were tough and strong

no toothache meds, no ibuprofen, no anesthesia for surgeries needed

I've no doubt some of you that post here are modern day tough, and some no doubt could have made it back then

but as for me, I've come to realize I'd have made a fair pimple on some of those tough guy's azzes.

I've set on the edge of the hard seat a few times, but never planted squarely in the middle, thanks in part to the technologies and advancements of modern living.

we live much longer now than back in the day, and us old guys have aches and pains that many had in their 20's and thirties back then.

A lot of guys who died from the wet and cold back then would have come home happy if they'd had today's clothing and equipment.

My great grandfather, who was by all accounts a mean SOB and not in a good way, died in the early 1950s in his 70s. He was a logger his whole life. He also lived his whole life from about the age of 5 with one arm. He broke it as a kid, the doctor was drunk and bound it too tight, gangrene set in, and it had to be removed below the elbow.

So, anyway, with that one arm he still was a logger and was known in his 40s to take two young men out with him for a day on the crosscut saw and wear both of them down in a day.

He was tough. And the thing is, for that day and age, he wasn't all that remarkable.

I'm pretty convinced that far from improving physically, we are regressing. Roman soldiers used to march 30 miles in a day and then build a wooden fort EVERY SINGLE DAY of a campaign. Fossilized human footprints found in mud show humans chasing gazelles at speeds calculated by the footprints to be better than 25 mph. Even the best trained athletes and the toughest soldiers, can't hold a candle to some of the physical feats and endurance shown by relatively average people before the age of mechanization.

Yes, both great books for sure. While not specifically mentioned, it wouldn't surprise me if Frank lived in Filson wool. The company had already been selling clothing to the Klondike crowd and was well established, and Frank seemed to always buy nice rifles, so I assume he buy the clothing of the time too. Just a guess, but while reading about Glaser, I visualized him in a heavy wool mackinaw and pants (tucked into his boots).

I agree Field Grade, that level of toughness is almost awe inspiring. What Glaser took for granted as normal probably couldn't be matched by most of today's men. And if it could, there'd be a self-promoting blog or reality show, rather than just a tough as nails man quietly living his life.

As an aside, I like that even as much as the Campfire has changed over the years, it's STILL the place discuss this kind of stuff. Carry on.

Yes, both great books for sure. While not specifically mentioned, it wouldn't surprise me if Frank lived in Filson wool. [/quote]

Ahhhhh,,,, Frank actually mentions his Filson wool several times in the book.
There's even pix of him wearing it IIRC.

Couldn't agree more about this being a good topic for the fire.
It sure as hell beats all the bickering about politics or "god forbid" another Ferguson thread.

I've enjoyed reading about the different rifles he hunted with and which ones he liked and didn't like.

He killed a LOT of grizzly bears with calibers that are considered too light today.

He thought the .220 Swift was an excellent big bear killer.

Not sure why it took me so long to discover good wool outdoor clothing.

In the last month I have bought 2 pair of pants, one a very nice pair of Woolrich, a Woolrich sweater, and Stormy Kromer outfitter vest. They match my Kromer and Woolrich caps quite nicely, if I do say so myself

I had a Cabelas Windshear wool shooting sweater that I dearly loved. No idea where I left it. I managed to pick up a new one for like half price last year. It will definitely see some use soon....

I read both of those but it has been a fewer years. Along with several others. I remember in some book reading about gum boots. Aperintly some kind of rubber.
Braving the cold is nothing new to the pioneers regardless what time frame. Think of the mountain men.
I recently read about a game warden back in the day that kinda startes the bush plane thing in Alaska. Sorry don't remember the title. He describes a lot of how the delt with the cold. Like draining the oil out of the plane and keeping it warm on the wood stove at night. Flying an open cockpit plane at 60 below couldn't have been fun...
I think those people were tougher than us.
Read up about Hudockivich.....from around delta junction...another tough guy..

I love that part. Didn't he have a rifle blow up in his false shooting at a grizzly..

I'm a big fan of wool myself. I was issued Gore-Tex and the polyester stuff when the Army got into it and then I bought all kinds civilian wonder gear but was never that happy with it.

Now I hunt in an old Woolrich or Filson wool mackinaw and wool pants or bibs and a Stormy Kromer cap depending on how cold it is. It's quiet when I'm walking and I'm warmer than I was in synthetic stuff.

If it's raining I wear an old oiled or waxed (don't know which) hunting coat and it does just fine.

I got all of it dirt cheap at thrift stores. I guess I'm one of the few people that like it, because it doesn't sell well so they price it cheap.

Works for me, I've got 5 or 6 Filson mackinaws and 2 Woolrich. I paid 23 bucks for the most expensive one.