FOLLOWING IN OUR FOREFATHER'S FOOTSTEPS

FOLLOWING IN OUR FOREFATHER'S FOOTSTEPS

This site is about pre-1820 frontiersmen, adventurers & explorers but over the years we have taken on later period projects for friends that became customers.

I have spent many years being dedicated to the preservation & the study of this lifestyle in North America by means of literary research and experimental archaeology.  If anyone tells you its easy, they took the easy way out & probably wasn't correct for the period of their interest. My main concerned is with the time period of the early American Mountaineer & Frontiersmen, my prime personal era (1750-1780) & the trade west of the Mississippi, mainly the Stony (Rocky) Mountain Territory, acting in the role of a Chief Factor for a major supply chain.

Acquired the name "One Who Trades" from an old friend that you may have hear of "Chief Iron Eyes" Cody, he was a real character with some very funny stories once you got to know him. Several of us "buckskinners" (term used in the early years) would run into him at Hollywood movie sets when still a taking part as a background actor. God Bless the Man, actor & a true-born Native American, helped to head the "ecology movement" in the early 1970s along with "issues that involved Mother Earth" as he would say.  "Iron Eyes" started calling me the "One Who Trades" because of the trade goods I had for sale at the making of the movie "The Mountain Men" in Jackson Hole WY in 1978. We were at the site as background actors. I have been called many names over the years; "Wounded Bar" by an ex-wife, "Sitting Fox" because of one of our business "The Sitting Fox Agency", "Buck" by most of my life by friends, "Yankee" from a car raced in the early 70s called  "Yankee Peddler" to "One Who Trades" by "Iron Eyes" and seen on our eBay sales.

[April 3,1904 - January 4,1999]

From early interests in muzzle loading weapons & my father collecting antique arms & being raised in a F&I War, Rev. War & Civil War area, that being my main focus from the early '50 until meeting a new friend in '73. At that time I was introduced to the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade, mountain men & a different style of weapon than having been around before by "Trapper Tom" Dwain Thompson, now my direction was changed once again. My earlier experience was shooting originals from time to time (black powder was hard to find in the early 50's). Now with "Trapper" its a hands on experience with shooting reproduction muzzleloaders.

A small group of us spent our fall & winter camps together (AMM Brothers) in Colorado and now Utah for 35-40 years, not counting all the small camps with good friends from other mountaineering groups. Longer with locals in the mountains of Colorado, Utah & Wyoming, (some of these characters were the first members of the "American Mountain Men" [AMM] in the state of Colorado - Ray Turner, Dick White & Dick Whitmer).  

I am not active at this time with:
The North American Frontiersmen (Mountaineer degree),
The American Mountain Men (Hiveranno degree).
Life member:
National Rifle Association
National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association
Lenni-Lenape Society (Elder status).

At this time I'm a regular member in good standing (not holding any offices).

I have started & in time sold several period correct businesses, usually due to a change in daily work scheduling or work locations of my steady employer. In one case it was found that the wholesale business was more demanding than our time allowed.

I still build websites for friends & small business' as time allows, usually sites that I'm involved with like muzzle loading suppliers for reenactments & a few drag race business sites that may be seen on the here or the 'Sitting Fox Agency' site.

Some of the Websites Built

Shown are businesses that we have owned & sold as well as one sold for a friend's family after his passing.   Small businesses are fairly easy to start, being successful is the hard part. Lots of long hours and hard work has always seemed to work for us. My wife always says "about the time we are seeing a nice profit on the investment someone offers Buck some cash & its gone". Only a couple of these businesses were full time employment.  Try working a regular 40 hour a week job plus another 6-7 hours at night & weekends is tuff in anyone's book. As you can see we have built a variety of websites, not just reenactments locations only.

. + Sitting Fox Agency & Beaver Plew Productions (still out and about) ...

. + Conner Outdoor Equipment SOLD
. + Buckhorn-Rendezvous SOLD
. + Buckhorn-Limited (wholesale) SOLD
. + Clark-&-Sons-Mercantile SOLD
. + Accourtrements SOLD
. + Bandito Racing LTD [we raced two to three times each week] SOLD
. + Project Mopar. [we raced two to three times each week] SOLD
. + Sitting Fox Performance SOLD

Helped with the sale of a friend's muzzleloading business.

. + Cache La Poudre Rifleworks SOLD

I am in the process of clearing out most of my collections of fifty plus years.  I told one friend that is  older than me "what will your wife or kids do with all your collections?" Mr. Cunningham thought about it for a moment then replied "guess I see what your saying, better start taking a closer look at my stuff too, thanks."



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Far as I'm concerned..
" let whomever finds it, pry it out from my cold frozen fingers"