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Leather Trousers pt II

In a past blog I brought up the idea of leather trousers as are mentioned in a number of fur trade journals.  Since then, I have been digging around for yet more information on these.  Other than a few mentions here and there and a pair of original leather pantaloons from the Stephen Long Expedition (1819) that were more likely undergarments, most of what I am finding is later in period.  In spite of this, there seems to be a common and continual use of these in the Northern Plains among fur trade individuals and Metis buffalo hunters.  In this second part of my blog, I am simply going to post a bunch of images that may be of use in interpreting what the earlier mentioned trousers may have looked like.

Most of the above images and extant pairs seem to be like these pantaloons sketched in an older Muzzleloader magazine by Rex A. Norman.  He is basing these off the images of Alfred J. Miller of Rocky Mountain fur traders/trappers in 1837, but the style seems similar to what we see elsewhere and at other times.  For the earlier periods that read of (see quotes in the last blog on leather trousers), they were likely similar to the above but with the proper cut of the period.

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