Pipes and Tobacco of the Frontier
Written by Keith Tolman, Oklahoma
The frontiersman of the early nineteenth century be he trapper, trader, or soldier was forced to
leave most of his nonessentials back in the settlements. He did, however, allow room for a
few extras of which his tobacco pipe was probably the most important. This seemingly insignificant article was the westerner's constant companion and catalyzed for social
gatherings with his fel lows thereby reducing his loneliness and isolation.
Upon his arrival in the west the frontiersman was introduced to the stone pipes of the Plains
Indians. Most of these pipes had bowls made of catlinite, a hard reddish stone found in a
single quarry located in the southwest corner of present day Minnesota. The substance was named
for the painter George Catlin, who collected samples for scientific analysis during a visit to
the quarry in 1837. Catlin was told by Indians of the area that the quarry was sacred to all tribes
during ancient times and that even bitter enemies met in peace while extracting the
stone. Catlin also recorded the method by whlch the native stone was made into pipe bowls. The
exterior was laboriously carved with a knife after whlch the tobacco and stem holes were drilled
with a hardwood stick using a mixture of fine sand and water as an abrasive. The stem of the pipe was carved from a soft-centered wood such as ash and a red hot wire was forced through the pith to form the smoke passage. These pipes varied from one to three feet in length and many had intricately carved bowls in the form of some natural object such as a bear, wolf, or buffalo. The romantic vision of the bearded trapper puffing on the catlinite pipe is, however, pretty much a myth. While it is true whites who Uved among the Plains Indians did use the catlinite pipe there is little documentation which supports the contention that thls heavy, bulky pipe was used on a regular basis by the far ranging beaver hunter.
The Indians used several other pipes including the metal tomahawk pipe and the so
called "squaw" pipe. The tomahawk pipe was introduced by white traders dur ing Colonial times
and was popular with tribes located in the eastern United States. Their popularity, however, was
not extensive on the Plains proper where the stone pipe was the dominant type. Their lesser
popularity among the Plains Indians is evidenced in the portraits by Catlin which rarely
depicts a tomahawk pipe in the hands of a Plains Indian. The "squaw" pipe used by Plains
Indian women was much less elaborate than the pipes used by the male members of the tribes. It had a wood or reed stem and a stone bowl made of one of a variety of worka ble stones. The smoking of this pipe seems to have been more for recreational purposes than the male's pipe which was used with more ceremony.
The pipe used by the frontiersman had to meet certain requirements with regard to weight, bulk, price and avail ability. Briar pipes, first made on the island of Corsica in 1821, did not find
their way to the North American fron tier for several more decades and the lowly corncob pipe was not manufactured in commercial quantities until the late 1800's. Elegant porcelain pipes made their debut dur ing the last half of the 18th century but it appears that this fragile and
expensive pipe was not used extensively in the frontier, if at all. The pipe of choice in the west,
as in the east, was the small inexpensive clay pipe.
The simple method employed in making a clay pipe was largely responsible for its success. The process began with the injection of a special clay, either by hand or press, into a two-piece mold of lead, iron or wood. The hollow of the bowl and the stem was then made by inserting reamers into the openings made in the mold for this purpose. After extracting the pipe from the mold it was sun dried and then fired in a kiln. The ease with which these pipes could be made led to a proliferation of one man operations that could produce up to 300 pipes a day. Pottery factories also produced clay pipes, usually as a sideline. Using gang molds and injector presses they were able to measure their output in terms of millions per year.
The result of this type of production was a pipe that sold for one to three cents per unit.
The clay pipes used on the frontier during the early 1800's were of two basic types:
the kaolin and the reed stem elbow pipe. The kaolin, named for the china-like material
from which it was originally made, has a history in America dating back to Colonial times. The
a traditional Colonial kaolin was often two feet or more in length and had a thin curving clay stem. This "tavern pipe" was held in common by the inn's clientele who, for sanitary reasons, broke off a small portion of the stem each time it was smoked. Archaeological investigations at one early 18thcentury military post indicate that this custom was still in practice on the frontier.
By the 1830's the length of the kaolin had been reduced to about 7" overall and the stem had been shortened and thickened to make it less fragile and more compact. The bowl was often decorated with fluting, cross-hatching or dimpling and patriotic designs became quite common.
The frontier kaolin has been designated by archaeologists as a Dublin type and examples have turned up at such trading posts as Bent's Old Fort, Fort Laramie, and Fort Union.
The elbow pipe seems to have been developed during the last half of the 18th century and
was the preferred choice of the frontiersman in the field. Its replaceable reed stem and
thick bowl made it less vulnerable to breakage than the kaolin as evidenced by recovered
examples of both. The angle of the stem in relation to the bowl var ied from 90 degrees to
about 45 degrees of vertical depending on the model and personal tastes of the smoker. Bowl designs varied from the plain to ornate models which featured the faces of Indians
or political candidates. Elbow pipes with plain and fluted bowls seem to have been the
choice of most civilian frontiersmen while military personnel often chose a pipe with a
shield and eagle motif. While these pipes were all made of either white of red clay they
were often colored by means of a green, red or black glaze. Such a "little black pipe"
Is spoken of in Lewis Garrard's narrative Wah to yah and the Taos Trail. The popularity of
the elbow pipe is evidenced in the painting of the period. George Caleb Bingham's The Trapper's Returnclearly shows a straight stem elbow pipe in the mouth of a weary voyageur while a more voluminous elbow pipe can be seen in the hand of Prince Maximilian in Karl Bodmer's painting depicting the German naturalist's meeting with a group of Minne taree Indians.
The clay pipe remained popular until the Civil War period when it began to be replaced by
pipes made of other materials. Ironically, clay pipe production increased until well after the
turn of the 20th century. The reasons for this increase have been attributed to the
introduction of the shooting gallery, which used clay pipes as targets, and the practice of
tobacco companies giving away a clay pipe with each pouch of tobacco purchased.
Much confusion exists concerning the white man and the Indian's tobacco preferences. It has long been known that the North American Indians mixed their tobacco with various herbs to form a blend known as kinnikin nick, and Algonquian word which means "that which is mixed." While the mixing of such substances as sumac leaves and the inner bark of the dogwood made the tobacco milder and more aromatic, it also served an economic function by extending the tobacco supply of the nomadic tribes which did not grow the
substance. A scarcity of information concerning the tobaccos used by whites on the frontier
has led many to erroneously conclude that kinnikinnick was also the preferred choice of the
frontiersman. In truth much kinnikinnick was smoked by whites on the frontier but
historical references indicate that while the Indian tobacco was being burned, the smoke was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the trader who always carried a copious supply of "good Missouri plug." The preference shown by the Indians and the whites for their own tobaccos can possibly be explained by the fact that the whites were used to smoking the domesticated tobaccos of the southeastern United States while the Plains Indians found the wild varieties of the north more to their liking.The containers used to carry tobacco by the frontiersmen were made from a variety of materials and were of many different shapes. They were often in the form of a leather pouch which was hung around the neck by means of a strap or as a "canteen" made of wood, tin or rawhide which was carried in the possible bag. The only thing common to these containers was their size which never seemed to exceed more than a few ounces in volume. This leads one to assume that the main supply of tobacco was carried elsewhere in the frontiersman's outfit. The Plains Indian, on the other hand, carried his tobacco in a much larger pouch made from the skin of a small animal such as a prairie dog, skunk or mink. These bags were made by extracting the carcass of the dead animal through a slit made near the animal's throat, which would later serve as the mouth of the bag. The head, feet and tail were left on the bag and the skin tanned. The finished bag was then
decorated ..with beads, quillwork or metal tinklers.
In transporting their long stone pipes the Plains Indians used an elaborately decorated buck skin bag which covered the bowl and a portion of the stem. The bag and its contents were carried by wrapping the mouth of the bag around the stem of the pipe forming a type of handle.
The importance of tobacco on the frontier should not be underemphasized. It was a major trade commodity and served as a link between the frontiersman and the civilization he left behind.
Also, the giving of tobacco became a symbol of peace which of ten averted much bloodshed
between two cultures struggling for control of the same resources. In our efforts to recreate
the life and times of the early frontiersmen we have often overlooked the part played by
tobacco in the opening of the American West. Its
significance, however, did not escape the lonely trapper sitting by his fire 150 years ago.
Lewis Garrard realized its importance when he described a backwoods gathering of his company: "we were under the influence of the harmony of nature, tobacco and Taos Whiskey."
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