Have you ever noticed

[Fox Mike]

Have you ever noticed in the westerns that there is a fort built in the middle of nowhere and has a wall 20 feet high, 100 yards per wall, all the logs are the same size...and there are no trees, nor have there ever been, within 20 miles in any direction.

 

[rkrcpa]

Hmmm, now that you mention it. Does seem strange.

 

[bogus bill]

Why do all the Indians hoop in soprano ?

 

[blume357]

As for the fort.. it's the government... no big deal to ship in all that lumber from back east for a temporary fort that will probably get burnt down in a year or two.

 

[blackhawknj]

I used to call the Daniel Boone series of the 1960s Daniel Boone on Alpha Centauri-Boonesborough was shot on an interior set, everything had 3 shadows.

 

[Johnnu2]

I always assumed they imported the logs from China....

J.

 

[Bob Wright]

I was visiting Ft. Hayes, Kansas, and remarked that there was no walled "fort." The guide said "The Indians never attacked a fort. Too many soldiers."

And at the Battle of the Little Rosebud, it was noted the Indians stayed away from Infantry units, as their fire was much more accurate and their rifles had greater range.

And, around Monument Valley, many Indians there recall how much fun it was to "play Indians."


Bob Wright

 

[caryc]

Have you ever noticed in the westerns that there is a fort built in the middle of nowhere and has a wall 20 feet high, 100 yards per wall, all the logs are the same size...and there are no trees, nor have there ever been, within 20 miles in any direction.

Going with your "no trees within 20 miles", what did they use for heat in winter? Also what did they feed their horses?

 

[OVERLOADDED]

Have you ever noticed in the westerns that there is a fort built in the middle of nowhere and has a wall 20 feet high, 100 yards per wall, all the logs are the same size...and there are no trees, nor have there ever been, within 20 miles in any direction.

Going with your "no trees within 20 miles", what did they use for heat in winter? Also what did they feed their horses?

Buffalo chips! They burn hot and start easy. Overloadded

 

[Mobuck]

I think it was fairly common for the quarter masters to cut local hay for the horses and wood for the fires. If they had to travel some distance, they probably had cavalry along for protection. Wasn't that how the Indians got their first real taste of repeating rifles when they attacked a wood cutting party that included civilians who had Henry rifles?

 

[blackhawknj]

At the Hayfield Fight on August 1, 1867 and the Wagon Box Fight on August 2, 1867 small parties of civilians with Spencer repeating rifles and soldiers armed with the new M1866 Trapdoor rifles held off much larger parties of Indians armed with only bows and arrows.

 

[jgt]

The worst thing about the old west was that music always playing in the background. It drove a lot of them to drink. The best part was the compact mess kits they carried in their saddle bags. Coffee pots and frying pans that folded up so small it looked like nothing more than a few packets of jerky. Not to mention guns that never needed reloading.

 

[chm270]

Would have been a LOT easier than building the pyramids that were kind of far away from any rocks?

 

[Johnnu2]

Would have been a LOT easier than building the pyramids that were kind of far away from any rocks?[/quot

Again.... brought in from China....

I was told by a guy who was there.!!!!

J.

 

[Fox Mike]

The worst thing about the old west was that music always playing in the background. It drove a lot of them to drink. The best part was the compact mess kits they carried in their saddle bags. Coffee pots and frying pans that folded up so small it looked like nothing more than a few packets of jerky. Not to mention guns that never needed reloading.

I did notice that a shovel seemed to be readily available to bury someone. They must have kept that in a bag on the side of the horse, the side of the horse we never see.

 

[Bob Wright]

Famous line from the old radio series of "Gunsmoke."

Matt Dillon: "Chester, get a shovel and bury him."

Chester: "Yessir, Mr. Dillon."


Bob Wright

 

[Watchman]

Sure, make the handicapped guy do the digging! :?

 

[blackhawknj]

Since Gunsmokewas set in Dodge City shovels weren't too hard to find.
Perusing the final battle scene from They Died With Their Boots OnCuster (Errol Flynn) tells his men "Fight on Foot!" , they just stop where they are, dismount, one of the first things the Indians do is run off the horses. In actuality when cavalry fought dismounted every 4th man-usually the older ones-was designated as a horse holder. And of course every other Indian is wearing a war bonnet.

 

[bogus bill]

Saw a cartoon. Visual this: A bunch of warriors are all cracked up, horses laying on top of the warriors.
They had been circling a wagon train. The chief is reading the riot act to a slow looking warrior: No, no slow dog.
It`s counter clockwise! Always counter clockwise! Got it?

 

[Jeepnik]

Just keep repeating to yourself, "It's only a movie".

 

[bogus bill]

Many years ago I was a guard at Lockheeds main gate. Back then I sported a huge handlebar mustache.
A guy walked past me and said, when Matt Dillion comes through, I want you to arrest him! He just kept walking and didn't explain himself. Initially I started to get a little peeved thinking he was making sport about my mustache
A minuet later James Arness walked up to me. He was with some company exec`s. Met a few others there too at various times.

 

[mike7mm08]

Just keep repeating to yourself, "It's only a movie".

Watching a movie or TV that was "historical" with my old man was pain. He would be going off about every little thing that was not correct. You could barely catch all the dialogue of the show sometimes. Worst part is I now find myself doing the same darn thing :roll:

 

[toysoldier]

I was visiting Ft. Hayes, Kansas, and remarked that there was no walled "fort." The guide said "The Indians never attacked a fort. Too many soldiers."
Bob Wright

Ft. Hayes is perhaps the best preserved frontier fort. The walls are built of local sandstone. It was sold off and used as a ranch for many years. There are no enclosing walls, but there are firing loops in some of the buildings. The recreated flagpole looks like a ship's mast, with a flag big enough to see for miles. It would have been a key landmark on the flat prairie. I visited on a July 4th, when they have volunteers recreating life at the fort. I dressed as a soldier and participated in the flag ceremony.

 

[trebor44]

Love it! All that local knowledge! It's all about location, location and Hollywood will build it so you will come!

 

[vito]

The Indians in those days were not too bright, fortunately. They would ride round and round the wagons so that the soldiers and settlers could just pick them off as they went around.

And as to stockade forts, back in 1967 when I was a young lieutenant stationed in El Paso where Ft. Bliss is, my youngest sister-in-law was coming to spend the summer with my wife and I. She was 8 years old and excited to be coming to "Ft. Bliss" in the far western corner of Texas. When we arrived in my little VW Beetle, she was stunned into silence. The "fort" was huge, block after block of mundane buildings. Not a stockade in sight. She really thought that the "fort" where I was stationed would look like what she had seen in some Western movies.

 

[bogus bill]

Most people are right handed. Most ponies are big. The Indian' s shot off the right side of the horse, to avert
head on crash's with their fellow classmates,
It makes sense to me.