The greatest of them all: The North-West Trade Gun!

‪@HawkenHorse‬ #flintlock #bushcraft The Northwest Trade Gun first appears in the fur trade records of the Hudson’s Bay Company as early as 1761. By 1777 Trader John Long, trading north of Lake Superior writes in his journal: “I gave…to the eight chiefs who were in the band each a North-West Gun.” This entry is the first mention made referring to the gun as a certain type or style. From this point forward the fur trade records are full of mentions of Northwest Guns, which were also called “fusils” (French for shotgun, pronounced ‘fusee‘) London Guns, Mackinaw Guns, and Hudson’s Bay fusees. These guns became common on the early frontier. By the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition into the American West in 1804, Lewis describes the tribes along the upper Missouri as being almost universally armed with these guns. In fact, when Lewis and Clark engaged Toussaint Charbonneau and his young wife Sacagawea at the Mandan Village in the winter of 1804-05 they noted his Trade Gun, an “elegant fusil” in the journals