Women of
the
Fur Trade
Stroudcloth, list cloth, saved list cloth, all these terms
appear commonly in inventory lists during the fur trade.
To name just a few : In 1825 Ashley made a cache, in it were included 2 pieces Trade list of John Mcnight, 1822 [partner of General Thomas Rags meant wool from dead sheep, & wool from factory Davis Schmid has found that aggressively fulled 100% The term stroudcloth makes reference to the town of
An 1835 inventory of goods sent to the Upper Missouri
Outfit lists 10 pieces saved list indigo blue cloth, 5 pieces
black list scarlet cloth, and 3 pieces saved list green cloth.
An invoice from the Rocky Mt. outfit 1836 under the
charge of Fontenelle, Fitzpatrick & Co from papers of
the American Fur Co lists 1 ps [piece] fancy list blue cloth,
16 ps saved list blue cloth, 3 gray list blue cloth, 3 black
list scarlet cloth, 1 saved list scarlet cloth, 3 saved list
scarlet cloth, 3 saved list green cloth.
scarlet cloth and 2 pieces blue stroud.
James], lists 5 inferior blue strouds, 7 saved list blue cloth,
2 red stroud, 1 scarlet stroud, 5 scarlet stroud.
These lists could go on an on, so common is wool, or
broadcloth, in fur trade inventories. Documentation is easy.
Now just what is the meaning of these terms stroud, list,
and saved list cloth? The Oxford English Dictionary
defines stroud as: "A cheap kind of cloth, made from
woolen rags, exported to the North American Indians".
waste. Rag material was finely carded or "deviled" then
carded with new coarse wool for spinning. It seems from
references to fancy and to inferior stroud that there may
actually have been better grades of this wool.
woolen coating is virtually indistinguishable from existing
artifacts of stroud owned by the Minnesota Historical
Society. This would indicate it is a nicer fabric than the
above definition."
(personal communication from Thomas Swan)
Stroud in Glouchestershire County, England, famous for
its stroudwater red.
The river water there was reported to have some quality
which produced outstanding color from the dying
process. This district was known for its fine quality
broadcloth which was used for the uniforms of the king's
army.
List refers to selvedge, where the edge is tightly woven to
prevent any fraying. List, or selvedge, is cut away and
not used in the construction of European clothing so
manufacturers often used a different fiber such as mohair
or a coarser fiber for this edge since it was waste anyway.
Carolyn Corey has found in her research that England had
laws that lists be certain widths to show the various
grades of broadcloth. The gray list and black list cloth noted
earlier in the trade lists refer to those colors used in the
selvedge warp instead of white. Some lists have a stripe or
two of color running through the white. Carolyn in her book
shows women's leggings with a gray list and the white
saved edge above it,
from the book "Art of the Great Lakes Indians"
Saved list refers to the list or selvedge being kept white
during the dying process. This white edge was much
desired be the Indians of N.A. and used in their clothing
for decorative effect. Now why did the practice of leaving
a white selvedge start?
As mentioned earlier, trade laws in England governed the
width of lists to show the quality of the broadcloth, so that
may be a part of why, but even more plausible is this
excerpt on dying by William Portidge, which was originally
published in 1820.
"ON COVERING THE LISTS OF CLOTH WITH WEBBING
TO PREVENT ITS TAKING COLOR.....
Cloth, intended for scarlet, or any other cochineal color,
is always girt-webbed, to prevent the lists from taking the
dye, as it would, being heavy and coarse, absorb much
of the cochineal. This operation is performed with thick
cotton, or linen webbing, which, being doubled to half its
breadth, is then wide enough to enclose the list when
rolled up. The webbing is put round the list, so as to
enclose it all, and is sewn on with small twine, passing
through the cloth close to the list, and drawn tight over
both. The stitches are about one-fifth of an inch apart,
when the list is covered, merely to save cochineal.....
Soon as a scarlet cloth is finished coloring, and has been
partly cleaned by the steamers, it is put on a slatted scrave,
that has been covered with a clean white cloth, and the
girt-webbing is taken off. This is performed by women,
who draw the threads out with hooks. After it is taken off,
both the thread and the webbing are well washed and hung
up to dry for further use." This method then, was first used
to save dye, and makes good sense when we recall the
coarse goods used in making the lists. From his
description it is actually a tie-dye method that most of us
are familiar with.
red. Both these hold their color well. It was not until 1856
that William Perkin discovered a synthetic dye, mauve,
but it was an analine dye that faded easily. Wools need
an acid dye.
In 1878 Biebrich scarlet was invented, this time a red acid Now lets take a look at the use of wool during the fur trade. This is from David Thompson writing March 25, 1810, at An important Blood chief was painted by Bodmer wearing Native Americans used the white edge of saved list wool for Here's a trapper, Joe Meek, describing his beautiful wife's In summary, it has been believed that stroudcloth meant the Stroud cloth and list cloth may or may not be. I also heard I experimented for a long time on just how to make this, I also found that the wool edge and webbing needs to be The name of her book is, The Trade cloth Handbook. Go STROUD!
dye rivaling cochineal in brightness. Fustic from a
mulberry tree was used for yellow and mixed with blue for
green.
These two colors faded easily. (Dye History form 2600 BC
to the 20th Century) These colors can be documented from
records 1775-1825: white, red, scarlet, blue, aurora, green.,
(A Compendium of material, " Northwest Journal vol X
1997)
Native Americans had fine clothing from their brain
tanned hides but this wool cloth that traders were
bringing was new and different. Besides the pretty,
bright colors it had some advantages.
Saleesh House: "We now plainly, as well as the Salish
Indians, see in this climate, the great advantage of woolen
over leather clothing, the latter when wet sticks to the skin,
and is very uncomfortable, requires time to dry, with
caution to keep it to it's shape of clothing. On the contrary
the woolen, even when wet, is not uncomfortable, is readily
dried and keeps it's shape, which quality they admire.
The Indians now fully appreciate the use of woolen
clothing, and every one is glad by means of trade, to
change this leather dress, for one of the woolen
manufacture of England." we can see from this quote that
it soon became a coveted item for those who could afford
it, and thus it also became somewhat of a status symbol.
a red saved list war shirt with buckskin sleeves.
decorative effect instead of cuting it off and hemming as
the Europeans did. It seems they were quite fond of it since
photographs even into reservation times show Native
American women of the Northern plains and plateau still
wearing saved list dresses, but as early as 1739 a HBC
employee wrote of the Indians fashion to wear the list at
the bottom or even the side of the garment.
dress…. "She wore a skirt of beautiful blue broadcloth, and
a bodice and leggins of scarlet cloth, of the very finest
make."
white edged wool, but seeing these different terms in the
same inventories, now I can only be sure that saved list
has the white edge.
stories that stroud was a cheap wool used to blot up
excess dye from fine fabrics. I could find no reference to
anything like this, besides, wool has to be immersed and
stirred and kept at a hot temperature to take the dye well.
and even tried other methods when my wrapping didn't
work. Over time and lots of wasted dye and wool, I found
a natural dye company that gave me good information ,
such as the fact that wool needs an acid dye, and that it
needs to be gradually brought up to the dying temperature.
Trouble was, they wanted to sell me 100 pounds of each
color at a time!
soaking wet or the dye seeps into the edge. If you want to
try making saved list yourself, or if you want more detail
of its history, I have just touched the surface and Carolyn
Corey has written an excellent book on the subject. I would
definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to make or use
saved list. She even gives her sources for dye!
You can get it from,
Four winds Trading Post
P.O. Box 580
St. Ignatious, Montana
59865
Or e-mail to:
ccorey@bigsky.net
And Happy Dyeing
Jill and Sandy
