Into the Wild Frontier

I find it funny how the director/producer equipped all natives with flintlock rifles. When (Ep4) Lewis/Clark reach Idaho and the Shoshone tribe how is it that 80% of the tribe meeting the expedition already had rifles in hand? It's 1805! They were fat and few between at that point in our history, especially in the mountainous northwest. Civilians traveling in that area didn't happen until pioneers started going west in the 1830's-1840's.

I found it interesting that Jim Bridger (Ep2) actually left a man behind to die even after he himself had to traverse the wild naked after being tortured by the Blackfeet and reach other trappers/traders of his main group.

I discovered this series.

I do mountain man reanacting and love this stuff.

But I'm not sure Indians had western saddles with horns.

The scenery is amazing.

Wish it told who played , I have read the journals.

I've only seen one episode, the one in which a Daniel Boone daughter was captured while canoeing. I thought it was excellent.

A mixed review a year ago included: "But I do wonder where the Indians, living in the middle of nowhere, with little or no contact with white men, get all those rifles, gun power, musket balls and saddles."

Uh, well, it's called the Fur Trade. By the early 1800s, the locals had been trading with Europeans for over 300 years. Muskets, rifles, lead, powder, silver ornaments, beads from Italy, vermilion from China, fabric from India, and blankets & Sheffield knives from England. I don't know what bits & saddles are right for Blackfeet & Shoshone, but know that Spanish bits were steel, as far back as Coronado.

While the majority of the series seems to be really well-developed, the producers lost my respect when I see Shoshone Indians meeting Lewis and Clark with double-rigged Western Saddles and metal curb bits in their horses mouths. If you are aiming for authenticity, you'd better go all the way. Even in the John Colter episode, they are using saddles that hadn't been developed yet for the next 20 years, and those brand-spanking new saddles on their horses were a far cry from the big heavy square-skirted saddles that the Texas cowpunchers were using. My husband now refuses to even watch the series, so I'm having to sneak in an episode when I can. :/

I've enjoyed watching the first a few episodes. Good stories, well acted. But I do wonder where the Indians, living in middle of nowhere, with little to no contact with white men, get all those rifles., gun power, musket balls and saddles. Secondly, many of their horses bridles have modern steel bits. One scene had two horses wearing halters which appeared to be made of modern braded nylon. There has been a lot of attention paid to story detail so I was surprised to see these pretty obvious errors.

Good stories. We need more programs like this showing history, not just "shoot em up" Hollywood westerns.