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Grand Portage National Monument
Trade Knives
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NPS photo by Karen Stay Case Knife GRPO #17802 blade is broken and slightly bent.
- Overview
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- Knives were popular and highly useful items of the Great Lakes fur trade.
- Generally of French or British manufacture, knives came in two major types.
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- The first type is the case knife (also called a sheath or butcher knife), which usually had a short tang and handle of wood or similar material.
- The second type is the folding knife, usually of the French “clasp” knife design with wooden handles or the British “jack knife” form with metal handles and horn, bone, or wood “scales” (grips).
- Whether man or woman, Native or European, one’s knife was an important tool; a valued possession; and a common article of trade around the Great Lakes.
- The following examples from archeological excavations at Grand Portage show some of the variety in form: the wooden handles generally have not survived
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Trade Knives (7 Photos)
Knives were popular and highly useful items of the Great Lakes fur trade. Generally of French or British manufacture, knives came in two major types.
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Did You Know?
Over 120,000 artifacts have been uncovered at Grand Portage providing vital information to locate four reconstructions and a stockade on the original depot setting and furnish these structures.
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Last Updated: March 25, 2009 at 10:25 EST |
