Iron & Steel Tools

Iron and steel tools of all sorts were in demand both by the Mountain Men and the Indians.  Steel and iron Knives, axes, tomahawks and awls were all far superior to traditional Indian stone tools.  Awls and fire steels, because they were such low cost items, were often given away as presents to create a friendly atmosphere prior to beginning a trade session with the Indians.  

Saws, augers, files, and other woodworking tools could have been used by both personnel of the pack train for making repairs along the trail, and for use by the mountain men.

The quantities shown in the following table are a representative composite of those documented in trade records as having been packed to rendezvous.  Prices are St. Louis costs, not "Mountain Prices."    

No.	Unit	Item	Cost
344	each	Indian Awls	1¢/each
2	dozen	Shop Scissors	$2.00/dozen
1	dozen	Women's Scissors	$1.75/dozen
84	dozen	Wilson's Scalping Knives	$1.58/dozen
17	dozen	9" Butcher Knives	$1.68/dozen
5	dozen	8" Butcher Knives	$1.25/dozen
10	dozen	Wilson's Cartouche Knives	$1.50/dozen
6	dozen	Wilson's Cartouche Knives	$1.38/dozen
1	dozen	Clasp Knives
6	dozen	Green Bone Handled Knives
7	each	Masonic Swords
1	dozen	Handsaw Files	$1.06/dozen
1	dozen	Crosscut Saw Files	$1.13/dozen
1	dozen	8" Half Round Files	$1.50/dozen
1	dozen	6" Flat Files	$1.13/dozen
1/2	dozen	12" Half Round Files	29¢/each
400	each	Fish Hooks	50¢/?
3	Bundles	Fishing Line	25¢/?
66	each	Half Axes	75¢/each
	each	Tomahawks	38¢/each
15	each	American Tomahawks	75¢/each
6	each	Felling Axes	$1.50/each
2	each	Draw Knives	70¢/each
4	each	Grubbing Hoes
6	each	Spades
		Handsaws
2	each	Claw Hammers	25¢/each?
10		Traps	$3.25/trap
		Trap Springs
		Chains
		Fire Steel Boxes
500	each	Fire Steels	3¢/each
		Jack Plane
		Smoothing Plane
5		Whetstones
6		Screw Augers
2	dozen	Assorted Gimlets

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