American Indian & Mountain Man Articles on Crafts, History & Culture

Many generations ago, the people had drums, gourd rattles and bull-roarers, but no flutes. At that time, a young man went out to hunt. The people in his camp were hungry as meat was scarce. [Read Complete Article]

Next to the drum, the most important Native American instrument is the flute. However, due to a lack of written language, the early history of the Native American Flute is not very clear. This article provides an introductory history to Native American Indian flutes. [Read Complete Article]

Fourteen Native American Jump Start Program (NAJSEP) summer interns from four reservations in South Dakota completed their summer internships at the Black Hills National Forest in the Youth Natural Resource Program (YNRP) of US Forest Service and National Parks Service. According to the YNRP Coordinator, "the YNRP program is often the first job the young people have experienced and is a great resume builder". The youth do many job tasks including trail building, log cabin restoration, stream enhancement, and even do a shift at Mount Rushmore. [Read Complete Article]

Stoneware jugs, also referred to as liquor crocks or jugs, whiskey jugs, and shoulder jugs, predate the mason jars and other modern containers that replaced them. While they obviously weren't used exclusively by any means for the consumption of "spirits", the image of a mountain man, pioneer, or other early frontier inhabitant taking a drink from a stoneware shoulder jug is certainly an American cliché, if not icon. [Read Complete Article]