Original Mountain Bags

[Sam Everly]

 These are some bags i own !

[Sam Everly]

                                                                                                                            This bag was with a flint Gillespie rifle that a Old lady friend owned. She gave the bag to me before she died. Her nephew ended up with the rifle .

[Sam Everly]

                                                                                                                            This bag is made out of a old saddle bag. 

[Dennis Glazener]

Her nephew ended up with the rifle .

The nephew didn't like ginger snaps
Dennis

[Sam Everly]

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 This one came out of a estate sale in western NC.

[Sam Everly]

 Dennis she did not like the nephew !!! Yes it was the Ginger snap lady , she could make the best Cat Head bisquets, and she cooked them on a wood cook stove at that . For you city fellers, they are as big as a cats head !

[Carper]

Sam , my grandpa's hunting bag of made from an old 1859 saddlebag just like the one you have shown. I made myself a copy of it twentyfive years ago and have carried it ever since. A little big but different. By the way , I just got a bag and horn that comes from Eden,NC is that near you? A medium size dark leather bag with a short flap that had fringe but about all of it is gone, the old leather strap you can see where it was, has been replaced with a piece of material like the one in your photo, a little better than average ,medium size horn is hung to the bag. NC stuff is not really my thing but a friend of mine who knew I liked this stuff brought it up here.    Nice to see the old bags you have, they are getting harder to find all the time.           Johhny

[Sam Everly]

Carper,Eden is about 25 miles south West of Danville Va. I am about 10 miles west of the intersection of I-77 and I-40. So i guess i am around 80 miles south west of Eden ! It is a old section of suspender added to the strap on that bag . It (Suspender) must be from around the late 1800's to the early 1900's. I can remember my grand dad having a pair just like them he worked in !    

[Carper]

I would never have considered the material being suspenders. But I will bet you are exactly correct. The weave was too fine to be some kind of web or belt, its not coarse at all.  It looks exactly like the material in your picture   Its nice to learn something, thanks for sharing               Johnny

[M Tornichio]

nice bags thanks for posting pictures. I have one question, are the bags lined? or just left as plain lether? I am in the process of making a bag and I figured that a person living in the mountains would probably not line the bag since it would take extra material.
Thanks,
Marc

[Sam Everly]

None of them are lined . All of the original bags i have seen , non where lined. Some of the original bags may have been lined , but i think that is a more modern made, big ticket item . Heck some of the older bags were lucky to have been sewn together .Every bag i have ever seen was sewn together with cotton twine.      

[M Tornichio]

Thanks Sam

[Randy Hedden]

Marc,

I have to agree with Sam, most of these bags were never lined, but every once in a while you will see one that has/had a liner on the front flap.

Randy Hedden

www.harddogrifles.com

[T.C.Albert]

I was recently restoring an average old bag, and was about half done when it finally struck me...this bag was fully lined! Looked like a heavy linen or cotton fabric, but it was so black and gummed up I couldnt tell....this is the only original bag of quite a few I have had the chance to work with or restore that I remember being fully lined. Based on my own experience, and from talking to others, I must agree with the previous posts and tend to think lining on original hunting bags was pretty rare no matter where they are from.
T.C.Albert

[Roger Fisher]

Yes, some were lined.   I have one such v old and rotted with the near full length flap lined with bl and white striped pillow ticking. inside of bag not lined; but does have a ticking 'pocket' sown inside, across the full width of said bag. D shaped bag 8 x 9 inches.   Narrow shoulder strap w iron buckle.