Rufus Sage

Rufus Sage was born at Cromwell, Connecticut, on 17th March, 1817. He worked as a journalist and after touring the West became a mountain men in the Rocky Mountains.

Sage's book, Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, was published in 1846.

Rufus Sage died at Cromwell on 23rd December, 1893.

Primary Sources

(1) Rufus Sage, Scenes in the Rocky Mountains (1846)

His skin, from constant exposure, assumes a hue almost as dark as that of the Aborigine, and - his features and physical structure attain a rough and hardy cast. His hair, through inattention, becomes long, coarse, and bushy, and loosely dangles upon his shoulders. His head is surmounted by a low crowned wool-hat, or a rude substitute of his own manufacture. His clothes are of buckskin, gaily fringed at the seams with strings of the same material, cut and made in a fashion peculiar to himself and associates. The deer and buffalo furnish him the required covering for his feet which he fabricates at the impulse of want. His waist is encircled with a belt of leather, holding encased his butcher-knife and pistols - while from his neck is suspended a bullet-pouch securely fastened to the belt in front, and beneath the right arm hangs a powder-horn traversely from his shoulder, behind which, upon the strap attached to it, are affixed his bullet-mould, ball-screw, wiper, awl, etc. With a gun-stick made of some hard wood and a good rifle placed in his hands, carrying from thirty-five balls to the pound, the reader will have before him a correct likeness of a genuine mountaineer when fully equipped.