The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #29195 Message #1598090
Posted By: JohnInKansas
05-Nov-05 - 01:10 PM
Thread Name: coffee stirred by thumb:Tales of the Frozen Logger
Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb - Frozen Logger
Mackinaws
CAPOTES & WOOL CLOTHING appears to claim to make "authentic period clothing" of various kinds. The "authenticity" is unknown, but the various designs shown illustrate the "trad lore" that outer coats commonly were made from blankets and/or "blanket cloth." A "Mackinaw" is about half way down the page.
Tradition appears to say that the Mackinaw coat is/was named for "Old Mackinac" which was a fort in Michigan, at or near the the present town of Mackinaw. Several online dictionaries cite, pretty much identically:
"ETYMOLOGY: After Old Mackinac, a fort on the site of present-day Mackinaw City in northern Michigan. "
Note that the common pronunciation of both "Mackinac" and "Mackinaw" places the accent/emphasis on the first syllable. A bit of historical research might find a MacKinac associated with the fort, but none of the easily found web info makes any comment, so about all that can be safely concluded is that it looks/sounds like it might have a Scots origin or lineage. Nothing found thus far indicates a time or even an era for the establishment of the fort.
Yukon/klondike gold rush stampeder's supply list, 1898 identified as the list provided by the Northern Pacific Railroad, includes "one Mackinaw coat." Reliability of this site is unknown. I'd dig a little deeper if it really mattered before citing this as an "authentic historical document," but tradition generally supports the use of the "Mackinaw" coat identification at and/or well prior to this era.
The "style" of the Mackinaw, as it's known in the US is a heavy coat made usually of close-woven wool cloth resembling a thick (i.e. old-fashioned) blanket material, about "butt-length" and presumed to be shortened to provide greater freedom of movement than other styles.
The quick look via Google, taking just the surface scum, provides no particular support not clearly hearsay that this style was particularly favored by lumberjacks, even though that is "oral tradition." Photographs from the turn of the century of lumberjack camps show a few coats of this (short) style, but longer styles are much more prevalent.
It appears to have been common practice to make outer garments from blankets, and some blankets were plaid; but there is little support for the notion that "plaid" was an essential part of the early usage for the "Mackinaw" coat. It's about as likely that the nearly universal use of plaid material was a later marketing ploy – "It sound's sort of Scot, so it should be plaid."
Military Mackinaw (Jeep Coat) in World War II shows the US Army version(s). In typical military fashion, the most frequently commented "feature" of this coat was that although it was intended for "Jeep drivers" the tail was not quite long enough to actually sit on, and was an uncomfortable lump when it crawled up behind one's butt.
I don't know to what extent the military usage popularized the Mackinaw name, but immediately post-WWII the Mackinaw (commercial retail version) was one of the most popular jacket styles for kids. Boys who were in grade school in the mid to late 1940s, especially in small/rural schools where sophisticated heating was less common, probably remember the "lumpy butt syndrome" quite well. In that time period, the retail products were invariably plaid, and other names were used for the same "cut" if another material was used.
John