One of the many episodes of the 1960s TV show “True Adventure” produced and hosted by Bill Burrud, this episode presents a documentary profile of Sylvan Ambrose “Buckskin Bill” Hart (1906-1980), a mountain man who resided in Salmon River, Idaho. Hart was among the last of the mountain men in the Western United States. The film offers glimpses of his mode of life and the many products of his own manufacture, including his house, utensils, canoe, and several weapons. The film also shows him engaging with tourists, as integral to his livelihood as the wildlife in his sight. (TRT 27:12)

(0:10) Fireworks, over which are superimposed titles: “Bill Burrud presents True Adventure.” Zooming in on a globe (0:40) Burrud narrates in front of a compass, holding bureaucratic paperwork and making a case for primitivism (1:12) A cockpit view from a plane flying over a river (1:21) The protagonist, “Buckskin Billy” aka Sylvan A. Hart, a Salmon River, Idaho mountain man, aims a shotgun at a bear (2:34) An exposition of the subject: “One man has chosen to live alone on a mountain in the wildest section of the United States, with no conveniences except those he can make with his own hands” (3:26) Bill’s stockade fence and vegetable garden – onions, okra, beans, eggplant etc. (4:21) Bill’s black Manx cat, Panther (4:40) Bill’s self-constructed home, with stairs leading to a second story (4:46) A deer antler handle and chair (5:10) Washing strawberries (5:38) Stamping a metal bowl on an anvil. Billy scavenges and melts copper left by gold miners for reuse in the making of pots, pans and tea kettles (6:30) Boring a rifle barrel with a homemade tool; a rifle stock carved with animal designs (7:13) Bill demonstrating marksmanship (7:29) Animal skulls arrayed on the exterior of Bill’s house (7:55) Neighbor Al Tice drops by in a motorboat to deliver mail (8:54) Rifle loading and setting off on a trip (9:10) Billy’s homemade canvas canoe with beautifully bent dogwood canoe ribs (10:40) Billy stands in the canoe as he takes it over the rapids of the River of No Return (11:15) Mackey Bar airstrip (11:27) Al and Billy climb into a Paper plane, possibly a PA-18 (11:55) A forest view from the plane (12:10) A herd of elk viewed from above (12:45) A windsock. Flying into Stonebreaker Ranch. The plane is marked N4497A (14:00) Chamberlain Basin, Idaho. Bear, elk, and Billy amble. (14:29) A fish swims against the current (14:50) Sportsmen, for whom Billy will act as a guide, arrive at the Ranch in a wagon (15:13) Billy at a grinding wheel, sharpening knives used for cleaning fish and skinning elk. (15:47) Billy shows off an obsidian knife of indigenous American manufacture (16:02) A sportsman winds a fishing reel (16:10) Billy smoking fish on a grill and skinning an elk (16:52) Cleaning a rifle at the campfire, and tossing some gunpowder into the fire. Billy tells a story “using Indian sign language” (17:51) Dressed in fringed leather, Bills loads a flintlock rifle with gunpowder them rams in wadding and a barrel with a ramrod. Finally he places more gunpowder in a flintlock (19:47) Bear claw marks on a trunk. The bear in question.(20:04) Crossing a log bridge (21:21) Billy sights a grizzly print at a riverbank (21:33) Scaling the side of a cliff along a wire a wood bridge, made by Billy (22:06) Salmon at a waterfall (22:17) Billy mulls over shooting one of the bears playing in the whitewater, but leaves empty handed (23:34) Cameraman Milos Kinshaw[?] describes his impression of Buckskin Billy – “He doesn’t have to answer to anybody for his actions” (26:00) Executive Producer Gene McCabe, Unit Director Betty Turbiville, Producer William H. White, Produced in Hollywood by Bill Burrud Productions

“Buckskin Bill” Hart was born in Camargo in the Indian Territory, one year before it became Oklahoma. He worked in Texas oilfields during the Great Depression. For much of his life, he lived on the Five Mile Bar of the Salmon River in the Frank Church River Of No Return Wilderness. He built a compound that included a stone turret to defend against assault by the U.S. federal government, which he feared would evict him. Following a stint working in manufacturing during WWII, Hart returned to his compound and worked for the Forest Service. He farmed, hunted and fished for survival, and made his own guns, weapons, clothing and tools. After his death in 1980 his compound was preserved as a museum.

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com