Dec. 29, 2007 - 19:43 MST

LORE AND MORE

Upper Wear is in our newspaper this morning with a cute and sweet article on a hat made famous by Mr. Stetson.

Much history coming from our West begins with a person coming west because he or she had turberculosis.

Thus it was with Mr. Stetson, the son of a New Jersey hatmaker who was diagnosed with tuberculosis and came out west for a bit of exploration.

The story goes that he designed the famed flat brimmed felt hat with the mountain peak crown and leather band -- which became known as "Boss Of The Plains" that our forest rangers wear. As well there are many organizations that use that hat as a symbol of trustworthiness, reliability and helpfulness.

The lore goes that Mr. Stetson, camped with a party at the base of Pikes Peak in 1862, at the campfire - conceived was the hat there by Mr. Stetson.

One park ranger touts the practicality of the hat, "it is absolutely practical, it provides incredible sun protection for the neck and ears. It keeps rain from going down the back of the neck or the front."

Worn around the world, by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, for instance whose tours of duty are in the far north of America, worn by troopers in the eastern part of our country and in other countries as well.

My first meeting with that far famed hat was on a hike to Devil's Head fire lookout station on the front of the Rampart Range north of Colorado Springs, then manned by forest folk. I drooled at the sight of it, wanted one in the worst way. It had a dignity of its own, its aura enveloping the public servant wearing it. News to me it is that it was invented by a Stetson of the hat making family who came West to recover from tuberculosis.

Apparently he recovered from his tuberculosis because it says in the paper, "Around 1863 he left Colorado and settled in Philadelphia, where he opened a hat-making business specializing in the design he created."

All in such a short article is the whole kaboodle of the romance of the wilds, practicality of a tubercular hatmaker and his apparent recovery.

For a guy who has limited keyboard time, 'tis enough, there is LORE AND MORE . . . . . . . . .

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