PLAINS INDIAN AND MOUNTAIN MAN ARTS AND CRAFTS II: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. Written and Illustrated by Charles W. Overstreet. Liberty, UT: Eagle's View Publishing Company (6756 North Fork Road, 84310 [801] 393-4555), 1996. Paperbound. 112 Pp. ISBN Number 0-943604-51-6. $12.95. An excellent beginning craft manual, “Plains Indian and Mountain Man Arts and Crafts II” provides instruction for forty different items. Some of the more interesting are the Blackfoot dog travois, Omaha hair brush, Hidatsa wooden rasp, Hidatsa rake, Lakota cradle board, and the Shoshone wolf- face hat. The book devotes an average of two to three pages to describing the construction of each item. Each project is illustrated with both line drawings and a black and white photograph of it in its finished state.  The book includes a list of references and an order form for other Eagle’s View publications. Although lacking in some important detail for a couple of the items such as the Blackfoot fish trap (fish might enter but wouldn’t stay very long, relegating this item to not much more than a “wall hanger”) and leaving you somewhat hazy as to the actual function of items such as the Arikara fire drill (this item is constructed of scantily-cured wood and isn’t constructed as is the “typical” fire drill which allows your coal to fall through the hearth for easy collection), “Plains Indian and Mountain Man Arts and Crafts II” is still a welcome addition to the library of the craftsman interested in this time in history. Not simply a duplication of items commonly found in other craft manuals, “Plains Indian and Mountain Man Arts and Crafts II” would serve as an excellent source of ideas for making many of the more uncommon items typical of the Plains Indian and Mountain Man. Anita Cheek Moon, Member Reviewers’ Consortium
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