Socks should be of wool, of the home-knit variety, and besides the pair worn, three or four extra pairs should be carried in the kit.
Knit socks will not be sufficient protection, however, and where two or three pairs are worn they are certain to bunch or wrinkle, with chafed and sore feet as a result. All Hudson's Bay Company stores keep in stock a white fuzzy woolen duffle of blanket thickness. If you are making your start from a Post purchase some of this duffle and have one of the women at the Post make you a pair of knee-length stockings of the duffle to pull over your knit socks, and two pairs of slippers of the same material, one just large enough to fit over the foot of the long stockings, the other just a little larger to fit over all. These should be made of proper size, to obviate wrinkles. The larger outfitters carry in stock good wool duffle, and will make these to fit properly.
In crisp, cold weather, when the snow never softens or gets moist even under the midday sun, buckskin moccasins should be the outer footwear. Ordinary leather will freeze stiff, stop the proper circulation of blood, and certainly lead to frosted feet. The moccasins should be made with high tops, reaching above the ankles, with buckskin strings to wrap around and secure them. Moccasins are light to pack, and it is always well to carry a couple of extra pairs, to have on hand in case of emergency.
Leggings of moleskin (or some other strong, pliable cloth) large enough to push the foot through protect the legs. These should be knee high, with a drawstring to secure them just below the knee. Ordinary canvas leggings will not do. The leggings must be made in one piece, without side buttons or other fastenings, for otherwise snow will work through to the great discomfort of the wearer.
I have a pair of buckskin moccasins sewn to legs of harbor sealskin, the hair side of the sealskin out. This arrangement is preferable to separate leggings but sealskin legs are difficult to procure.
Ordinarily I have found one pair of knit socks, one pair of the long duffle stockings described above and one pair of the duffle slippers, worn inside the buckskin moccasins, quite sufficient.
The knit socks may be done away with entirely and also one pair of duffle slippers if rabbit-skin socks are to be had. These are worn with the hair next the foot, and are very warm and soft.
In weather when the snow softens and becomes wet at midday, buckskin moccasins will not do, for the least moisture penetrates buckskin. In such weather sealskin boots are the best foot protection. They are waterproof, pliable and light. Sealskin boots for this purpose have neither soles nor heels. They are simply sealskin moccasins with legs, secured with drawstrings below the knee. These are of Eskimo make, and not generally obtainable though they may be purchased in Newfoundland. Oil-tanned moccasins, or larrigans, are the next best moist-snow foot gear.
Buckskin mittens with one or two inner pairs of mittens of thick wool duffle, will protect the hands in the coldest weather. One pair should be a little smaller than the other, that it may fit snugly into the larger pair without wrinkles, and the larger pair of a size to fit in the same manner into the buckskin mittens. When the weather is too warm for both pairs, one pair may be removed. A fringe of muskrat or other fur around the wrists of the buckskin mittens protects the wrists from drifting snow.
A pad of rabbit-skin worn across the forehead will protect it from intense cold. Hunting hoods of knit camel's hair worsted are a pretty good head protection, particularly at night. They cover the whole head except the face, and may be drawn up over the chin. Mouth and nose must not be covered, or the breath will quickly form a mass of ice upon the face.