I was given this 4 1/2 Newhouse quite a long time ago from my great uncle. He was always interested in Alaska and loved to hear what I was up to especially when it came to trapping. During one visit he hopped up and said I have something for you and he left for a bit and walked back in with a trap. It had a short section of original chain on it, but I took it off and put the current chain on it because I wanted to catch a wolf in it for him. I never did try with it and he passed away a while back. I am interested in finding an original chain and drag that would have been used with this trap. I am a little afraid to ask what one might cost, but figured it might be worth trying. If you could post some pictures of what I would be looking for, it would be appreciated. If anyone has one available, please feel free to let me know. Thanks for any information you can provide.

This is the correct chain, drag and snap set-up you need for your trap and I might add is very difficult to find.

Most were cut off just like yours and maybe used for beaver trapping. The original set up is kind of a unicorn because there are so many critical components like the flat snap, connector link, kenwood era type swivel let alone the drag itself. The complete chain is worth far more than the trap in my opinion but I will say your trap looks to be a dandy especially if the spring stamps are crisp like the pan. There are others here much more knowledgeable and hopefully they respond.

Did all of the traps come with the whole chain and drag set up like that? What was the intent of the section of chain with the clip on the end - how was that used?

There was a book published back when the 4 1/2 was introduced called ‘How to catch wolves with the Newhouse wolf trap’ and they show the split chain wrapped around a ‘clog’ and then snapped on to the drag essentially more weight to slow the wolf down. I’m pretty sure there are straight chain models but I doubt on the kenwood model. Snakecollector has the most info on this possibly

In Seton’s handbook “How to Catch Wolves” published by OC Ltd in 1894, the wolf trap is advertised at $40 per dozen with chains and $35 per dozen without chains. OC used the Kenwood address from 1890 to 1904. This means there are a substantial number of Kenwood 4.5s out there with custom chains & drags.

The next model 4.5 had a pre-patent date “Wolf Trap” OC pan. Their production was from about 1905-1912. In purchase papers by USDA Forest Service in 1906, this second OC model was offered with residual stock Kenwood chain & 4-prong drag set up; or 2-prong square rebar drag; or a 2-prong tight twist round stock drag; all with split flatlink chain & snap. The chains were attached to the base with both left-over Kenwood style link or round rod base links.

Although the classic first model Kenwood with 4-prong drag and all the bells & whistles has highest collector value, one must consider all the possible chain/drag combinations during transition from one model to another. Just because the Kenwood office address changed to OC in 1904, doesn't mean all the remaining Kenwood parts were discarded in 1904! Casting of parts was expensive...OC was in business to make money and using up residual parts was common policy.

I have a Kenwood pan 4.5 with 6ft of flatlink chain (double swiveled) attached to base with Kenwood style link and a tight twist 2-prong drag that I bet was ordered that way by Texas after 1905.

Thank you for all of the replies so far. This trap does not have any stamps on the springs. So not sure what that tells us. Am I understanding correctly that there might be a few chains/drags that might be period correct? Makes sense that they would keep using up the older parts as they transitioned to something newer.