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Reader's Guide to The Mountain Men of the American West
Compiled and Annotated by Stuart K. Wier
Last update July 21, 2014
Antoine Clement, by Alfred Jacob Miller, 1837.This is a guide to the best books about the mountain men of the American west which I know about. Anyone can find a book here to suit them: casual readers, students, enthusiasts, reenactors, and historians. I include a few less distinguished books, too, when they are the only thing about a topic. For some fifteen years -- roughly speaking, 1823 to 1838, the western U.S. was the domain of the mountain men, fur trappers who spent years traveling and living in the wilderness. Long before wagon trains, settlers, gold rushes, cavalry, Indian wars, cowboys, wild west towns, or railroads, mountain men were the first from the U.S. to see the Rocky Mountains and the lands from the plains to the Pacific. Their life was highly free and adventuresome, and often dangerous and short, lived in a shining wilderness.
Where to begin? Many books, many choices. For a readable and short introduction try Give Your Heart to the Hawks by Winfred Blevins. The personal journals and narratives written by the mountain men are good, such as Osborne Russell's Journal of a Trapper, Lewis Garrard's Wah-To-Yah and the Taos Trail, and the fictionalized Life in the Far West by George Frederick Ruxton. For detailed histories try A Life Wild and Perilous by Robert M. Utley or, best of all, the classic history Across the Wide Missouri by Bernard DeVoto. Try some of the best biographies, such as Westering Man The Life of Joseph Walker by Bill Gilbert, or Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West by Dale L. Morgan.
Contents
Histories of The Mountain Men
Journals and Personal Narratives
Biographies
Hafen's "Mountain Men"
Mountain Men Exploring
Histories of the Fur Trade
Forts and Rendezvous
Library of Western Fur Trade Historical Source Documents
Mountain Men in Colorado
The Santa Fe Trail
Canadian Fur Trade
Tools and Skills of the Mountain Men
Language and Sign Language, or, Was You Ever up a Stump?
Artists out West
Periodicals
"Novels" by Mountain Men
Modern Paintings and Photographs
Modern Novels
Movies
Histories of The Mountain Men
Across the Wide Missouri. Bernard DeVoto. Houghton Mifflin, 1947. A classic. The classic. With truly deep knowledge and understanding, and writing unlikely to be surpassed. Inspirational. Homeric.
A Life Wild and Perilous: Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific. Robert M. Utley. Henry Holt 1997. A really excellent recent history of the entire era, based on extensive research which only a few have equaled. The emphasis is on key mountain men, the fur trade, and geographical discoveries. This is the big view: don't expect campfire stories. (Also published as "After Lewis and Clark Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific," to ride on the coattails of the Lewis and Clark bicentennial, I reckon).
Give Your Heart to the Hawks. Winfred Blevins. Los Angeles: Nash, 1973; and other editions. A short, enjoyable, and very readable history.
Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West. Dale L. Morgan. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1953; 1964. A biography of Smith, and in effect a history of the mountain men up to 1831 when Smith died. A standard of fur trade history. "the ultimate authority;" "impeccable scholarship."
The Taos Trappers The Fur Trade In the Southwest 1540-1846. David J. Weber. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970.
This Reckless Breed of Men: The Trappers and Fur Traders of the Southwest. Robert Glass Cleland. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992.
The Beaver Men: Spearheads of Empire. Mari Sandoz. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1978. 342 pages.
So Rugged and Mountainous: Blazing the Trails to Oregon and California, 1812-1848. Will Bagley. Norman: Univ. Oklahoma, 2010. 458 p.
A Majority of Scoundrels: An Informal History of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. Don Berry. New York: Harper & Co., 1961; Sausalito: Comstock Editions.
Tales of the Mountain Men: 17 Stories. Lamar Underwood, editor. Guildford CT: Lyons Press, 2004.
Across the Great Divide : Robert Stuart and the Discovery of the Oregon Trail. Laton McCartney. New York: Free Press, 2003.
Heroes to Me. Mike Moore. Macon Georgia: Historical Enterprises, 2003. Topics about the life of mountain men illustrated by selections from their writing and stories. order from amm1616 at comcast dot net
Many Tender Ties: Women in Fur Trade Society 1670 - 1870. Sylvia Van Kirk. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980. Marriages of trappers to Indian women; womens' roles; & resulting culture
Daughters of the Country: Women of the Fur Traders and Mountain Men. Walter O'Meara. New York: Harcourt, 1968.
The Saga of Hugh Glass. John Myers Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1976.
Shadow on the Tetons: David E. Jackson and the Claiming of the American West. John C. Jackson. Missoula: Mountain Press Publishing Co., 1993.
The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, written from his own dictation by Thomas D. Bonner[in 1856]. Bernard De Voto, editor and introduction. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1972.
Jim Beckwourth: Black Mountain Man and War Chief of the Crows. Elinor Wilson. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972.
Manuel Lisa and the Opening of the Missouri Fur Trade. Richard E. Oglesby. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963.
Scotsman in Buckskin: Sir William Drummond Stewart and the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade. Mae Reed Porter and Odessa Davenport. New York: Hastings House, 1963.
Ruxton of the Rockies. Collected By Clyde and Mae Reed Porter. Leroy R. Hafen, ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1979.
Old Bill Williams, Mountain Man. Alpheus H. Favour. 1936. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962.
"Dear Old Kit": The Historical Christopher Carson With a New Edition
of the Carson Memoirs. Harvey Lewis Carter. Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1968; 1990.
Carson's own short memoir, which he dictated in 1859,
corrected where errors appear. "...Carter's [edition of the memoirs] is the only one that
overcomes Carson's faulty memory for dates and places in his life, in
an accurate chronological framework. In addition the work is
annotated with data and insights from Carter's lifelong study of
Carson." - Robert Utley. The 1990 edition has a detailed discussion
(Chapter 1) about all the previous sources.
This supercedes Milo Quaife's edition (1964, Univ. Neb.) and the Carson biographies by Sabin, Vestal, etc.
Kit Carson A Pattern for Heroes. Thelma S. Guild and Harvey L. Carter. Lincoln: Univ. Nebraska, 1984. A good biography based on Carter's long study of Carson.
Kit Carson and the Indians. Tom Dunlay. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska, 2000. Much longer than the biography by Guild and Carter, but less on fur trade period.
The Short Truth about Kit Carson and the Indians. Marc Simmons, Taos, 1993. And Kit Carson and His Three Wives: a Family History. Marc Simmons. Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 2003. "... a study of Carson's home life." "... would be of interest to devotees of Carson. I enjoyed it, but would not put it in the top 20 books."
Blood and Thunder The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West. Hampton Sides. New York: Random House, 2006. Mostly about events after 1840.
David E. Jackson Field Captain of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade. Vivian Linford. Jackson: Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum, 1996.
Life of George Bent: Written from His Letters. George E. Hyde. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1980. 280 pages.
Halfbreed: The Remarkable True Story Of George Bent - Caught Between The Worlds Of The Indian And The White Man.
David Fridtjof Halaas and Andrew E. Masich. Da Capo Press 2004. 496 pages.
George Drouillard: Hunter and Interpreter for Lewis and Clark and Fur Trader. M. O. Skarsten. Arthur H. Clark Co.
1964; Bison Books, 2005. 336 pages.
Bon Appetit! Georges Drouillard's List of Fine Dining Establishments Along the Lewis and Clark Trail. Shawnee Hunter
The Life and Times of Georges P. Drouillard. Richard Gaffney. 2006.
Life and Adventures of George Nidever 1802 - 1883. Wm. Henry Ellison,
editor. Nidever traveled through Texas and New
Mexico in 1830. In 1832, he was at the rendezvous at Pierre's Hole
and took part in the famous battle with the Blackfeet. The following
year, he joined a section of Bonneville's company under command of
Joseph Walker and crossed the upper Sierra Nevada into California.
Several editions, all out of print now.
Antoine Robidoux 1794-1860. William S. Wallace. Los Angeles: 1953.
Jim Bridger Mountain Man a Biography. Stanley Vestal. Univ. of Nebraska, 1970. See also Cecil Alter's biography of Bridger; neither is entirely correct but there is no other Bridger biography. Vestal's book does make good reading. "Given a choice between fact and folklore, Vestal was a man who would choose the folklore every time." -- Harvey Carter.
Mike Fink King of Mississippi Keelboatmen. Walter Blaire and Franklin J. Meine, New York: 1933.
Hafen's "Mountain
Men"
The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West. Leroy R. Hafen, editor. Glendale:
Arthur H. Clark, 1965-1972. 10 volumes. A
fundamental reference for the lives of 292 mountain men. Individual biographies were written by Hafen and the leading
historians of the time.
The names of all 292 persons in the ten volumes are indexed online in the
Guide to the Hafen Biographies; which also
lists which biographies are selected in the six books below.
Selections
from Hafen's "The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West" are published in these
books: Mountain
Men and Fur Traders of the Far West. Harvey L. Carter(introduction) and Leroy
Hafen(editor). -, 1982. 401 pages. 18 selections from Leroy Hafen's The Mountain
Men. Fur
Traders Trappers and Mountain Men of the Upper Missouri. Leroy R
Hafen; Scott Eckbert intro. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
1995. Selected from Hafen's Mountain Men French
Fur Traders and Voyageurs in the American West: Twenty-five
Biographical Sketches. selections from Hafen's Mountain Men. Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 1997.
Fur Trappers and Traders of the Far Southwest, USU Press, 1997.
Trappers of the Far West, Bison Books, 1983
Mountain Men Exploring
Jedediah
Smith and the Opening of the West. Dale L. Morgan. Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 1964. A biography of Smith and in effect a history of the mountain men up to 1831
when Smith died.
Exploring the Fur Trade Routes of North America: Discover the Highways That Opened a Continent.
Barbara Huck. Heartland Publications. 2000; 256 pages.
Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains: Canadian Traders among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738-1818.
W. Raymond Wood. University of Oklahoma Press.
The
Explorations of William H. Ashley and Jedediah Smith. Harrison C.
Dale. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991 (original
printing: Cleveland, 1918).
The Travels
of Jedediah Smith. Maurice S. Sullivan. Santa Fe, 1934; Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1992.
Mapping
the Trans-Mississippi West, 1540-1861. 6 vols. Carl I. Wheat. San
Francisco: Inst. of Historical Geography, 1957 - 1963. A classic
reference about maps and mapping the west.
Jedediah
Smith and His Maps of the American West. Carl I. Wheat. San
Francisco: California Historical Society, 1954.
Prologue to Lewis and Clark: The Mackay and Evans Expedition [1797].
W. Raymond Wood. University of Oklahoma Press; March 2003.
Notes on General Ashley, The Overland Trail, and South Pass. Donald McKay Frost. Worcester: 1945.
The
Old Spanish Trail. Leroy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen. Glendale: 1954.
Despite the name, the "Old Spanish Trail" was neither old nor Spanish; it was largely opened by American mountain men in the 19th century. Colter's
Hell and Jackson's Hole The Fur Trappers Exploration of the
Yellowstone and Grand Teton Park Region. Merrill J. Mattes.
Yellowstone Library and Museum Association, 1962. 1976. 87 pages. The
Discovery of Yellowstone Park. N. P. Langford. St. Paul: 1923.
Histories of the Fur Trade
Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America.
Eric Jay Dolin. New York: W. W. Norton & Company; July 2010. 464 pages.
Fur Trade and Empire. Frederick Merk. Cambridge: 1931. "one of the most significant contributions to the literature" - Dale
Morgan.
Fur Trade on the Upper Missouri, 1840-1865. J. E. Sunder. University of Oklahoma Press, 1993, 295 pages.
Astoria
and Empire. James P. Ronda. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1991.
"a deft and intriguing examination of Astor's formative experience in the fur trade of the Far West."
The
Fur Trade of the America West 1807-1840. David J. Wishart. Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 1979. "an excellent overview of the Rocky Mountain trapping system."
The
Fist in the Wilderness. David Lavender. Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1964. A big history of the Astor fur trade empire, known to mountain men as "American Fur."
The
West of William H. Ashley. Dale L. Morgan, ed. Denver: Old West Publishing Company, 1964. A monumental compilation of period
documents and letters with extensive annotation.
History of the American Fur Trade of the Far West. 2 vols. Hiram Martin Chittenden. Stanford: 1936; 1954; Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
1986. A standard reference, more than 900 pages.
When
Skins were Money A History of the Fur Trade. James A. Hanson. Chadron
Nebraska: Museum of the Fur Trade, 2005. Covers the entire period
from the 16th to 20th centuries; not a great deal on the Rocky
Mountain period. Many period illustrations.
Jackson Hole, Crossroads of the Western Fur Trade, 1807-1840 M. J. Mattes. Jackson Hole Historical Society, 1994.
Montana's Fur Trade Era. F. L. Graves. American World Geographic, 1994, 63 pages.
Otter Skins, Boston Ships & China Goods: The Maritime Fur Trade of
the Northwest Coast, 1785-1841. J. Gibson. University of Washington, 1992, 448 pages.
Papers of the St. Louis Fur Trade. W. Swagerty et al. University Publications, 1991.
Keepers of the Game: Indian-Animal Relationships and the Fur Trade. C. Martin and N. Lurie. University of California, 1985.
"The Myth of the Silk Hat and the end of the Rendezvous." James A. Hanson.
Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly 36, Spring 2000. 2-11.
The Whiskey Trade of the Northwestern Plains: A Multidisciplinary Study. Margaret Kennedy. published by Peter Lang, 1997.
John Jacob Astor and the Fur Trade. Lewis Parker. Powerkids Press, 2003.(juvenile)
For more, including historians' and archaelogists' reports, see
Fur Trade Reference Books
(http://www.digitalpresence.com/histarch/ref/furtrade.html; Megan Springate 1998-2009),
The Fur Trade and Historical Archaeology
(http://www.digitalpresence.com/histarch/furtrade.html; Michael Pfeiffer 1998),
and the very extensive and complete
Fur Trade Bibliography by Gerhard J. Ens. (online at http://www.members.shaw.ca/CanoeBC/heritage/biblio.htm).
Forts and Rendezvous Most of the
"forts" of the early west in the time of the mountain men were private commercial
trading posts, not military fortifications. The owners wanted to have good relations with the natives and
peace between the tribes, since those were the customers. These posts looked like forts: they were walled with
wooden stockades or high adobe walls, to discourage raids by Indians.
For first-person descriptions of rendezvous, see the personal accounts and narratives
listed above, and for the 1836 rendezvous see also William Gray, History of Oregon, 1870, pp. 121-129.
Colorado Forts Historic Outposts on the Wild Frontier. Jolie Anderson Gallagher. History Press, Charleston, 2013.
Pierre's Hole the Fur Trade History of Teton Valley Idaho.
Jim Hardee. Museum of the Mountain Man. 2010.
Rocky
Mountain Rendezvous: A History of the Fur Trade Rendezvous 1824-1840.
Fred R. Gowans. Layton Utah: Gibbs Smith Books, 2005. Maps and photos
of all annual rendezvous sites as seen today.
Bent's Fort. David Lavender. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1954, 1972, 2003.
Fort Union and the Upper Misssouri Fur Trade.
Barton H. Barbour. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press; 2nd ed. 2002.
Bent's Fort: Crossroads of Cultures on the Santa Fe Trail. Melvin Bacon. Filter Press 2002. Ages 9-12.
Competitive
Struggle: America's Fur Trading Posts 1764 - 1865. R. G. Robertson.
Tamarack Books, Boise, Idaho, 1999. 329 pages. Historical figures as
well as places are depicted.
Antoine
Robidoux and Fort Uncompahgre. Ken Reyher. Ouray, Colorado: Western
Reflections Inc., 1998. First American outpost in Colorado. Forts
of the West. Robert W. Frazer. Norman: Univ. of Ok., 1977. Fort
Bridger: Island in the Wilderness. Fred R. Gowans. and E. Campbell.
Provo: Brigham Young University, 1975.
Forts
of the Upper Missouri. Robert G. Athern. University of Nebraska
Press, 1972.
Fort
Laramie and the Pageant of the West. LeRoy R. Hafen. Glendale: 1938. "Forts
Robidoux and Kit Carson." Albert B. Reagan. New Mexico Hist.
Review, vol. X, April 1935. pp. 121-132. "Fort
Davy Crockett, Its Fur Men and Visitors." LeRoy Hafen. Colorado
magazine, vol. XXIX, January 1952. pp. 17-33. "Early
Fur Trade Forts on the South Platte." LeRoy R Hafen.
Mississippi Valley Historical review, vol. XII, December 1923. pp.
335-341. Old
Fort Saint Vrain. Diane Brotemarkl. Boulder: Johnson Books, 2001.
Historic
Forts of Colorado. Dick and Wendy Spurr. Grand Junction Colorado:
Centennial Pubs. 1994. Rivalry
at the River. Seletha Brown. Boulder: Johnson Publishing, 1972.
Trading forts on the South Platte.
Bent's
Old Fort. State Historical Society of Colorado. Colorado Springs:
Williams Printings, 1979.
"Gantt's
Fort and Bent's Picket Post." Janet S. LeCompte. Colorado
Magazine, XLI, Spring 1964, pp 111-125.
The Library of Western Fur Trade Historical Source Documents
A remarkable online collection of original documents; accounts of the Rocky Mountain fur trade during the first half of the 19th century,
assembled and provided by the American Mountain Men.
The Library of Western Fur Trade Historical Source Documents (http://www.xmission.com/~drudy/mtman/mmarch.html)
"These documents have been transcribed from printed or manuscript form. The resulting text files have been manually checked and edited to conform to the original source. In most cases, any spelling or grammatical errors from the original have been retained."
The Santa Fe Trail: Original Accounts This is a short selection from a large literature.
The
Prairie Traveler, a Hand-Book for Overland Expeditions. Randolph
Barnes Marcy. London: , 1863
Down
the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico: the Diary of Susan Shelby
Magoffin, 1846-1847. Susan Shelby Magoffin; Stella M Drumm ed. Bison Books 1982.
The
Road to Santa Fe The Journal and Diaries of George Sibley.
Kate L. Gregg, editor. University of New Mexico Press, 1968.
Expedition
To The Southwest Lt. James William Abert. Univ. Of Nebraska Press, 1999.
Commerce
of the Prairies. Josiah Gregg. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press
1990.
Matt
Field on the Santa Fe Trail. Matt Field. John Sunder, ed. Norman:
Univ. of Oklahoma, 1995.
Canadian Fur Trade, Voyageurs, Hudsons Bay Company, and the North West Company
Adventurers in the New World: The Saga of the Coureurs des Bois. Georges-Hebert Germain. Hull, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2003. Hardcover, large format, 160 pp.
"Originally published in French, this beautiful book contains hundreds of color illustrations,
including the incomparable reconstructions of Francis Back. The canoe men, the missionaries, the traders, the Indians,
and the Metis; this volume encompasses the entire scope of the French in the fur trade." - Illinois Brigade newsletter, 2011.
Hudson's Bay Company Adventures: The Rollicking Saga of Canada's Fur Traders.
Elle Andra-Warner. Heritage House, 2003.
The Bourgeois Frontier: French Towns, French Traders, and American
Expansion. Jay Gitlin. New Haven: Yale University Press; 2010. 288 pages.
Remaking the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American
Fur Trade. Carolyn Podruchny. Norman: University of Nebraska, 2006.
My First Years in the Fur Trade 1802-1804. George Nelson.
Minnesota Historical Society 2002.
Indian Women and French Men. Susan Sleeper Smith. U. Mass., 2001.
Voyageurs, Robes Noires, et Coureurs de Bois: Stories from the French
Exploration. Charles Clark. New York: Columbia University Press, 1934.
Peter
Skene Ogden and the Hudsons Bay Company. Gloria G. Cline. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1975.
Peter
Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. Archie Binns. Portland: Binfords and Mort,
1967.
Peter
Skene Ogden's Snake Country Journals. E. E. Rich.
Sources
of the River: Tracking David Thompson Across Western North America
. by Jack Nisbet. Sasquatch Books; second Edition ed., 2007. The
Fur Trade and the Northwest to 1857. E. E. Rich. Toronto: McClelland
and Stewart, 1967. The
Fur Trade. 2 vols. Paul C. Phillips. Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1961.
The
North West Company. Marjorie Wilkins Campbell. Macmillan Company
of Canada, 1973. The
North West Company. Gordon C. Davidson. Berkeley: 1918. The
History of Hudsons Bay Company 1670 - 1870. E. E. Rich. 2 vol .
London: Hudsons Bay Record Society, 1947.
See also the very extensive and complete
Fur Trade Bibliography by Gerhard J. Ens. (online at http://www.members.shaw.ca/CanoeBC/heritage/biblio.htm)
Small Arms of the British Forces in North America 1664-1815. De Witt Bailey, Mowbray press (800-999-4697) 2009.
Very well illustrated with highly detailed photographs.
The French Trade Gun in North America 1662-1759. Kevin Gladysz. Mowbray press (800-999-4697).
Very well illustrated with highly detailed photographs.
Fur Trade and Treaty Firearms of the American Indian 1600-1920. Ryan R. Gale. 2010. Elk
River, Minn., Track of the Wolf. 201p.
Indian
Trade Guns. T. M. Hamilton, ed. 80 illus., 258 pages.
Flintlock Fowlers The First Guns Made in America 1700-1820. Tom Grinslade. (with several British style)
Muskets of the Revolution and the French and Indain War. Bill Ahearn.
The
Great Lakes Fur Trade. Carolyn Gilman. Minnesota Historical Society
Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1982. photos of original artifacts, and
detailed text by a top scholar. 136 pages.
The Collector's Guide to Point Blankets. Harold Tichenor. Cinetel Film Productions, 2002.
The Canoe: A Living Tradition. John Jennings. Firefly 2005.
The Keelboat Age on Western Waters. Leland D Baldwin. 1941.
Steamboats on the Western Rivers: An Economic and Technological History. Beatrice Jones Hunter and Louis C. Hunter. 2008.
The first steamboat up the Missouri was in 1820 -- before the central mountain man period.
The Western River Steamboat. Adam I. Kane and Alan L. Bates. 2004.
"Trade Goods for Rendezvous." Charles Hanson.
The Book of Buckskinning V. Wm. Scurlock, ed. Texarkana Tx: Scurlock Publishing, 1989. 65-80.
Fur Trade Cutlery Sketchbook. James Austin Hanson. 1994, Fur Press (Crawford, Neb). 48 pages.
"Clothing of the Rocky Mountain Trapper 1820-1840." Allen Chronister and Clay Landry.
The Book of Buckskinning VII. Wm. Scurlock, ed. Texarkana Tx: Scurlock Publishing, 1995. 2-41.
Dress and Equipage of the Mountain Man 1820-1840. Jeff Hengesbaugh and Wes Housler.
Cloudcroft NM.: Rocky Mountain College Productions, 1997.
"The History and Trade Ledgers of Fort Hall 1834-1837." Clay Landry.
The Book of Buckskinning VIII. Wm. Scurlock, ed. Texarkana Tx: Scurlock Publishing, 1999. 176-197.
"Recreating the Western Trapper." Rex Allen Norman.
Muzzleloader, vol , no. , March-April 2002. 55-.
"Recreating Trapper Camps." Rex Allen Norman.
Muzzleloader, part I May-June 2002. 52-55; part II Jul. - Aug. 2002. 65-68.
"Butchers and Scalpers" Rex Allen Norman.
Muzzleloader, vol , no. , Sep. - Oct. 2003. 21-25.
About trappers' knives.
"Rambling around Rifles." Rex Allen Norman.
Muzzleloader, vol , no. , May-June 2004.
About trappers' long guns.
"Writing the Old Fashioned Way" T. C. Albert.
Muzzleloader, vol , no. , May-June 2010. 29-.
"A Quick Second Shot." Rex Allen Norman.
Muzzleloader, vol , no. , Sep.-Oct 2010. 33-.
About trappers' pistols.
"Myths that just won't die." Rex Allen Norman.
Muzzleloader, vol XXXVII, no. 5, Nov.-Dec. 2010, 332-35.
About causes of end of beaver trapping in the Rockies, trappers' clothes, knives, guns, axes, enamelware, shrub.
"What Money Tells Us: Robert Campbell's 1832 Account Book." Raymond I. Bruen, in Fur Trade Symposium, Pinedale Wyoming, 1992.
Checkering and Carving. Monty Kennedy.
The
1837 Sketchbook of the Western Fur Trade. Rex A Norman. Scurlock
Publishing Co., Texarkana TX, 1996. An examination of the paintings
and sketches by Alfred Jacob Miller of actual scenes and mountain men
in 1837. Modern drawings of costume & equipment based on the work
of Miller. 29 pages.
In the Image of A J Miller. Shawn Webster. Historical Enterprises; 2005.
The
Book of Buckskinning. book series. For example, see:
vols. III (hunting pouches, moccasins, shelters);
IV (blankets, lighting devices, backwoods knives, smoothbores, blacksmithing, rawhide);
V (trade goods);
VI (horse gear, powder horns);
VII (clothing of the Rocky Mountain Trapper 1820-1840, writing implements, trunks, wardrobe for the frontier woman 1780-1840, bark tanning); and
VIII (gear of the Rocky Mountain trapper; beaver hunting; beadwork; Fort Hall ledgers).
William H. Scurlock, ed. Scurlock Pub. Co., Texarkana, Texas, to 1995.
Sketch
Book on the Tents of the Fur Trade. Samuel Darby. 1700s to early
1800s. 48 pages.
Shining
Time The Fur Trade A Sketchbook of the American Mountain Man. Ted
Spring. 130 pages.
The Buckskinner's Cook Book. James A Hansen and Kathryn J Wilson. The Fur Press, 1979.
Plains Indian Knife Sheaths. Zaglov.
Hide Glue Historical and Practical Applications. Stephen A Shepherd. fullchisel.com, 2009.
The Trade Cloth Handbook. Carolyn Corey. St. Ignatuius, Montana, 2001.
Diary
of an Early American Boy. Eric. Sloane, 1975. circa 1805 life. Shows
the life and tools on a pioneer farm around 1805, such as many
mountain men would have known in their youth. Excellent detailed
drawings.
Frontier Living: An Illustrated Guide to Pioneer Life in America . Edwin Tunis. Lyons Press. Another book about life on the frontier then.
The
Mountain Man. William H. Goetzmann. Cody Wyoming: Buffalo Bill
Historical Center, 1978. 64 pages. Includes photographs of period
artifacts, and paintings from the period.
Accouterments.
3 volumes. James R. Johnson. Golden Age Arms, no date. [ca. 2000].
Excellent photos of all kinds of equipment of the fur trade era but
oddly lacking any provenance: any indication of date or place of
origin of the artifacts, which greatly reduces the usefulness of
these books for answering any particular question.
The
Kentucky Rifle Hunting Pouch: Its Contents and Accouterments as used
by the Frontiersman, Hunter, and Indian. Madison Grant. 207 pages.
published by the author, 1977
The
Visual Record - Artists in the Early American West
No
photographs were made in the west of the mountain men. The first
camera, for the Daguerreotype process, was taken west in 1842 by
John Charles Fremont, but no known photographs survive from that occasion.
By good fortune several excellent artists traveled to the west
before 1840. Three greats were George Catlin, Karl Bodmer and Alfred Jacob Miller.
Their sketches and paintings are accurate, historically valuable, and artistically satisfying too.
Miller painted scenes with the mountain men, and the others largely confided themselves to natives, except for some
charming and often amusing small sketches of explorers done by Catlin, such as his "Solicited to come ashore"
showing three grizzly bears looking at men in a canoe.
For more, see
Early Painters of the American West. A Reader's Guide.
The Red Man's Bones: George Catlin, Artist and Showman. Benita Eisler, W. W. Norton & Company (July 22, 2013), 480 p.
George Catlin and His Indian Gallery by George Catlin, Brian W. Dippie,
George Gurney. W. W. Norton & Company (October 2002). 288 pages.
275 illustrations, 150 in color. Impressive and informative.
The
West of Alfred Jacob Miller. Alfred Jacob Miller. Marvin Ross, ed.
Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma, 1968. Black and white reproductions of
many of Miller's sketches made in the west, plus six color
reproductions, plus Miller's own descriptions of each scene. Alfred
Jacob Miller: Artist on the Oregon Trail. Ron Tyler. Fort Worth,
1982. Braves
and Buffalo: Plains Indian Life in 1837. Hugh A Taylor. Toronto:
1973. A J Miller's Indian paintings in moderately good color
reproductions.
People of the First Man: Life Among the Plains Indians in Their Final Days of Glory: The Firsthand Account of Prince Maximilian's Expedition Up the Missouri River, 1833-34. Prince Maximilian zu Wied (Author), Davis Thomas (Editor), Karl Bodmer (Illustrator)
E. P. Dutton, 1976. 256 p.
Sentimental Journey: The Art of Alfred Jacob Miller. Lisa Strong. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, 2008. 238 pages. The latest work on A J Miller, and with high quality reproductions.
However, it has few illustrations and a lot of high-academic talk which has nothing to say about the real west experienced by the mountain men. Do you care about
European perceptions of gender and race in 1850?
Periodicals
Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly. Chadron, Nebraska.
For information and contents of all issues see
http://www.furtrade.org/6quart.html.
"Begun in 1965, the quarterly has provided over 450 scholarly articles on virtually every aspect of fur trade history."
Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Journal. Pinedale, Wyoming. see
http://www.museumofthemountainman.com/journal/home.htm.
Volumes in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 so far.
"Novels" based on personal experience with the Mountain Men Two
accounts, written by men who knew the mountain man's life, were
published as what would today be regarded as novels. Edward
Warren. William Drummond Stewart. Missoula: Mountain Press, 1986.
Introduction By Winfred Blevins. Stewart, the famous British captain, attended six rendezvous,
from 1833 to 1838, and returned for another visit in 1843. Written by a man who lived
the life and saw the times. Life
in the Far West. George Frederick Ruxton. ed. Leroy Hafen. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1951. Reads like a first-person
narrative, but it is fiction(several events did not occur as described). Based on life
in the mountains. Not history, but many authentic details of life. "no work excels in color, charm, or
authenticity."
Modern
Paintings and Photographs The
Western Paintings of John Clymer. John Clymer. New York: Peacock
Press/Bantam, 1988. Clymer is one of the first of the modern painters
of mountain men. 40-some paintings
John Clymer An Artist's Rendezvous with the Frontier West. Walter Reed. Northland Press, 1976.
The
Charles Fritz, the Complete Collection: 100 Paintings Illustrating the Journals of Lewis and Clark. Charles Fritz.
Farcountry Press; First edition (May 1, 2009).
Rendezvous Country. Photos by David Muench; text by Donald G Pike. Palo Alto:
American West Publishing Co., 1975. Excellent modern photos of the
scenes in the mountains; also 32 high-quality prints of Alfred Jacob
Miller paintings but only in sepia tones, not color worse luck.
Modern Novels Wolf
Song. Harvey Fergusson. University of Nebraska Press, 1981. Mountain
Man. Vardis Fisher. University of Idaho Press. The
Big Sky. A. B. Guthrie. Mariner Books. Medicine
Calf. Bill Hotchkiss. New York: W W Norton, 1981.
By Terry C. Johnston:
Dance on the Wind; Buffalo Palace; Crack in the Sky; Carry the Wind;
Ride the Moon Down; Death Rattle; Wind Walker.
Lord
Grizzly. Frederick Manfred. University of Nebraska Press, 1983. The
Untamed Breed. Gordon D. Shirreffs. Leisure Books, 1994. The
Long Rifle. Stewart Edward White, circa 1934. Movies Across
the Wide Missouri. 1951. Clark Gable. Which is not based on the book of that name. The
Big Sky. 1952. Kirk Douglas. Man in the
Wilderness. 1971. Richard Harris. Jeremiah
Johnson. 1972. Robert Redford. Centennial.
1976. TV miniseries, parts 1 & 2. Robert Conrad. Mountain
Men. 1980. Charlton Heston.
Good recent editions are listed, where
more than one edition occurs, not the original or other old editions.
This is not a guide for book collectors of valuable editions.
Finding some of these titles is not always easy. Your local book store may not have what you want on hand, but
they may be able to order some books in print for you.
Some titles are out of print.
Michael Bond runs Prairie Creek Books and may have or find a book you want. Call 307-532-3495 or email prairiecreekbooks@gmail.com.
Or try the online second-hand book services ABE Books
and Alibris.
You also can try Amazon.com for in-print books and some second hand-books.
Many libraries offer a fine inter-library loan service at no charge. Ask your librarian. I have received books from across the country.
Have I read all these books? Nope, this is my reading list. I
aspire to read more of these, some day. I have looked around enough to be pretty sure
not too many strays are on the loose.
Boulder County, Colorado. 2014
Number of downloads averaged 690 a month, January through June 2014.
"It has a couple of chapters about mountain men. Dolin is the author of the highly acclaimed
history of American whaling, Leviathan.
"Nobody writes about the link between American history and natural history
with the scholarly grace of Eric Jay Dolin. Fur, Fortune, and Empire is a
landmark study filled with a cast of eccentric Western-type characters.
Not since the days of Francis Parkman has a historian analyzed the fur
trade industry with such brilliance. Highly recommended!"- Douglas
Brinkley, professor of History at Rice University, author of "The
Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America."
(If the links don't work, copy the book title with a mouse drag, and insert it into Google, to see the book.)
Ashley, William H. 1825 Rocky Mountain Papers.
Ball, John. Across the Plains to Oregon, 1832.
Beall, Thomas J. Recollections of Wm. Craig.
Becknell, William. Selected letters.
Beckwourth, James P. The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, written from his own dictation by T. D. Bonner
Brackenridge, Henry Marie, Journal of a Voyage up the Missouri River, in 1811.
Bradbury, John. Travels in the Interior of America.
Campbell, Robert. Rocky Mountain Letters.
Catlin, George. Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of North American Indians.
Clyman, James. A Short Detail of Life and Incidents of my trip in & through the Rockey Mountains.
Dudgeon, Anthony. Ramsey Crooks' letter regarding Who Discovered South Pass?
Fayel, William. A Narrative of Colonel Robert Campbell's Experiences in the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade from 1825 to 1835.
Ferris, Warren Angus. Life in the Rocky Mountains.
Franchère, Gabriel. Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America.
Hunt, Wilson Price. Account of the Journey of the Overland Party.
Irving, Washington. Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains.
Irving, Washington. The Adventures of Captain Bonneville.
James, Thomas. Three Years Among the Indians and the Mexicans.
Larpenteur, Charles. Forty Years a Fur Trader.
Leonard, Zenas. Narrative of the Adventures of Zenas Leonard, fur trader and trapper, 1831-1835.
Luttig, John C. Journal of a fur-trading expedition on the Upper Missouri, 1812-1813.
Meek, Stephen Hall. The Autobiography of Stephen Hall Meek.
Menard, Pierre. Reports of Missouri Fur Co. activities at Three Forks of the Missouri, 1810.
Newell, Robert. Travels in the Teritory of Missourie.
Ogden, Peter Skene. Snake Country Journals.
Pattie, James O. The Personal Narrative of James O. Pattie, of Kentucky.
Potts, Daniel T. Rocky Mountain Letters.
Rogers, Harrison G. Journals of Harrison G. Rogers, member of the company of J. S. Smith.
Ross, Alexander. Journal of Snake Country Expedition, 1824.
Ross, Alexander. Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River.
Russell, Osborne. Journal of a Trapper.
Ruxton, George Frederick. Wild Life in the Rocky Mountains.
Sage, Rufus. Rocky Mountain Life.
Spalding, Eliza. Diary, June 15 - July 6, 1836
Spalding, Henry H. Letter From The Rocky Mountains, 1836.
Smith, Jedediah S.Journals of California Expeditions
Stuart, Robert. Voyage from the mouth of the Columbia to Saint Louis, on the Mississipi
Thomas, William H. Journal of a Voyage from St. Louis, LA. to the Mandan Village
Townsend, John Kirk. Across the Rockies to the Columbia.
Victor, Frances Fuller. The River of the West: Joe Meek's Years in the Rocky Mountains.
Whitman, Narcissa Prentiss. 1836 Letters and Journal.
Wislizenus, F. A., A Journey to the Rocky Mountains in 1839
Work, John. Journals while in the service of Hudson's Bay Co.
Workman, W. Letter dated Feb. 13, 1826
Wyeth, John B. Oregon, or a Short History of a Long Journey.
Wyeth, Nathaniel. The Journals of Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth's Expeditions to the Oregon Country and Selected Letters.
with additional links to:
Gregg, Josiah. Commerce of the Prairies.
Lewis and Clark Journals
Marcy, Randoph Barnes. The Prairie Traveler: A Hand-book for Overland Expeditions
Parkman, Francis Jr. The Oregon Trail
Books
The Fur Trade in Colorado. Wm B. Butler. Western Reflections, 2012.
Colorado Forts Historic Outposts on the Wild Frontier. Jolie Anderson Gallagher. History Press, Charleston, 2013.
Beckwourth, James P. The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth as Told to Thomas D. Bonner. Reprint. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972.
Carson, Christopher. Kit Carson's Autobiography. Edited by Milo Milton Quaife. Chicago: R. R. Donnelley and Sons, 1935.
Carter, Harvey L. Dear Old Kit: The Historical Christopher Carson. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968.
Chittenden, Hiram M. The American Fur Trade of the Far West. Vol 1. 1902. Reprint. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press Bison Books, 1986.
Clyman, James. Journal of a Mountain Man. Mountain Press, 1984.
De Voto, Bernard. Across the Wide Missouri. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1947.
Old Bill Williams, Mountain Man. Alpheus H. Favour. 1936. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962.
Fowler, Jacob. The Journal of Jacob Fowler: Narrating an Adventure from Arkansas through the Indian Territory, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico,
to the Sources of Rio Grande del Norte, 1821-22. Edited, with notes, by Elliott Coues. New York: F. P. Harper, 1898.
Gates, Zethel. Mariano Medina: Colorado Mountain Man. Boulder: Johnson Publishing Co., 1981.
Hafen, LeRoy, ed. Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West. 10 volumes. Glendale, Calif.: A. H. Clark Co., 1965-1972.
Hafen, LeRoy. Fur Trappers and Traders of the Far Southwest. Logan, Utah : Utah State University Press, 1997.
Hafen, LeRoy. Colorado Mountain Men. The Westerners, Denver Posse 1952.
Hafen, LeRoy and W. J. Ghent. Broken Hand: The Life Story of Thomas Fitzpatrick, Chief of the Mountain Men. Denver, Colo.: Old West Publishing Co., 1931.
Halass, David Fridtjof, and Andrew E. Masich. Halfbreed: The Remarkable True Story Of George Bent - Caught Between The Worlds Of The Indian And The White Man. Da Capo Press 2004.
Hyde, George. Life of George Bent: Written from His Letters. Hyde. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1980.
James, Thomas. Three Years Among the Indians and Mexicans. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984.
Lavender, David. Bent's Fort. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1954.
Laycock, George. The Mountain Men. Danbury, Conn.; Harrisburg, Penn.: Outdoor Life Books, 1988.
Lecompte, Janet. Pueblo, Hardscrabble, Greenhorn: The Upper Arkansas, 1832-1856. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1978.
Marshall, Thomas. Journals of Jules De Mun. Miss. Hist. Soc. Collections Feb - June 1928.
Morgan, Dale. Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1964.
Morgan, Dale. The West of William H. Ashley. Denver: Old West Publishing Co., 1964.
Mumey, Nolie. The Life of Jim Baker, 1818-1898. New York: Interland Publishing Co., 1972.
Parkman, Francis. The Oregon Trail. Boston: Little Brown and Co., 1899.
Ruxton of the Rockies. Collected By Clyde and Mae Reed Porter. Leroy R. Hafen, ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1979.
Quaife, Milo, ed. Adventures of a Mountain Man: The Narrative of Zenas Leonard. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1978.
Utley, Robert. A Life Wild and Perilous: Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1997.
Van Kirk, Sylvia. Many Tender Ties: Women in Fur-Trade Society, 1670-1870. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980.
Vestal, Stanley. Jim Bridger, Mountain Man: A Biography. New York: W. Morrow & Company, 1946.
Antoine Robidoux 1794-1860. William S. Wallace. Los Angeles: 1953.
Weber, David J. The Taos Trappers: The Fur Trade in the Far Southwest. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961.
Articles
Fynn, A. J. "Furs and Forts of the Rocky Mountain West," The Colorado Magazine (November 1931 and March 1932): 209-222, 45-57.
Gray, John S. "Young Fur Trapper: Phillip Covington Travels to the Rockies with William Sublette," Colorado Heritage 1 (1982): 11-25.
Hafen, LeRoy R. "Bean-Sinclair Party of Rocky Mountain Trappers, 1830-32," The Colorado Magazine (July 1954): 161-171.
_____. "Colorado Mountain Men," The Colorado Magazine (January 1953): 14-28.
_____. "Fort St. Vrain," The Colorado Magazine (October 1952): 241-255.
_____. "Fort Vasquez," The Colorado Magazine (Summer 1964): 198-212.
_____. "Fraeb's Last Fight and How Battle Creek Got Its Name," The Colorado Magazine (May 1930): 97-101.
_____. "Mountain Men -- Andrew W. Sublette," The Colorado Magazine (September 1933): 179-184.
_____. "Mountain Men -- Louis Vasquez," The Colorado Magazine (January 1933): 14-21.
_____. "Old Fort Lupton and Its Founder," The Colorado Magazine (November 1929): 220-226.
Hanson, Charles E., Jr., "Thoughts on the Mountain Man and the Fur Trade," Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly 35 (Winter 1999): 2-8.
Judge, W. James. "The Archaeology of Fort Vasquez," The Colorado Magazine (Summer 1971): 181-203.
Muldoon, Daniel D. "Trappers and the Trail: The Santa Fe Trail from the Trappers' Perspective,"
Smith, E. Willard. "With Fur Traders in Colorado: The Journal of E. Willard Smith," The Colorado Magazine (July 1950): 161-188.
Wilson, William E. "Louis Vasquez in Colorado and the Uncertain Histories of Fort Convenience and a Hunter's Cabin," Colorado Heritage (Winter 2003): 3-15.
Primary Source Material in Colorado
Thomas Fitzpatrick collection, MSS #240, Colorado Historical Society, Denver, Colorado.
Lancaster P. Lupton collection, MSS #398, Colorado Historical Society, Denver, Colorado.
Elias Willard Smith collection, MSS #580, Colorado Historical Society, Denver, Colorado.
"This is one of those rare books that makes immensely important and
original arguments of its own while also synthesizing a massive and
far-reaching scholarly literature. I cannot overemphasize the importance
of such a study."-Peter Kastor, Washington University, St. Louis
"Jay Gitlin's comprehensive portrait of mid-America's Francophone
merchants demonstrates their importance as fur traders, town builders and
advance agents ... belongs on every western American history
bookshelf."-William E. Foley, coauthor of The First Chouteaus: River
Barons of Early St. Louis
Bantam Books, 1996-2001.
Individuals are welcome to print one copy for their own personal, non-commercial, use.
