Trappers of the Far West: Sixteen Biographical Sketches

I believe five separate collections of mountain man biographies have been published now by Bison Books, all containing biographical essays culled from LeRoy R. Hafen's ten-volume series THE MOUNTAIN MEN AND THE FUR TRADE OF THE FAR WEST, published between 1965 and 1972. This was the second of the five. Sixteen biographical essays are produced here, detailing the lives of some of the most important figures of the early American West, including Etienne Provost, Milton Sublette, James Clyman, James P. Beckwourth, Robert Campbell, and Lucien Fontenelle among others. The essays are written by various experts of the Fur Trade period. The biographies read like long encyclopedia articles, and relate as much of each man's life as is generally known (including specific movements across the West on yearly trapping expeditions); footnotes abound. The book, as is the entire series, is an excellent research tool, as well as a great jumping off source for more specific investigations (many of the trappers written about kept journals or wrote accounts of their experiences). Anyone with an interest in the pre-Gold Rush American West will find this book (and the series) indispensable. Highly recommended.

A very good, concise history of some of the mountain men and fur trapper/traders of the early American West. It is along the same line of thought as Robert Utley's "A Life Wild and Perilious". Whereas Utley's book is more of a chronological history of the fur trappers, this one is based more on geographical location. Each chapter is devoted to an individual character and the life of that person. Many of these early trapper/traders' lives interweave with each other and therefore you have more of a tendency to remember who knew who and who did what with who, etc. After reading chapter after chapter, it humbles one when looking back at these mens' lives and how much they accomplished, whether it be in how many places they traveled, what sort of trade they were involved in, their relationships with the Indians and each other, how some were involved with the initial founding of the west, etc. It is simply amazing what went on so long ago. I have much respect and admiration for these men.