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I'm just finishing up "Crow Killer", man these guys were tough, or "Crow Killer" has a healthy dose of folklore.
Anyone have a good nonfiction book about the Mountain Men in the mid-1800's?
Do you suppose there were hundreds or thousands of mountain men at a given time?
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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I realy think only about 1000 or so back then .I think that would have been alot
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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Not a book, but a nice bit of info. http://www.xmission.com/~drudy/mtman/html/jed.html http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Men-George-Laycock/dp/1558214542
1st Special Operations Wing 1975-1983
919th Special Operations Wing 1983-1985 1993-1994
"Manus haec inimica tyrannis / Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem" ~Algernon Sidney~
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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Go to any Rendezvous & there are more Mountain Men & Rogers Rangers than originally existed. At one time was involved in attending. A very interesting time in history & if they survived several years had the bark on. I have read many historical as well as fictional stories about Mountain Men. Only lasted about a decade. Men lived free & the annual rendezvous was a month long drunk with fights, wrestling, horse races, & buying squaws. As they said it was "A Shining Time". When beaver hats became unfashionable & most beavers were trapped out it ended an era.
Life Members SCI & NRA. NRA Instructor & RSO. What have YOU done to support hunting & gun rights?
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Blood and Thunder, A newer biography of Kit Carson
Sycamore
...Actually Sycamore, you are sort of right....
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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Rocky Mountain Rendezvous: A History of The Fur Trade 1825 - 1840 by Fred R. Gowans is a pretty good read. Almost like a diary of every "organized" rendezvous held during those years.
Forty Years a Fur Trader on the Upper Missouri (Volumes 1 & 2); The Personal Narrative of Charles Larpenteur, 1833-1872 by Charles Larpenteur is a compilation of his journals. Charley was kind of a blowhard and seemed (IMHO) to have a very high regard for himself.
Both are available at Amazon, maybe other places, too. Have fun.
Someday I hope to be the person my dogs think I am . . .
The only true cost of having a dog is its death.
Someone once said "a nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves."
Shiloh Sharps . . . there is no substitute.
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Campfire Outfitter
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If you can find it ....
"Bent's Fort," by David Lavender, Doubleday & Co. Publs., New York, (c)1954.
Fascinating book.
L.W.
"Always go straight forward, and if you meet the devil, cut him in two and go between the pieces." (William Sturgis, clipper ship captain, 1830s.)
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Campfire Regular
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It's not non-fiction, but have you tried UNDAUNTED COURAGE? It is a biography of Merriwether Lewis.
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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speaking of Bent's fort, the rebuild of it in La Junta, CO is pretty cool. I guess it is a very accurate rebuild of it.
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Campfire Tracker
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Been to the fort and it was a pleasant day. Really nice after reading the novels about the mountain men, as it was all there. TM
Some mornings, it just does not feel worth it to chew through the straps!~
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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"Journal of a Trapper" by Osborne Russell was a good one!
K
Founder
Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison?
And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools,
Being native burghers of this desert city,
Should in their own confines with forked heads
Have their round haunches gored."
WS
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Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
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Three that I have and recommend:
"Jim Bridger Mountain Man" by Stanley Vestal
"The Mountain Men" by George Laycock
"Journal of a Mountain Man" by James Clyman(one of apparently few literate mountain men)
"Crow Killer" is still the best I have read.
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Campfire Tracker
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Barkoff:
One of my favorite subjects and I have read several books regarding that era. In addition to those already mentioned, you might want to pick up the following:
Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West and Trappers of the Far West both books compiled and edited by Leroy R. Hafen, published by University of Nebraska Press. Both books are compilations (blendings) of contempory articles, diaries, official reports, that were produced during that time. So they are about as authentic as you can get.
A Rendezvous Reader (Tall, Tangled, and True Tales of the Mountain Men 1805-1850) compiled and edited by James H. Macguire, Peter Wild and Donald A. Barclay, published by the University of Utah Press. Another authentic book taken from contemporary accounts.
Give Your Heart to The Hawks written by Winfred Blevins, published by Avon Books. This book was the inspiration for the movie The Mountain Men starring Charleton Heston and Brian Keith, distributed by Columbia Pictures.
Blood and Thunder, Crow Killer, and Undaunted Courage have already been mentioned.
A long time ago I read a book entitled Broken Hand, which was the biography of Thomas Fitspatrick, but I can't remember the author or publisher.
KC
Wind in my hair, Sun on my face, I gazed at the wide open spaces, And I was at home.
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Campfire Regular
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Sources of the River
Tracking David Thompson across western North America
By Jack Nisbet
Epic Wanderer
David Thompson and the mapping of the Canadian West
By D'arcy Jenish
Great Surveys of the American West
By Richard A. Bartlett
The Lewis and Clark Journals
University of Nebraska Press Edited by Gary Moulton
Last edited by Malloy805; 06/29/11.
" He who refuses to do the arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense" John McCarthy
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Campfire Ranger
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OP
Campfire Ranger
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It's not non-fiction, but have you tried UNDAUNTED COURAGE? It is a biography of Merriwether Lewis. Yes, very good read. 11 lbs of meat per man, per day. Them boys were burning some calories.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Thanks for all the suggestions.
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Campfire Tracker
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Frederick Manfred's "Lord Grizzly" is the account of mountain man Hugh Glass. It's a great read.
Chronographs, bore scopes and pattern boards have broke a lot of hearts.
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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I really should read Crow Killer again. That was a very good book.
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