Author: William Marshall Anderson
Publisher: San Marino, Calif. : Huntington Library
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
The Rocky Mountain Journals of William Marshall Anderson
Author: William Marshall Anderson
Publisher: San Marino, Calif. : Huntington Library
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
Publisher: San Marino, Calif. : Huntington Library
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
A Life Wild and Perilous
Author: Robert M. Utley
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1627798838
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 558
Book Description
“[This] richly documented book is the definitive study of the decisive role mountain men played in the exploration and expansion of the Western frontier.” —Jay P. Dolan, The New York Times Book Review Early in the nineteenth century, the mountain men emerged as a small but distinctive group whose knowledge and experience of the trans-Mississippi West extended the national consciousness to continental dimensions. Though Lewis and Clark blazed a narrow corridor of geographical reality, the West remained largely terra incognita until trappers and traders—such as Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, Tom Fitzpatrick, and Jedediah Smith—opened paths through the snow-choked mountain wilderness. These and other Mountain Men opened the way west to Fremont and played a major role in the pivotal years of 1845–1848 when Texas was annexed, the Oregon question was decided, and the Mexican War ended with the Southwest and California in American hands—thus making the Pacific Ocean America’s western boundary.
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1627798838
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 558
Book Description
“[This] richly documented book is the definitive study of the decisive role mountain men played in the exploration and expansion of the Western frontier.” —Jay P. Dolan, The New York Times Book Review Early in the nineteenth century, the mountain men emerged as a small but distinctive group whose knowledge and experience of the trans-Mississippi West extended the national consciousness to continental dimensions. Though Lewis and Clark blazed a narrow corridor of geographical reality, the West remained largely terra incognita until trappers and traders—such as Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, Tom Fitzpatrick, and Jedediah Smith—opened paths through the snow-choked mountain wilderness. These and other Mountain Men opened the way west to Fremont and played a major role in the pivotal years of 1845–1848 when Texas was annexed, the Oregon question was decided, and the Mexican War ended with the Southwest and California in American hands—thus making the Pacific Ocean America’s western boundary.
Mountain Man: John Colter, the Lewis & Clark Expedition, and the Call of the American West (American Grit)
Author: David Weston Marshall
Publisher: The Countryman Press
ISBN: 1682680495
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 291
Book Description
“If you seek vicarious adventure, these pages await the armchair explorer.” —Providence Journal In 1804, John Colter set out with Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on the first US expedition to traverse the North American continent. During the 28- month ordeal, Colter served as a hunter and scout, and honed his survival skills on the western frontier. But when the journey was over, Colter stayed behind. He spent two more years trekking alone through dangerous and unfamiliar territory, charting some of the West’s most treasured landmarks. Historian David W. Marshall crafts this captivating history from Colter’s primary sources, and has retraced Colter’s steps— experiencing firsthand how he survived in the wilderness (how he pitched a shelter, built a fire, followed a trail, and forded a stream)— adding a powerful layer of authority and detail.
Publisher: The Countryman Press
ISBN: 1682680495
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 291
Book Description
“If you seek vicarious adventure, these pages await the armchair explorer.” —Providence Journal In 1804, John Colter set out with Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on the first US expedition to traverse the North American continent. During the 28- month ordeal, Colter served as a hunter and scout, and honed his survival skills on the western frontier. But when the journey was over, Colter stayed behind. He spent two more years trekking alone through dangerous and unfamiliar territory, charting some of the West’s most treasured landmarks. Historian David W. Marshall crafts this captivating history from Colter’s primary sources, and has retraced Colter’s steps— experiencing firsthand how he survived in the wilderness (how he pitched a shelter, built a fire, followed a trail, and forded a stream)— adding a powerful layer of authority and detail.
From Mountain Man to Millionaire
Author: William R. Nester
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 0826272487
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Book Description
The western fur trade era—a time when trappers and traders endured constant danger from man, beast, and weather—was one of the most colorful periods in American history. Over a decade ago, William R. Nester wrote the first biography of Robert Campbell (1804–1879); the subsequent discovery of nearly five hundred new documents, most from two major caches of letters, led to this even-more-detailed and vivid account of Campbell’s self-described “bold and dashing life.” Campbell came to America from Ireland in 1822 and entered the fur trade soon after. He quickly rose from trapper to brigade leader to partner, all within a half dozen years, and this new edition includes an expanded narrative of his adventures in the Rocky Mountain fur trade. In the mid-1830s, having amassed considerable wealth, Campbell retired from the mountains and embarked on a new career. He returned to St. Louis and built up a business empire that embraced mercantile, steamboat, railroad, and banking interests, thus becoming a leading force behind the region’s economic development. A more extensive account of the cutthroat business world in which Campbell operated now enriches this portion of the book. Nester masterfully depicts the “sterling character” for which Campbell was renowned. Campbell enjoyed deep and enduring friendships and strong familial ties, both in America and abroad. Although he was an outstanding businessman and philanthropist, his personal life was marred by tragedy. Ten of his thirteen children died prematurely. Despite those tragic losses, his faith in God never faltered. He believed that all worldly successes should honor God and once wrote that , “all worldly gain is but dross.” This edition elucidates the complex relations among his family and chronicles both tragic events and humorous incidents in more depth. Exploring the letters, journals, and account books that Campbell left behind, Nester places him in the context of the times in which he lived, showing the economic, political, social, and cultural forces that provided the opportunities and challenges that shaped his life. Nester provides new insights into Campbell’s ownership of slaves, his attitudes toward slavery, and his behind-the-scenes political and economic activities during the Civil War. This comprehensive exploration of Robert Campbell’s life depicts a fascinating era in American history.
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 0826272487
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Book Description
The western fur trade era—a time when trappers and traders endured constant danger from man, beast, and weather—was one of the most colorful periods in American history. Over a decade ago, William R. Nester wrote the first biography of Robert Campbell (1804–1879); the subsequent discovery of nearly five hundred new documents, most from two major caches of letters, led to this even-more-detailed and vivid account of Campbell’s self-described “bold and dashing life.” Campbell came to America from Ireland in 1822 and entered the fur trade soon after. He quickly rose from trapper to brigade leader to partner, all within a half dozen years, and this new edition includes an expanded narrative of his adventures in the Rocky Mountain fur trade. In the mid-1830s, having amassed considerable wealth, Campbell retired from the mountains and embarked on a new career. He returned to St. Louis and built up a business empire that embraced mercantile, steamboat, railroad, and banking interests, thus becoming a leading force behind the region’s economic development. A more extensive account of the cutthroat business world in which Campbell operated now enriches this portion of the book. Nester masterfully depicts the “sterling character” for which Campbell was renowned. Campbell enjoyed deep and enduring friendships and strong familial ties, both in America and abroad. Although he was an outstanding businessman and philanthropist, his personal life was marred by tragedy. Ten of his thirteen children died prematurely. Despite those tragic losses, his faith in God never faltered. He believed that all worldly successes should honor God and once wrote that , “all worldly gain is but dross.” This edition elucidates the complex relations among his family and chronicles both tragic events and humorous incidents in more depth. Exploring the letters, journals, and account books that Campbell left behind, Nester places him in the context of the times in which he lived, showing the economic, political, social, and cultural forces that provided the opportunities and challenges that shaped his life. Nester provides new insights into Campbell’s ownership of slaves, his attitudes toward slavery, and his behind-the-scenes political and economic activities during the Civil War. This comprehensive exploration of Robert Campbell’s life depicts a fascinating era in American history.
American Aristocrats
Author: Harry S Stout
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465098991
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 471
Book Description
The story of an ambitious family at the forefront of the great middle-class land grab that shaped early American capitalism American Aristocrats is a multigenerational biography of the Andersons of Kentucky, a family of strivers who passionately believed in the promise of America. Beginning in 1773 with the family patriarch, a twice-wounded Revolutionary War hero, the Andersons amassed land throughout what was then the American west. As the eminent religious historian Harry S. Stout argues, the story of the Andersons is the story of America's experiment in republican capitalism. Congressmen, diplomats, and military generals, the Andersons enthusiastically embraced the emerging American gospel of land speculation. In the process, they became apologists for slavery and Indian removal, and worried anxiously that the volatility of the market might lead them to ruin. Drawing on a vast store of Anderson family records, Stout reconstructs their journey to great wealth as they rode out the cataclysms of their time, from financial panics to the Civil War and beyond. Through the Andersons we see how the lure of wealth shaped American capitalism and the nation's continental aspirations.
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465098991
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 471
Book Description
The story of an ambitious family at the forefront of the great middle-class land grab that shaped early American capitalism American Aristocrats is a multigenerational biography of the Andersons of Kentucky, a family of strivers who passionately believed in the promise of America. Beginning in 1773 with the family patriarch, a twice-wounded Revolutionary War hero, the Andersons amassed land throughout what was then the American west. As the eminent religious historian Harry S. Stout argues, the story of the Andersons is the story of America's experiment in republican capitalism. Congressmen, diplomats, and military generals, the Andersons enthusiastically embraced the emerging American gospel of land speculation. In the process, they became apologists for slavery and Indian removal, and worried anxiously that the volatility of the market might lead them to ruin. Drawing on a vast store of Anderson family records, Stout reconstructs their journey to great wealth as they rode out the cataclysms of their time, from financial panics to the Civil War and beyond. Through the Andersons we see how the lure of wealth shaped American capitalism and the nation's continental aspirations.
After Lewis and Clark
Author: Robert M. Utley
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803295643
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 428
Book Description
In 1807, a year after Lewis and Clark returned from the shores of the Pacific, groups of trappers and hunters began to drift West to tap the rich stocks of beaver and to trade with the Native nations. Colorful and eccentric, bold and adventurous, mountain men such as John Colter, George Drouillard, Hugh Glass, Andrew Henry, and Kit Carson found individual freedom and financial reward in pursuit of pelts. Their knowledge of the country and its inhabitants served the first mapmakers, the army, and the streams of emigrants moving West in ever-greater numbers. The mountain men laid the foundations for their own displacement, as they led the nation on a westward course that ultimately spread the American lands from sea to sea.
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803295643
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 428
Book Description
In 1807, a year after Lewis and Clark returned from the shores of the Pacific, groups of trappers and hunters began to drift West to tap the rich stocks of beaver and to trade with the Native nations. Colorful and eccentric, bold and adventurous, mountain men such as John Colter, George Drouillard, Hugh Glass, Andrew Henry, and Kit Carson found individual freedom and financial reward in pursuit of pelts. Their knowledge of the country and its inhabitants served the first mapmakers, the army, and the streams of emigrants moving West in ever-greater numbers. The mountain men laid the foundations for their own displacement, as they led the nation on a westward course that ultimately spread the American lands from sea to sea.
A Way Across the Mountain
Author: Scott Stine
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806153156
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Book Description
From July to November 1833, Joseph R. Walker led a brigade of fifty-eight fur trappers, with two hundred horses and a year’s provisions, from the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming to the Pacific coast of central California. Toward the end of their journey the Walker brigade crossed the Sierra Nevada, becoming the first non-Native people to traverse the range from east to west. That crossing, made long and brutal by bewildering terrain and deep snow, is widely and rightly considered a milestone in the exploration of intermontane North America. Following Walker’s death in 1876, an alluring tale arose concerning his trans-Sierran route. In the course of the crossing, goes the story, Walker found himself on the northern rim of Yosemite Valley at the plungepoint of North America’s tallest waterfall, staring into the most awesome mountain chasm on the continent. Over the decades since then, this time-honored tale has hardened to folklore. Dozens of historical works have construed it as a towering moment in the opening of the West. But in fact this tale of Yosemite’s discovery has no basis or support in firsthand accounts of the 1833 Sierran crossing. Moreover, there is much in those accounts that contradicts Yosemite lore, and much that points to a trans-Sierran route well north of Yosemite Valley. In A Way Across the Mountain, Scott Stine reconstructs Walker’s 1833 route over the Sierra. Stine draws on his own intimate knowledge of the geomorphology, hydrography, biogeography, and climate of the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin, and employs the detailed travel narrative of the Walker brigade’s field clerk, Zenas Leonard. Stine documents the inception, growth, and persistence of the Yosemite Myth and explores the extent to which that lore has overshadowed Walker’s greatest discovery—that the huge swath of continent between the Wasatch Front and the Sierran crest is hydrographically closed, draining not to an ocean, but to salty lakes and desert sands.
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806153156
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Book Description
From July to November 1833, Joseph R. Walker led a brigade of fifty-eight fur trappers, with two hundred horses and a year’s provisions, from the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming to the Pacific coast of central California. Toward the end of their journey the Walker brigade crossed the Sierra Nevada, becoming the first non-Native people to traverse the range from east to west. That crossing, made long and brutal by bewildering terrain and deep snow, is widely and rightly considered a milestone in the exploration of intermontane North America. Following Walker’s death in 1876, an alluring tale arose concerning his trans-Sierran route. In the course of the crossing, goes the story, Walker found himself on the northern rim of Yosemite Valley at the plungepoint of North America’s tallest waterfall, staring into the most awesome mountain chasm on the continent. Over the decades since then, this time-honored tale has hardened to folklore. Dozens of historical works have construed it as a towering moment in the opening of the West. But in fact this tale of Yosemite’s discovery has no basis or support in firsthand accounts of the 1833 Sierran crossing. Moreover, there is much in those accounts that contradicts Yosemite lore, and much that points to a trans-Sierran route well north of Yosemite Valley. In A Way Across the Mountain, Scott Stine reconstructs Walker’s 1833 route over the Sierra. Stine draws on his own intimate knowledge of the geomorphology, hydrography, biogeography, and climate of the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin, and employs the detailed travel narrative of the Walker brigade’s field clerk, Zenas Leonard. Stine documents the inception, growth, and persistence of the Yosemite Myth and explores the extent to which that lore has overshadowed Walker’s greatest discovery—that the huge swath of continent between the Wasatch Front and the Sierran crest is hydrographically closed, draining not to an ocean, but to salty lakes and desert sands.
How the West Was Drawn
Author: David Bernstein
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1496207998
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 374
Book Description
How the West Was Drawn explores the geographic and historical experiences of the Pawnees, the Iowas, and the Lakotas during the European and American contest for imperial control of the Great Plains during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. David Bernstein argues that the American West was a collaborative construction between Native peoples and Euro-American empires that developed cartographic processes and culturally specific maps, which in turn reflected encounter and conflict between settler states and indigenous peoples. Bernstein explores the cartographic creation of the Trans-Mississippi West through an interdisciplinary methodology in geography and history. He shows how the Pawnees and the Iowas--wedged between powerful Osages, Sioux, the horse- and captive-rich Comanche Empire, French fur traders, Spanish merchants, and American Indian agents and explorers--devised strategies of survivance and diplomacy to retain autonomy during this era. The Pawnees and the Iowas developed a strategy of cartographic resistance to predations by both Euro-American imperial powers and strong indigenous empires, navigating the volatile and rapidly changing world of the Great Plains by brokering their spatial and territorial knowledge either to stronger indigenous nations or to much weaker and conquerable American and European powers. How the West Was Drawn is a revisionist and interdisciplinary understanding of the global imperial contest for North America's Great Plains that illuminates in fine detail the strategies of survival of the Pawnees, the Iowas, and the Lakotas amid accommodation to predatory Euro-American and Native empires.
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1496207998
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 374
Book Description
How the West Was Drawn explores the geographic and historical experiences of the Pawnees, the Iowas, and the Lakotas during the European and American contest for imperial control of the Great Plains during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. David Bernstein argues that the American West was a collaborative construction between Native peoples and Euro-American empires that developed cartographic processes and culturally specific maps, which in turn reflected encounter and conflict between settler states and indigenous peoples. Bernstein explores the cartographic creation of the Trans-Mississippi West through an interdisciplinary methodology in geography and history. He shows how the Pawnees and the Iowas--wedged between powerful Osages, Sioux, the horse- and captive-rich Comanche Empire, French fur traders, Spanish merchants, and American Indian agents and explorers--devised strategies of survivance and diplomacy to retain autonomy during this era. The Pawnees and the Iowas developed a strategy of cartographic resistance to predations by both Euro-American imperial powers and strong indigenous empires, navigating the volatile and rapidly changing world of the Great Plains by brokering their spatial and territorial knowledge either to stronger indigenous nations or to much weaker and conquerable American and European powers. How the West Was Drawn is a revisionist and interdisciplinary understanding of the global imperial contest for North America's Great Plains that illuminates in fine detail the strategies of survival of the Pawnees, the Iowas, and the Lakotas amid accommodation to predatory Euro-American and Native empires.
History of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway
Author: Keith L. Bryant
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803260665
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 942
Book Description
In 1859, Cyrus K. Holliday envisioned a railroad that would run from Kansas to the Pacific, increasing the commerce and prosperity of the nation. With farsighted investors and shrewd management, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad grew from Holliday's idea into a model of the modern, rapid, and efficient railroad. There were many growing pains. Rustlers, thieves, and desperadoes were as thick as the cattle in Kansas when the first rails were laid. When a conductor, toting a pistol, asked a grizzled prospector where he was heading, the old man replied, "Hell." "That's 65_ and get off at Dodge," the weary conductor declared. Once built with rails from Wales laid on ties of oak and walnut, the railroad survived the economic and climatic hardships of the late nineteenth century, and eventually extended from Chicago to San Francisco, with over 12,000 miles of track and substantial holdings in oil fields, timber land, uranium mines, pipe lines, and real estate.
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803260665
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 942
Book Description
In 1859, Cyrus K. Holliday envisioned a railroad that would run from Kansas to the Pacific, increasing the commerce and prosperity of the nation. With farsighted investors and shrewd management, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad grew from Holliday's idea into a model of the modern, rapid, and efficient railroad. There were many growing pains. Rustlers, thieves, and desperadoes were as thick as the cattle in Kansas when the first rails were laid. When a conductor, toting a pistol, asked a grizzled prospector where he was heading, the old man replied, "Hell." "That's 65_ and get off at Dodge," the weary conductor declared. Once built with rails from Wales laid on ties of oak and walnut, the railroad survived the economic and climatic hardships of the late nineteenth century, and eventually extended from Chicago to San Francisco, with over 12,000 miles of track and substantial holdings in oil fields, timber land, uranium mines, pipe lines, and real estate.
Fort Bridger, Wyoming
Author: Hunt Janin
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 9780786450374
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 204
Book Description
For nearly fifty years, Fort Bridger played a role in all major events of the 19th century Rocky Mountain frontier and westering experience. Founded in 1842 by mountain man Jim Bridger, this southwestern Wyoming post was one of the most important outfitting points for travelers on the Oregon Trail, riders of the Pony Express, the Overland Stage, and the Union Pacific Railroad. Trappers, buffalo hunters, Forty-niners, soldiers and outlaws would pass through what is now the Fort Bridger State Historic Site. This post, or fort, is used as a basis for an illustrated account of the Rocky Mountain West. The book explores reasons why American Indian behavior varied between helpfulness and aggression toward mountain men and emigrants. Also detailed are weapons of the frontier, Fort Bridger’s role in the 1857 Mormon War, the 1867 Wind River Mountains gold rush, and the Great Diamond Hoax of 1872. Several appendices are presented, including a discussion of gender in the westering movement and a selected chronology of frontier history. Interesting and highly detailed excerpts are taken from such primary sources as a trapper’s journal and an 1850 account of buffalo butchering.
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 9780786450374
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 204
Book Description
For nearly fifty years, Fort Bridger played a role in all major events of the 19th century Rocky Mountain frontier and westering experience. Founded in 1842 by mountain man Jim Bridger, this southwestern Wyoming post was one of the most important outfitting points for travelers on the Oregon Trail, riders of the Pony Express, the Overland Stage, and the Union Pacific Railroad. Trappers, buffalo hunters, Forty-niners, soldiers and outlaws would pass through what is now the Fort Bridger State Historic Site. This post, or fort, is used as a basis for an illustrated account of the Rocky Mountain West. The book explores reasons why American Indian behavior varied between helpfulness and aggression toward mountain men and emigrants. Also detailed are weapons of the frontier, Fort Bridger’s role in the 1857 Mormon War, the 1867 Wind River Mountains gold rush, and the Great Diamond Hoax of 1872. Several appendices are presented, including a discussion of gender in the westering movement and a selected chronology of frontier history. Interesting and highly detailed excerpts are taken from such primary sources as a trapper’s journal and an 1850 account of buffalo butchering.