Amazon.com Review
Step inside a 19th century frontier fort and discover for yourself what life was like for the pioneers of the American West. Dramatic cutaway illustrations provide a vivid insight into the challenges they faced:
- travel westward with a wagon train of pioneers seeking new land to settle;
- watch the fort being built in rugged terrain;
- spend a day with a soldier, see his uniform and his equipment;
- visit an Indian encampment, and learn how they lived;
- find out about the traders, carrying basic necessities from fort to fort;
- discover how skilled trappers worked;
- witness the coming of the Pony Express, Wells Fargo, and the railroad;
- learn about the daily life of the pioneers;
- find out what happened to the forts after the West was "won".
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-Although about one-third of the volume's 19 double-page chapters are about a frontier fort, there is a lot of additional information to be found here. If students want to know what fort soldiers did besides parade around and chase Indians, how a soddy was built, what a woman's work day consisted of, how the transcontinental railroad was constructed, how a buffalo was butchered-it's all here, and it's all accessible and reinforced with clear, detailed, full-color illustrations. "Fort Facts" and "Famous Frontier Folks" are appended. A treasure on the topic, and on sometimes unexpected but always related subtopics.
George Gleason, Department of English, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
George Gleason, Department of English, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
