Customer Reviews

Lost in the Yellowstone: Truman Everts's "Thirty-Seven Days of Peril"

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Today, being lost in Yellowstone National Park is as simple as turning on the wrong road after you lost your complimentary map or you can not locate the restroom in the Old Faithful complex. For Truman Everts, being lost in Yellowstone was a struggle between life and death. Everts's account details his 1870 adventure in Yellowstone after finding himself separated from his travelling companions. The separation began Everts's thirty-seven day struggle for survival in a pre-developed Yellowstone in which Everts had to find what little food and shelter he could just to survive. Readers will find this account to be a real-life struggle for survival reminiscent of Jack London's fictional work. The editor, Lee Whittlesey, does a superb job of editing Everts's story by providing the reader with additional information and the historical background of the book. The work is also illustrated with many early day photographs of Yellowstone which provides an stunning visual account of early-day Yellowstone National Park. This book will be appreciated by anyone looking for an exciting true-life adventure story as well as historians of the American West. People who have been "lost" recently in Yellowstone will also appreciate the book, even if their modern-day adventure pales in comparison to Evert's

Besides being one of those - Why haven't I heard of this story before? - adventure stories, this book offers a great opportunity to further enhance the Yellowstone experience.

I read this book while staying in a ranch outside Yellowstone National Park. As luck would have it, our first day of "touring" the park via automobile closely paralleled Truman's path, and I managed to read this story aloud to the kids later that night, in front of a big cast iron stove, while Clark's Fork gurgled 30 feet from the door. I'm not sure if it was the story or the setting, but they were captivated! They were able to tie Truman's adventures in with many of the places we had been earlier that day, and it gave them an entirely different perspective of the park. In addition to bringing the book to life (again - what a story!), it contributed immensely to their appreciation of Truman's ordeal, the magnitude of the park and the wilderness that lies 100 yards off the main roads... Highly recommended.

Knowing the history of the exploration of this magnificent park makes me even more anxious to visit this beautiful country. After reading this book, when I visit YSNP, I will focus on a time long ago, when all the modern conveniences were not there. It is a great book to have read to get some of the background knowledge of this area, before you go out and explore yourself!

Lee Whittlesey has done an excellent job of adding explanatory footnotes and photographs to this book. But people interested in Truman Everts' thrilling story of being lost in thirty-seven days in the remote wilderness that was Yellowstone in 1872 should know it's available elsewhere. M. Mark Miller's book, Adventures in Yellowstone, contains Everts' first-person account -- and eleven other exciting and entertaining tales of travel to the nation's first national park in the Nineteenth Century. In addition to Everts' story readers get the following first-person accounts: Osborne Russell's fight and escape from hostile Blackfeet Indians, Emma Cowan's thrilling capture by the Nez Perce, The Earl of Dunraven's elk hunting exploits, Bird Calfee's heroic rescue of a man who fell in a geyser, and more. All are edited for today's reader footnote-free, with introductory essays.

Adventures in Yellowstone: Early Travelers Tell Their Tales

I was very pleased with this purchase. It is a harrowing tale. The sidebars that explained updated info helped to understand where Everts was at the various stages of his journey. Having contemporary news accounts of this also was a plus in my opinion. It was an exciting read. I recommend this book.

Although I'm sure this was a big deal when it happened and it's pretty amazing that he survived, I'm not really impressed with the story. The writing is only mediocre, and it's 19th-century writing, so it's hard to read. Although it is well edited and the notes are very helpful, it doesn't really hold the suspense and drama that such an event really should. If you want to read it, borrow it from someone, I don't think it's worth buying, unless you're doing some kind of research or something.

The book I ordered, Lost in the yellowstone, was delivered very quickly. The condition was excellent, as promised. I recommend this seller.