Customer Reviews

Shadow on the Tetons: David E. Jackson and the Claiming of the American West

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While the focus here is on one of our fur trade pioneers, David Jackson, the reader also gains insight as to the many economic and geopolitical strategies which went on between American and British fur companys. However, I must point out a few controversial issues. First of all, the author seems to portray two of the fur trade's icons as somewhat greedy, heartless and callous individuals: William Ashley for financial and economic gains and Jedediah Smith for exploration fame and glory. So be it. There is not enough space here for a debate. Secondly, the author is quite adamant in his view on the presence of alcohol during the first mountain rendezvous of 1825 while evidence refutes this. The only mention of alcohol in Ashley's diary of commodities during that first rendezvous is, according to Dale Morgan's scholarly work "The West of William Ashley", footnoted as future orders for the following year. In agreement with Morgan are other historians such as Fred Gowans ("Rocky Mountain Rendezvous"); Richard Clokey ("William Ashley: Enterprise and Politics in the Trans-Mississippi West"); Linda Hasselstrom ("Journal of a Mountain Man: James Clyman); and Jack Tykal ("Etienne Provost: Man of the Mountain") to name a few. I believe the author may be conjecturing on this issue. Thirdly, there is mention that Bridger floated down the Green River to taste the salt of an inland lake. Is he referring to, as one would suppose, the Great Salt Lake? Maybe I am reading this wrong, but how could he float down the Green, (which empties into the Colorado River), and then into Salt Lake? According to Bridger's biographer, J. Cecil Alter, Bridger went down the Bear River (and possibly by horse, due to the time of year) which does in fact empty into Salt Lake. Overall a good book with a stellar bibliography.

Few people know anything about David E. Jackson.

He was the son of one of the first families to settle on the Western slope of the Appalachians in what is present day West Virginia. He was related to President James Madison. He was an entrepreneur extraordinaire, long before the word was coined. He met Great Britain's Hudson Bay Company in head to head competition for control of the Rocky Mountain fur trade. In the process, he laid claim to vast portions of the American West for the fledgling United States long before there was a military presence. Jackson's Hole, Wyoming bears his name today. Renowned Mountain Men Jedediah Smith and William Sublette were his partners. Together, they combed the West, proving cross country commerce was possible decades before John Charles Fremont was dubbed The Pathfinder or anyone considered a transcontinental railroad. Confederate General Thomas Stonewall Jackson was a nephew. He was among the first to develop the economic value of the West.

In an age when few men considered the West as an option for making a living, his Smith, Jackson and Sublette partnership was a preeminent employer in the Rocky Mountain fur trade. Through his firm he was responsible for the exploration of vast portions of the previously unexplored Louisiana Purchase. He predated the Santa Fe Trail. It was Jackson that chose the sites for all of the fabled Rocky Mountain Rendezvous.

When David Jackson went up the Missouri River in the spring of 1822, the Rocky Mountains represented the last virgin trapping area in the 200 year old North American fur trade. When he returned 8 years later the fur trade was already in decline and men trying to wring money from the West had shifted to territorial possession. During those 8 years, Jackson, as opposed to Smith who proved useless, and Sublette who focused on transportation, provided the stability and profitability for the firm. At a time when the United States Western policy was one of benign neglect, David Jackson's economic mercantilism was the only serious competition Great Britain had for the disputed Oregon Territory.

This book is a complete treat. Author John Jackson is a meticulous researcher and a gifted writer. He does a fabulous job rescuing David from history's trash bin. His focus on the fur trade as a business, as opposed to some aimless wandering and trapper adventures, demonstrated the continuity of a western experience rooted in the founding of the new union that contributed significantly to the realization of a continental nation.