|
Frequently Bought Together
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
by Burton Harris
|
Osborne Russell's Journal of a Trapper and maps of his travels in the Rocky Mountains by Osborne Russell |
The Mountain Men: The Dramatic History and Lore of the First Frontiersmen by George Laycock |
Editorial Reviews
Captain Benjamin L. E. Bonneville left the east for California in May of 1832. No one heard from him, and many people assumed he was dead (or AWOL). Three years later he returned. Washington Irving (Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle) met Bonneville, bought the rights to his journal, and after editing it and recasting it in the third person, published it. It is probably the most literate, readable description of the fur trapper era. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Captain Bonneville left for California in May of 1832. His motives were mixed. Officially, the French-born officer was on a two-year leave of absence from the U. S. Army, but he carried orders to collect information on the geography, geology, and topography "of the Country within the limits of the Territories belonging to the United States, between our frontier, and the Pacific." Bonneville reappeared five years later.
Bonneville hooked up with a mountain man named Joseph Rutherford Walker in 1833, and the two of them became the first white men to see Yosemite. They returned by a more southern route, discovering Walker Pass, the southern route across the Sierras (the salt flats in Utah are named in Bonneville's honor).
Upon Bonneville's return, Washington Irving, the famous writer, met him in the home of John Jacon Astor, the fur baron.
"In the course of three or four months, happening to be at the city of Washington, I again came upon the captain...Here he was writing at a table, covered with maps and papers, in the centre of a large barrack room, fancifully decorated with Indian arms, and trophies, and war dresses, and the skins of various wild animals, and hung round with pictures of Indian games and ceremonies, and scenes of war and hunting.
"The result of his labors was a mass of manuscript, which he subsequently put at my disposal, to fit it for publication and bring it before the world. I found it full of interesting details of life among the mountains, and of the singular castes and races, both white men and red men, among whom he had sojourned. It bore, too, throughout, the impress of his character, his bonhommie, his kindliness of spirit, and his susceptibility to the grand and beautiful.
"That manuscript has formed the staple of the following work. I have occasionally interwoven facts and details, gathered from various sources, especially from the conversations and journals of some of the captain's contemporaries, who were actors in the scenes he describes. I have also given it a tone and coloring drawn from my own observation, during an excursion into the Indian country beyond the bounds of civilization; as I before observed, however, the work is substantially the narrative of the worthy captain, and many of its most graphic passages are but little varied from his own language." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
 |
Customer Discussions
Beta (What's this?)|
This product's forum
(0 discussions)
Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Active discussions in related forums
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Information from the Amapedia Community
Beta (What's this?)Be the first person to add an article about this item at Amapedia.com.
› See featured Amapedia.com articles
So You'd Like to...
|
|
Look for Similar Items by Category
Shop Tool Storage in Home Improvement |
Strengthen Your Joints |
Rake the Roof |
||||||||
|
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
You have no recently viewed items or searches.
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session. |
Continue shopping: Top Sellers
| ||||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
