best mountain man book of all time?

[Mull Dover]

I know this topic has been posted before but I can't seem to find it anywhere.
I just finished reading "The Saga of Hugh Glass" and "Crow Killer" I now need a new book! I'd really love some recommendations.

Regards,
Don

 

[LaBonte]

Non-fiction:
Across the Wide Missouri by Bernard DeVoto

A Majority of Scoundrels by Don Berry

 

[Desert Rat]

If you're looking for fictional accounts then the saga of Titus Bass can't be beat, I think the author is Terry Johnston (or Johnson, don't remember for sure).

Journal type reading look for Russell Osbourne, Zenas Leonard, Lewis Gerrard and of course the Lewis and Clark journals.

Read all that pilgrim and we'll bring ya some more :wink:

 

[Emet Huntsman]

Rocky Mountain Rendezvous by Fred R. Gowans

Lots of journal entry material, maps, dates, etc. dealing with the rendezvous of 1825-1840.

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Dunno that it's the best but I just finished reading "Old Bill Williams." Well researched and lots of history. Some very intersting stories about Bill. Available from TOW. GW

 

[jbg]

"Give Your Heart to the Hawks" by Winfred Blivins. It is the best book I have ever read about the montain men, and one of the best books I have ever read, period.

 

[T.C.Albert]

"The Great Adventure" by Janice Holt Giles.
Its the one that got me started burning powder and is still my favorite fictional Mt.Man read.
T.C.Albert

 

[Mike Moore]

Don,
Fiction - either Win Blevin's Charbonneau or George Ruxton's Life in the Far West. There are many good ones: Terry Johnson's set, Bunker and Thorp's Jeremiah Johnson...
non-fiction - Wow!, depends on what you
like. Rufus Sage's Rocky Mountain Life, is good, a little known one is Charles Murray's Travels in North America in the Years, 1834, 1835 and 1836. Francis Parkman's Oregon Trailis well worth reading, not truely a non fiction book, he made all of his books to be readable; but much better than his real journals that he made on that trip. Warren Ferris' Life in the Rocky Mountains is great. And Washington Irving's The Adventures of Captain Bonneville is good (another that is not a true non fiction, but close, he bought the original journals from Bonneville and rewrote them).
Of course, my latest! :wink:
[Shameless promotion follows - stop here if you do not want to read more about them! :redface: ]
I can say without telling a tall tale, that no one has done what my four non fiction books have done since Hiram Chittenden in the early 1900's for topical studies on the early west. They all sell well, the first is still in print (five runs later) and they all receive good magazine reviews. [End of shameless self promotion, you can resume reading.]
There are many good books on the early west. I find that one might choose a title that speaks on what part or region they like best. William Ashley's journal is a great source of information, but a little dry reading. Fred Gowen's Rocky Mountain Rendezvous is good for information on that part of the west. Give your Heart to the Hawks, another Blevins is good. Plenty of books to get you through the winter months, if you start now.
mike.

 

[Joe Yanta]

When I started reading "Tom Tobin" by James E. Perkins I read the book cover to cover without putting it down.

Tom Tobin was a true figure in Colorado's history. His grand daughter married Kit Carsons grandson. He was a man tracker and bounty hunter. His Hawken rifle had 18 notches on it (if I remember correctly). Setting mostly along the Sante Fe trail, Colorado and New Mexico border.

There was a couple of stories published in "Muzzleloader" magazine of his stopping the mid 1800's murderous killings of the Espinosas in southern Colorado.

I think I got the book on line from the Pueblo County historical society.

Highly recomend.

Joe

 

[longshot47]

'The Frontiersman", Allan Eckert :thumbsup:

 

[Mull Dover]

Thanks Gents :hatsoff:
coamm, how about some titles?

Regards,
Don

 

[Jumpshot]

http://www.amazon.com/Give-Your-Hea...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225468089&sr=1-1

 

[Freedom]

Journal of a trapper...Russel Ossborne

Journal of a mountain man..James Clyman

Journals of Lewis and Clark

All very good reads...

 

[Darkgael]

It may be hard to find as it's out of print but let me recommend Harold Peterson's "The Last of the Mountain Men".
It's the story of Sylvan Hart living at Five Mile Bar out on the River of No Return in the 1960's. Hart was a remarkable individual.
"On the River of No Return, in the country whose name, according to legend, is Light on the Mountains, there lives a gray-bearded man who has turned back time. At Five Mile Bar, beyond which no human soul dwells, Jedediah Smith and Christopher Carson have but recently passed by, and the year is 1844 forever."
Scribner's and Sons, New York, 1969.
LOC # 68-57081.

Pete

 

[crockett]

The Warren Angus Ferris book is available on line and your can get used copies now and then, I think it is one of the better personal diaries of an actual mountain man. A lot of the other books are written by people traveling with mountain men. The Osborne Russell book is also very good. The Bonneville book is also good. A lot of folks think of Bonneville as a "fat old man" but actually he would often head out with only one or two men to get supplies and did a lot of other stuff that was pretty plucky.

 

[bob308]

non fiction Joe Meek is a good book.

 

[Goldhunter]

"Give Your Heart to the Hawks" by Winfred Blivins. It is the best book I have ever read about the montain men, and one of the best books I have ever read, period.

Yep, that one gets my vote.

 

[Doc Rogers]

'The Frontiersman", Allan Eckert :thumbsup:

This is an amazing book but not really sure it is in the "Mountain Man" category.

But, that being said, The Frontiersman is one of the best books I've read.

Super stuff.

Doc

 

[MikeChapin]

For factual stories I would go with "Give Your Heart to the Hawks" by Win Blevins. For a completly fictional treatment with a sound basis in fact I would go with "Carry the Wind" by Terry Johnston. The whole "Scratch" series of which "Carry the Wind" is a part is great reading.

 

[pab1]

Dunno that it's the best but I just finished reading "Old Bill Williams." Well researched and lots of history. Some very intersting stories about Bill. Available from TOW. GW

I enjoyed Old Bill Williams too. For a toned down second perspective of their trip into the far west, read Narrative of the Adventures of Zenas Leonard: Five Years as a Mountain Man in the Rocky Mountains. He tries to downplay some of their activities on that trip that are openly talked about in Old Bill Williams.