• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Fur Trade Books

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

crockett

Cannon
Joined
May 1, 2004
Messages
6,352
Reaction score
42
I am looking for something new to read. I have read most of the Journals kept by Mountain Men. Have any of you read any of the following books and which would you recommend? Thanks for any help. 1. Etienne Provost by Jack Tykal 2.Trappers of the Far West by LeRoy Hafen 3. The American Fur Trade of the Far West Vol 1 and Vol 2 by Hiram Chittenden. Thanks.
 
Chittenden and Hafen are classics - highly recommended for those interested in the fur trade.
 
A few years ago, I asked a couple friends this question, we came up with a list of ten books that
would cover the fur trade. Here is the list and who put in their choices:
Top Ten Fur Trade books

These books were chosen because they will give you a good overview of the western American fur trade. Some of these books you may have, others are worth the time to find if you are interested in this section of history. Jim Hardee (Fur Trade Research Center), Rex Norman (staff writer- Muzzleloader)and Mike Moore (staff writer - On The Trail)compiled this list.

William Marshall Anderson, The Rocky Mountain Journals of William Marshall Anderson, Dale L. Morgan and Eleanor Towles Harris, eds., (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press).

James Clyman, Journal of a Mountain Man, Linda M. Hasselstrom, ed., (Missoula, Mountain Press Publishing Company).

Warren Angus Ferris, Life in the Rocky Mountains, LeRoy R. Hafen, ed., (Denver, Old West Publishing).

Charles Larpenteur, Forty Years a Fur Trader on the Upper Missouri,
the Personal Narrative of Charles Larpenteur 1833-1872, Milo Milton Quaife, ed., (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press).

Zenas Leonard, Adventures of a Mountain Man: The Narrative of Zenas Leonard, Milo Milton Quaife, ed., (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press).

Osborne Russell, Journal of a Trapper, Aubrey L. Haines, ed., (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press).

Charles Larpenteur, Forty Years a Fur Trader on the Upper Missouri,
the Personal Narrative of Charles Larpenteur 1833-1872, Milo Milton Quaife, ed., (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press).

Josiah Gregg, Commerce of the Prairies, Milo Quaife editor, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.

Washington Irving, The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Hiram M. Chittenden, The American Fur Trade of the Far West, two volumes.

Fred Gowens, Rocky Mountain Rendezvous, Gibbs Smith Publishing, Layton, UT.

There are many other good books out there, if you have all of these let me know.
mike.
 
I ahve read Cylman, Larpenteur, Leonard, Russell, and am about half through Ferris. Will check out the others. Thanks.
 
Add "A Majority of Scoundrels" by Don Berry to your "must read" list.
 
Although its a bit late in the period try An 1839 Wagon Train Journal Travels in the Great Western Prairies The Anahuac And Rocky Mountains and in the Oregon Territory by Thomas J. Farnham :thumbsup:
 
Back
Top