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Title: Osborne Russell's Journal of a Trapper by Osborne Russell, Aubrey L. Haines ISBN: 0-8032-5166-1 Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: January, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.75 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Journal of a Trapper
Comment: This is by far one of the best books that a fur trade re-enactor can read. It is also a must read for the modern beaver trapper as well. Osborne describes the everyday events of the fur brigades in their heyday. If you are a buckskinner, living historian, trapper or just an old west history buff then this is a MUST have!
Rating: 3
Summary: An interesting book.
Comment: The trapper's journal by Osbourne Russell during the early to mid 18 hundreds came as a bit of a surprise. First the book is a factual account without any explication of the events more than is necessary. It is not told as an adventure story eg "Last of the Mohicans" but rather as a journal pure and simple of the travels through the Rockies, mainly Yellowstone, of this young trapper over 9 years in the pay and as a member of Jim Bridger's fur company, around 100 men. The trade was at its peak at this time. As is true of most journals it is full of abbreviations of words because of time constraints eg brot. for brought, staid for stayed etc. This gives the impression of crudity in the writing, or of a man not used to writing but rather writing in only a haphazard fashion. Every reader knows how easy it is to loose all the fine points of writing when it is not practised constantly. The journal is full of place names and directions of travel and a few maps indicating the progress of the trappers. There is some description of the scenery and the Indians of the area eg Blackfoot which are a constant threat, Shoshones (Snake), Bonnack and Crow. Occasionaly I was pleasantly surprised by paragraphs of eloquence and beauty mixed in with the simplistic writing which was the norm. Russell was capable of very good writing when he was inspired or wished to do so. This is also demonstrated by his letters to his sisters which are written with great style and few grammatical errors, completely unlike his journals.
There is much which comes to the fore in regard to the period eg the waste and destruction as the parties of trappers even in groups as small as 3 wonder the countryside and simply kill a Bison Cow for a meal and then discard it, or just take the tongue to eat. Incredible disregard for nature is shown at times. The trapper is in continual fear of Blackfoot war parties who harrass them, both white and Indian, constantly. In one instance an enormous group of Blackfeet, thought to number up to 1000 or more by Russell, attempt to eradicate the entire group of Bridger's trappers, about 100. They decide not to due to an unfavourable (omen) display of Northern lights. Even in his day as the story nears the end of the 9 years Russell tells of the scarcity of Buffalo which were not wiped out in total until 1870 or so (80 million -> 1000). Its almost as if it comes upon them suddenly, "5 years ago thousands crossed the valleys of the Yellowstone, now its hard to find any". Russell even becomes a little conservationist in spirit when he states that maybe its time for the white man to leave this country because the wildlife has been so denuded.
An interesting book but with far too few passages describing the trapper's feeling along the way.
Rating: 5
Summary: Exciting and extraordinary....
Comment: A remarkable firsthand account of how it was back in the 1830's to early 1840's to be a fur trapper/trader in the Rocky Mountains. Russell lived it and told it like it was back then. One of few mountain men to keep a journal. I like how he gets quite descriptive in the day to day adventures and activities that he had to do for survival. An excellent book.
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Title: Journal of a Trapper: In the Rocky Mountains Between 1834 and 1843 by Osborne Russell, Aubrey L. Haines ISBN: 1589760522 Publisher: The Narrative Press, Inc. Pub. Date: August, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Jim Bridger, Mountain Man by Stanley Vestal ISBN: 0803257201 Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Mountain Men by George Laylock ISBN: 1558214542 Publisher: The Lyons Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1996 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West by Dale Lowell Morgan ISBN: 0803251386 Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: December, 1964 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Firearms, Traps and Tools of the Mountain Men by Carl P. Russell ISBN: 0826304656 Publisher: University of New Mexico Press Pub. Date: October, 1977 List Price(USD): $15.31 |
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