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Recommended reading on general muzzleloading and books on mt. Men

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house

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I was wondering if anyone could tell me what are some of there favorite books on muzzleloading and on mt.men/fur traders? Just any good reads and good places to find them. Thanks!
 
"Give your heart to the hawk" is a good start. There are some good bios on jed smith,bridger meek carson ect. The old "firearms traps and tools of the mt men",then a host of books on very narrow times and equipment. Then there are the stright history books that range from general to very specific. Crazy crow,Townsend and son, Track of the wolf., ect offer good selection of books. Kindle also offers a lot of out of print books and jornals such as schoolcraft and clyman.And they offer some small time printed works that only look at 1 county or 1 small area.
Ekrats books The winning of the west serrires including Gateway to empire and the wilderness war plus about a dozen others are all a good read.
Well let me get my sope box because there are so many books and so little time.
 
Where to start, as tenngun says, there are so many good ones.

For a really good history of the Ashley-Henry partnership and Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and a very entertaining read, I recommend "Majority of Scoundrels" by Don Berry.

Chittenden's "Fur Trade of the Far West" has been in print since 1902, for good reason.

Those two will give you a good background on the basics of the American fur trade of the far west. I reread and refer back to them all the time.

For a day to day look at the average mountaineer, Osborne Russel's "Journal of a Trapper" can't be beat.

For a look at the southwest fur trade, try Ruxton's "Life in the Far West" and Garrard's "Wah-To-Yah and the Taos Trail". These last two really capture the speech patterns and attitudes of the mountaineers, and are good easy reads.

There are many, many more, but these will get you started.

Rod
 
The Muzzle Loading Cap Lock Rifle by Ned H. Roberts, out of print now, just have to search. There was one in the Classifieds last week.
 
The Mountain Men by George Laycock is a very good book about the fur trading history and information about the mountain men.

DJ
 
Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides is largely the story of Kit Carson. It covers the whole range of his life, so there's a lot more to it than trapping and trailblazing, but its such a remarkably well-written book, I jump at every chance to recommend it.

Like Fehrenbach's Lone Star and Meyers' The Alamo, its history written the way history should always be written, by which I mean, it reads like a great novel.
 
They're both old editions now and mine are worn and getting worner, but "Mountain Man" by Vardis Fisher is the book that inspired the "Jeremiah Johnson" movie and is the fictional account of John Johnston's life that was used for the script, with changes as required. "Crow Killer" by Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker is the historical account of Johnston's actual life. Actually, he started at the end of what's now considered the "fur trade" era but kept trapping through till the Civil War when he 'jined up'. After the war, he continued trapping into the 1880's nearly a half decade after much of the fur trade had become unprofitable for the big companies. He drug a Colt's Walker revolver over much of the mountains through his time. The truth is even more interesting than the fictional version!
 
I started "Mountain Man" and could not finish it, the movie is bearable but the book is full of historical inaccuracies but then again I am not a big fiction fan. As with all thing take it with a grain of salt.
 
At best, it's a historical novel and no more 'accurate' than the movie! :thumbsup: :wink:
 
BRAVO! Kudos to Rod L! The 6 books he lists are a perfect start to the world you want to know more about.

Like you, I was getting into the fur trade back in the autumn of 2011. I posted a similar question as yours and got back some great recommendations, and there are so many more!

For me, "A Majority of Scoundrels" by Don Berry was a fantastic first book to gain entry into the world of the fur trade. Really informative, and extremely fun to read.

At the end of the book the author recommends other books for the pilgrim to read. A very nice twist on just the stale bibliography usually found.

GET THAT BOOK! You'll love it.
 
Cowboy 2 mentions a wonderful book when your "travels" take you into the southwest: "Blood and Thunder". A positively great book.

I didn't mention it right off because I figured you would take a little time to roam there.

Like Cowboy said, it is "a remarkably well-written book". He speaks the straight truth!
 
Just saw where you inquired as to wear to find the books. If you want to own them, and I would certainly recommend owning the ones I mentioned, you can buy them at amazon.com
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks all. I just ordered A Majority of Scoundrels off of eBay . I will start with that and work my way from there.
 
I think all of theses are good:
Crow Killer ; The Mountain Men ; Firearms, Traps and Tools of the Mountain Men ; and A Rendevous Reader Tall Tangled, and true tales of the Mountain Men 1805-1850
 
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