Gloomy Terrors and Hidden Fires – The Mystery of John Colter and Yellowstone
From 1810, when a newspaper published the first account of “Colter’s Run,” to 2012, when one hundred and fourscore participants in Montana’s annual John Colter Run charged up and down rugged trails—even across the waist-deep Gallatin River—interest in Colter, the alleged discoverer of Yellowstone Park, has never waned. Drawing on this endless fascination with an individual often called the first American mountain man, this book offers an innovative, comprehensive study of a unique figure in American history. Despite his prominent role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the early exploration of the West, Colter is distinctly different from Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Kit Carson, and the other legends of the era because they all left documents behind that allow access to the men themselves. Colter, by contrast, left nothing, not a single letter, diary, or reminiscence, so that second-, third-, or fourth-hand accounts of his adventures are all we have. Guiding readers through this labyrinth of hearsay, rumor, and myth, this is the first book to tell the whole story of Colter and his legend, examining everything that is known—or supposedly known—about Colter and showing how historians and history buffs alike have tried in vain to get back to Colter the man, know what he said and feel what he felt, but have ended up never seeing him clearly, finding instead an enigma they cannot unravel.
ISBN – 978-1-4422-2600-5
243 Pages
Hardback
6 1/4″ x 9 1/4″
Rowman & Littlefield, 2014
Going Along With Lewis & Clark
Step into the boats at St. Louis and travel along with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Up the Missouri River all the way to its headwaters. Over the Rocky Mountains. Down more rivers to the Pacific Ocean. You’ll be gone most of three years, rowing and pulling the boats, walking, climbing mountains on horseback, carrying boats and supplies around big waterfalls and river rapids.
Everything you’ll need but didn’t bring along, you have to hunt, trade for with Indians, or make for yourself. You can’t speak the languages of the people you will meet, but sometimes interpreters can help.
You don’t know exactly how far you’re going, or when you’ll return. You’ll see animals and mountains and waters like nothing you ever knew before. Most of the people who already live there will welcome you, share their food, and enjoy visiting, singing, and dancing together.
ISBN: 978-1-56037-151-9
48 Pages
Softback
8 1/2″ x 11″
FarCountry Press, 2000
Great Gunmakers for the Early West
Three Volume Set – Hard Cover with Protective Sleeve
Written by James D. Gordon
Within the three volume set you will find Gordon’s personal collection of firearms of the American Frontier. With this set of books his collection is more accessible to all who enjoy owning this three volume set. It contains most of his collection and some other collections as well. Jim Gordon sees the firearms that served America through its frontier period by falling into three chronological and geographical periods.
Volume One – English, 176 Pages
Volume Two – Eastern U.S., 176 Pages
Volume Three – Western U.S., 163 Pages
Hardback
14 1/2″ x 11 1/2″
James D. Gordon, 2007
Great Knife Makers for the Early West
Within this book the author hopes to cover makers whose works may still be found by today’s collectors. Concentrating on terms of volume and historical impact, not necessarily based upon quality of craftsmanship. These makers cover a wide range, including those who might have been dealers or have subcontracted the actual manufacture of knives but did indeed in fact stamp their names on the blades of said knives.
283 Pages
Hardback
11 1/4″ x 10 1/2″
James D. Gordon, 2010
Great Plains Forts
Great Plains Forts introduces readers to the fortifications that have impacted the lives of Indigenous peoples, fur trappers and traders, travelers, and military personnel on the Great Plains and prairies from precontact times to the present. Using stories to introduce patterns in fortification construction and use, Jay H. Buckley and Jeffery D. Nokes explore the eras of fort-building on the Great Plains from Canada to Texas. Stories about fortifications and fortified cities built by Indigenous peoples reveal the lesser-known history of precontact violence on the plains.
ISBN – 978-1-4962-0771-5
216 Pages
Softback
5″ x 8″
University of Nebraska Press, 2023
Tan T-shirt with Green River Rendezvous Image on the front. Museum logo is on the left sleeve with nothing printed on the back.
Lettering and picture are in dark brown.
Sizes available – Small, Medium, Large, X-Large, 2XL, and 3XL.
Logo Meaning:
The circular Beaver Plew represents the treasure that attracted the mountain men to the wilderness. After skinning the beaver, the pelt was stretched on a willow frame to cure prior to shipping.
The trap was the mountain man’s principal tool. He generally carried 6 of them weighing 5-6 ponds each.
The emigrant grave marker and the spur represent some of the same forces that eventually spelled the end of the fur trade era — the beginning of the westward migration and the coming of the ranchers that eventually tamed the wilderness.
The arrow symbolizes the close connection between the native tribes of the Rocky Mountains and the mountain men — both as allies and enemies.
The mountain man’s rifle was used for hunting game as well as for protection. Flintlock and percussion style were used with Henry or Hawken rifles being common.
The Encyclopedia of Trade Goods – Volume 2, Gun Accessories & Hand Weapons of the Fur Trade
This volume is 442 pages long, with 671 illustrations, most in color. It has eighteen chapters covering fighting knives, bayonets, dag knives, pipe tomahawks, arrowpoints, lances, Missouri war axes, spike tomahawks, swords, powder horns, flasks, hunting pouches, and armor.
Other subjects include gun powder, lead, bullet molds, cartridges and loading tools, gun parts, wood, percussion caps, gun flints, gunstock clubs, and knife clubs.
There is a full index and an appendix dealing with the changing chronology of trade goods over several centuries. A second appendix reproduces artist George Catlin’s observations on Indian weapons. – Museum of the Fur Trade
ISBN – 9780-9126-11-19-8
407 Pages
Hardback
11 1/4″ x 11 1/4″
Museum of the Fur Trade, 2021
Guns on the Early Frontiers – From Colonial Times to the Years of the Western Fur Trade
This thoroughly documented, authoritative and highly readable book not only details the weapons used during the settlement and westward expansion of America, but also describes their use by fur traders, trappers, soldiers, and Native Americans. The result is a lively historical examination of the momentous events that were strongly influenced by the gun trade.
ISBN – 978-0-486-43681-4
395 Pages
Softback
5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″
Dover Publications, 2005
Halfway Between Heaven and Hell – The Journey of a Pioneer Family from Halfway, Wyoming
Hattie Haley Johnson and her family settled and survived in the rural West when the region was no longer considered a wild frontier; but it wasn’t truly civilized, either. From the late nineteenth century until deep into the Great Depression, horses were vital for work and transportation, electricity was a dream, and the strength of a man’s back defined his ability to support his family.
Hattie’s life was full of challenges and hard work, but it also brimmed with adventure and variety. She ranched, raised children, helped her husband, Frank Johnson, run a freight operation between Jackson Hole and Idaho, and migrated from southwest Wyoming to the Canada border and back again. Through it all, she nourished herself and those around her with a caring spirit and sense of humor. That is why her story is so compelling.
ISBN: 0-9768113-5-9
148 Pages
Hardback
8 3/4″ x 11 1/4″
Sublette County Historical Society, 1980
Hand Laced Leather Journal
A journal that is in close comparison to what the Mountain Men would have carried.
It is laced around all the edges and comes with an attached small leather strap that can be wrapped around the journal to keep it secured. It helps to protect the pages of the journal while it is packed away in a saddle bag or back pack.
Unlined pages of cotton rag paper. Approximately 105-110 Sheets (210-220 pages). Page count may vary with each journal.
It makes a great personal journal, organizer, diary, travel journal, or sketchbook for an artist.
The journal measures 4 1/4″ x 6″
Sizing of journal may vary.
The story of the settlement in western Wyoming’s Hoback Basin, told through fascinating tales and unusual characters: ordinary people who did extraordinary things, and who with courage and determination shaped history.
ISBN – 1-932636-28-5
365 Pages
Prong Horn Press, 2007
Have You Ever Seen a Bear with a Purple Smile?
Where are the bears with purple smiles? They are in the woods walking mile after mile searching for the next huckleberry pile.
ISBN: 1-978-1-59152-114-3
16 Pages
Hardback
11 1/4″ x 8 3/4″
Farcountry Press, 2013
Heavy Leather Journal
A journal that is in close comparison to what the Mountain Men would have carried.
It comes with an attached small leather strap that can be wrapped around the journal to keep it secured. It helps to protect the pages of the journal while it is packed away in a saddle bag or back pack.
Unlined pages of cotton rag paper. Approximately 105-110 Sheets (210-220 pages). Page count may vary with journals.
It makes a great personal journal, organizer, diary, travel journal, or sketchbook for an artist.
The journal measures 5″ x 7″
Sizing of journal may vary.
Hello, Wyoming!
Join the Bison as they explore Wyoming!
ISBN – 978-1-64194-007-8
16 Pages
Hardback
6″x 6″
Applewood Books, 2020
Hidden Valley Homestead
Ben Whitaker left Pennsylvania in 1880 along with his friends, Will and Walt Stewart. With no clear plan, they worked their way west by helping drive cattle from Nebraska to Oregon. When they finished the cattle drive, the three men returned to the majestic mountains of Wyoming Territory, where the Stewart brothers set up a sawmill, and Ben became a cattle rancher.
The wide western valley was their dream come true. Abundant timber provided Will and Walt the lumber to build cabins and barns. A creek along the length of a meadow gave Ben plenty of water for his ranch.
Several years later, when the land was surveyed, they applied for homesteads to legally own the valley. Ben’s cabin was on his homestead but his barns and water well were on the vacant homestead between his own and the Stewarts. Desperate to secure those one hundred and sixty acres before someone else applied for them, Ben asked his brother Calen to come from Pennsylvania and take up the vacant land.
Caleb agreed, but he never arrived. In his stead, another hesitant pioneer appeared–someone who would take up the homestead only under certain conditions. Ben soon realized he would pay a high price to obtain the land on which he had set his heart.
ISBN – 978-0-9817649-2-4
241 pages
Hardback
5 3/4″ x 8 3/4″
Seven Cross Lazy L Productions, 2014
Historical Atlas of the American West
The enduring image evoked by the American West is one of grand physical and historical romance, spectacle, and drama. Many generations of historians, both popular and academic, have sought to communication the unique characteristics of this region, whose history and physical setting have for so long captured the public imagination. In the Historical Atlas of the American West, a historian and a geographer meet this challenge by telling the story of the region from a comprehensive geographical perspective. Defining the American West as the seventeen contiguous states from the one-hundredth meridian westward (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, California, Oregon, and Washington), Warren A. Beck and Ynez D. Haase provide seventy-eight maps, each with explanatory text and a selective bibliography of further readings.
ISBN – 978-0-8061-2456-8
111 Pages
Softback
8 1/2″ x 11″
University of Oklahoma Press, 1989
