Description

This classic history of early-nineteenth-century fur trappers and traders showcases the devices that enabled path-breaking frontiersmen to open the unmapped American West, including:

Canoes and flatboats, axes and tomahawks, Native American spears and pikes, beaver and bear traps, rifles and muskets, knives, hand guns, and more…

Many of the illustrations included were created by the author’s own work on the artifacts available: Carl P. Russell examined, measured, sketched, and photographed them himself. In some instances, the rare specimens were loaned from private or public museum collections for inclusion in this history.

Sprinkled with little known facts and lore that will fascinate everyone with an interest in the American West, this book, the result of thirty-five years of painstaking research, is the definitive guide to the tools of the mountain men.

ISBN – 978-1-60239-969-3

458 Pages

Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., 2011