Ever wonder how everyone made it west? They used trails beaten out by such men as
Osborne Russell
. Written in an intensely personal style that lacks punctuation at times, The Journal of a Trapper abounds in details about hunting and trapping in the Rockies. Russell travelled along the Yellowstone, Snake, and Sweetwater rivers (among others), and recent readers have retraced his steps using this book; it is that accurate.
Russell encountered numerous Indian tribes, and takes care to portray them accurately: the Snake or "Sho-sho-nie" Indians are "kind and hospitable to whites thankful for favors indignant at injuries" while "if a Crow husband wishes to speak to his mother-in-law, he speaks to the wife who conveys it to the mother...a custom peculiar to the Crows."
Of course, not all his encounters are friendly; while camping along the Yellowstone River, local Blackfoot Indians shot Russell and his companion through the legs with arrows. Russell's journal reflects the complex character of many of the independent men of that era; adventurous, tough, and resourceful. He was a politician in Oregon when he decided to write about his earlier life as a trapper in the Rocky Mountains, and he has retained the authentic "voice of the west". Read it for its exact yet colorful descriptions, and for a rollicking good time.