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"Strong mental faculties and a vigorous constitution" were among
the attributes of Zenas Leonard, according to the publisher of the
1839 edition of this book, which the Bison Books edition
reproduces. In the spring of 1830, Leonard, a native of Clearfield,
Pennsylvania, "ventured to embark in an expedition across the Rocky
Mountains, in the capacity of clerk to the company. The last letter
received by his parents, left him at the extreme white settlement
Independence, Missouri, where they were busily occupied in making
preparations for the expedition to the mountains--from whence he
promised to write at short intervals; but one misfortune after
another happening to the company, he was deprived of all sources of
communication--so that no tidings were received of him until he
unexpectedly returned to the scenes of his childhood, to the house
of his father, in the fall of 1835--after an absence of 5 years and
6 months " Written "in response to popular demand," so to speak,
Leonard's account of these years, based in large part on "a minute
journal of every incident that occurred," is recognized as one of
the fundamental sources on the exploration of the American West. A
free trapper until the summer of 1833, when he entered the employ
of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville, Leonard was part of the group sent
under command of Captain Joseph Walker to explore the Great Salt
Lake region--an expedition that resulted in Walker's finding the
overland route to California. The Narrative ends in August 1835,
with Leonard's return to Independence.
Although the American Fur Company dominated the Upper Missouri fur
trade during the middle decades of the nineteenth century, a number
of small, independent firms (known as the "Opposition") flourished
briefly at this time.
From 1858 until 1862, a young Philadelphian, Henry A. Boller, was
one of the Opposition traders, serving first as clerk in Clark,
Primeau and Company and then as a partner in Larpenteur, Smith and
Company. His account of these years, based on his journals,
presents a remarkably realistic picture of the daily life of the
Indian as he existed more than a century ago and is recognized as
the "most authoritative narrative of fur-trading among the plains
Indians of the Upper Missouri, for the period" (U.S.iana).
When it appeared in 1868, Boller's book was subtitled ""Eight Years
in the Far West, 1858-1866, Embracing Sketches of Montana and Salt
Lake,"" and included descriptions of a return visit to Fort
Berthold, the newly discovered Montana gold fields, and the Mormon
capital. These concluding chapters are omitted in the present
volume.
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