Journal of a Trapper: In the Rocky Mountains Between 1834 and 1843 Paperback – June 1, 2001

My boyfriend thought this was a great read.

As a Yellowstone Guide I should have read it 30 years earlier, but then retrospectively I didn't know the terrain then and now I know all the places he described with different names than 1830s

Most of this book is pure redundancy of traveling stories. There are some good nuggets of gold in understanding how trappers lived, their clothing, some of their interactions with Native Americans, and such.

Osborne Russell was a New England born man who left to find his destiny in the Rocky Mountains in the 1830s and 1940s. He spent 9 years living with friendly Indians, trapping, riding, fighting hostile Indians, working for various fur companies, and keeping a daily diary.This book is his (basically) unedited diary, and it's a treasure. It's hard to read because it's basically a hundred-page long paragraph without much punctuation. It tells of temperatures, and distances, and describes the wonders of Yellowstone. It talks of hunting and cooking, huge herds of buffalo, suffering in winter, the Rendezvous the Mountain Men are famous for, and his fellow mountain men. Punctuation aside, it's one of the most authentic accounts of the trapper days I've ever read.Most useful are the footnotes in the back of the book, which the editor added to help explain places and people Russell refers to. There are also many maps and reproductions of paintings by Charles Russell (no relation to the author) and others which set the tone for the book. I also enjoyed the biography of Osborne Russell, added by the editor, which prefaced the diary part of the book.As you read this book, you will see his attitude towards wildlife change. At first he was happy to shoot multiple buffalo and only take choice parts. Towards the end he writes about the way the Indians kill only what they can use, and that perhaps white men should move on before all the wildlife is gone.When Russell decided to leave the mountains, he wrote a beautiful poem (included in this book) which portrays a gentle, romantic side of the man that wasn't apparent in the rough and tumble of his diary. And the inclusion of some personal letters he wrote to family back East round out the whole picture of his personality.I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves reading about the Old West, the Mountain Men, or historical diaries.

Osborne Russell was the real article: a respondent to Ashley's famous advertisement "to enterprising young men", Russell was one of the few who both survived and wrote about the experience. His life as a trapper was an enviable one, for he both survived and thrived in his nine years in the mountains, and those experiences stood him in good stead for the remainder of his life as a frontiersman in Oregon and California. However, his writings consist primarily of an uninspired travelogue: spend two weeks trapping on this creek, then three weeks on this other creek, then crossed the divide and descended this river to that fort, then spent two weeks trapping that river, etc. There are a few good yarns mixed in and he met many famous people, but you'll find more yarns, better told, and more insights, and better biography, in other books. If you've read a dozen good books about the mountain men, then you should add Russell to your list, but first you should read  A Majority of Scoundrels: An Informal History of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company , which is fantastic, and also  Across the Wide Missouri , equally so, even though they were both written by modern authors. If you want an eyewitness account, then your first stop should be  Tough Trip Through Paradise, 1878-1879 , one of the best books about a mountain man's life by anybody, from anywhen. You'll also want to check out  Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West: Eighteen Biographical Sketches  to get some more background on some of these characters, and after that, you'll probably want to read more about the likes of Jed Smith, Jim Bridger, John Coulter and Hugh Glass (who came closer than any other man to getting et by a grizzly without actually dying) before you turn to the relatively humdrum life of Osborne Russell. So, to sum it up, I'd trade moccasins with Osborne any day, but there are better tales in store from other mountain men.

I'm an avid reader of Western history and particularly books about the Mountain Men and the trapping industry. This book is in journal format and is well written, however, it's heavy on the geography of area traveled (which was a LOT of country!). I was hoping for more details on trapping, the rendezvous, Indian encounters (there were a few on this, but not much detail) and encounters with griz, wolves and buffalo. There were parts that talked about these areas, but not in enough detail to satisfy me. Nonetheless, it's an OK book, but just didn't meet my personal expectations. If you had an old map of the area and could trace the travels, I'm sure it would raise the interest level.

Osborne Russell was a trapper & adventurer with extraordinary survival skills.He brought intellectual curiosity & linguistic skills into the wilderness that become vital in such a challenging environment. His writing is somewhat repetitive but it emphasizes the daily challenges & many, many changes that were happening simultaneously to the native American Indians & American/Canadian adventurers.

This book was first published in 1921 (2016), has 105 pages, 33 chapters but no maps or photos. The book narrates OSBORNE RUSSELL's ( born 12.6.1814 in Maine and died on 2.8.1892 in California ) adventures in the Rocky Mountains from 1834 to 1843. As a youth, Osborne had run away from home to sail and then on 4.4.1834, he joined an expedition with 58 men, to Rocky Mountains and Columbia River. On 26th June, they arrived at the trappers and Indians rendezvous and fur companies including Jim Bridger, on the Green River. On 18th July, they built a Fort on Snake River and did some buffalo hunting. On 20th August, Osborne hunted a bear and on 1st of October, the local Snake Indians came to Fort to trade. They also went to stay at the Indian village. On 11th May1835, they met Mr Bridger and his party at Gardner's Fork. Bridger warned them that this valley was infested with Blackfeet Indians. On 28th June, they fought a battle with the Indians.They kept following mountains and its streams in the snowy weather, including the Yellowstone country. The Snake Indians called them - "People of the Sun". On 2nd September, 60 Blackfeet attacked them and they had to take shelter with Jim Bridger's party. When his contract came to an end, Osborne joined Jim Bridger's trappers on Blackfoot creek, in Feb 1836. They also visit the Yellowstone Lake. They move to Big Horn under the Northern Lights, which were 'Big Spirit' to the Indians. The Crow, Blackfeet, Flatheads and Delaware Indians were all around them. The Bannock Indians killed 2 white trappers, leading to a fight and the whites killed 12 Indians and chased them back to their villages. At 'Stinking River' the Snake Indians stole most of their horses. The Crows threatened them and later robbed them. Crossing the Black Hills, they arrived at Fort William on 18th of November 1837. After supplies, they went beaver trapping on Powder and Little Horn River. In June 1838, they passed a village of Blackfeet, where the Indians were dying of smallpox. They attacked some Blackfeet and later met 10 trappers who had been defeated by the Blackfeet, loosing most of their horses.In July 1839, Osborne and friends spent many days in what is now Yellowstone NP. The 4th of July party was held even by the Britons. On 28th August, while in the woods, they were surrounded by the Blackfeet, who gave horrid yells and shot arrows at them, 2 hitting Osborne in his right leg. Battered and limping, they arrived at Fort Hall, owned by British Hudson Bay Company. On 14.6.1840, the supply train arrived at the Fort. On Christmas Day 1840, Osborne stayed with a French and his Indian wife and child, at Weaver's River, near Great Salt Lake. In March, he obtained furs from a Eutaw Indian village, before returning to Fort Hall. In August 1841, he escorted some missionaries to Green River and back. After spending 9 years in the Rocky Mountains, Osborne left with emigrants from the United States to the Oregon Country.Some other books of interest are:-(1) Life Among the Apaches, Cremony, 1868 (2017)(2) Jim Bridger Mountain Man, Vestal, 1946 (1970)(3) John Colter, Harris, 1952 (1993)(4) Six Years with Texas Rangers, Gillett, 1963 (2017)(5) The Mountain Men, Laycock, 1988 (2016)(6) Cochise, Sweeney, 1991(7) Tales of the Mountain Men, Underwood, 2004(8) From Cochise to Geronimo, Sweeney, 2010(9) Indian Nations of North America, Nat Geo, 2010(10)The Old West, Hyslop, 2015Having born in Kenya, I found this book interesting.

The title of this book tells you what it's about really. Osborne Russell here, in effect publishes his diary of the time he spent trapping. As such, there isn't a constructed story that flows along like a novel. He just tells it like it happened. A slice of life of a young trapper (or mountain man) in the North West of what is now the United States around The Rockies to the west, Yellowstone and about as far east as The Black Hills. So a lot of the narrative just deals with travelling from one place to another, setting traps, hunting for food and interactions with natives, both good and bad. So at times things are fairly mundane, but interspersed are moments of real adventure and danger, which keep the reader's interest.It's fascinating. When most wildernesses were conquered by man, there were no real written records, but the American west is thankfully fairly well recorded and this is part of that. Not only does Osborne outline what he does, but what he sees. There's an excellent passage describing the attire and equipment of a trapper and yet another one of what later becomes the Yellowstone National Park, including what I assume is Old Faithful (the geyser) and the Lamar Valley. The natives (called by that now unpopular term Indians, or at times, savages) are encountered frequently and described without prejudice. Sometimes they are helpful, peaceful and traded with. Others are warlike and dangerous. At this period, there are more natives than whites and war parties of 80 or more are not uncommon.Another thing that strikes the reader is the way that food, in the form mostly of deer, elk, bison and antelope are, for the most part so numerous that it is normal practice to kill an animal for a meal, only really storing the meat when hard times such as winter force the trappers to stock up.I expect that this is an excellent record for anyone interested in the period and location in question. But, given the limitations of Russell sticking to the truth, however exciting or otherwise, it's an excellent read for anyone.Incidentally, Russell became a politician, served as supreme judge in Oregon and later moved to California, dying in 1892.

A fascinating account of life in 1800s America. The author records the prolific wildlife (then), and living with, and fighting various Indian tribes. Together with 'extreme' camping, it reads like a boys own story.My only criticism is the lack of paragraphs, so much of the writing is in large blocks.

Very vivid account of life before any sort of technology- fascinating

All as described