10 INTRODUCTION 



States invaded New Mexico under the guidance 

 of men who knew every trail and mountain pass 

 better than the most thorough reconnaissance 

 could have taught them. When the national 

 troops appeared before the gates of Santa Fe 

 they were met by a people who had already been 

 virtually won to the American cause through long 

 intercourse with the traders. When the rush of 

 emigration to California and Oregon followed, the 

 emigrants found a highway across the continent 

 already established. When the Government en- 

 tered in earnest upon the work of exploration, it 

 was the veteran mountaineer who was always 

 sought to do service as guide." 



It is most unfortunate that there exists in 

 American literature no intimate and vivid account 

 of the western hunters and trappers by one who 

 had shared their camps and accompanied them 

 on trail and warpath. We have many stories of 

 their exploits, written in narrative form, with 

 scarce any dialogue or characterization. The men 

 themselves figure in such stories as little more 

 than lay figures in a historical museum. It is one 

 thing to describe events ; it is another thing to 

 make the actors in those events live and speak 

 in the reader's presence. Generally the contem- 

 porary annals of the fur trade are as dry as a 

 ship's log-book. The participants in those stir- 

 ring scenes could not write, and the men of their 

 time who could write lacked the experience. 



