EDITOR S PREFACE xi 



in the early exploitation of an empire, his larger sig 

 nificance may be held of far more consequence to us 

 than the excesses and lawlessness so frequent in his 

 life. He was often an adventurer pure and simple. 

 The record of his dealings with the red man and with 

 white competitors is darkened by many stains. His 

 return from his lonely journeys afield brought an out 

 break of license like that of the cowboy fresh from the 

 range, but with all this the stern life of the old frontier 

 bred a race of men who did their work. That work was 

 the development of the only natural resources of vast 

 regions in this country and to the Northward, which 

 were utilized for long periods. There was also the task 

 of exploration, the breaking the way for others, and as 

 pioneer and as builder of commerce the trapper s part 

 in our early history has a significance which cloaks the 

 frailties characteristic of restraintless life in untrodden 

 wilds. 



