6 INTRODUCTION 



They established posts and arranged rendezvous 

 in remote fastnesses of the mountains where they 

 carried on a perilous but very profitable trafl5c. 

 At the same time there went into the Far West 

 many independent adventurers to hunt and trap 

 on their own account. 



In the motley ranks of these soldiers of fortune 

 the boldest and most romantic characters were 

 the free trappers — those who went, as they ex- 

 pressed it, " on their own hook." The em- 

 ployees of the fur companies were under strict 

 discipline that checked personal initiative. They 

 were of the class who work for hire and see no 

 compensation for an arduous life save the wages 

 earned from their taskmasters. But the free trap- 

 pers were accountable to nobody. Each of them 

 fought his own fight and won the full fruit of 

 his endeavors. Going alone, or in small bands 

 •who acknowledged no captain and would split up 

 whenever the humor moved them, everyone a law 

 unto himself and relying upon his own strong arm, 

 they were men picked by nature for great enter- 

 prises and great deeds. 



It was not love of gain for its own sake that 

 drew the free trappers into the wilderness. To 

 them a pack of beaver skins was a mere gambler's 

 stake, to be squandered riotously after the fash- 

 ion of Jack ashore. What did compel them to a 

 life of endless wandering and extreme hazard was 

 the sheer lust of adventure, and a passion for that 



