These documents are accounts of the Rocky Mountain fur trade
during the
first half of the 19th century. Most of these are either primary or
secondary historical sources; that is, either written
by, or as told by those who were actually there.
These documents have been transcribed from printed or manuscript form.
The resulting text files have been manually checked and edited to
conform to the original source. In most cases, any spelling or
grammatical errors from the original have been retained.
- Ashley, William H. 1825
Rocky Mountain Papers
- Ball, John. Across the Plains to Oregon,
1832.
- Beall, Thomas J. Recollections of Wm.
Craig.
- Becknell, William. Selected
letters.
- Beckwourth, James P. The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, written from his own dictation by T. D. Bonner
- Biddle, Nicholas, "The Missouri Trapper", The New York Spectator June 14,1825. [Hugh Glass' story]
- Brackenridge, Henry
Marie, Journal of a Voyage up the Missouri River, in 1811.
- Bradbury, John. Travels in the
Interior of America.
- Campbell, Robert. Rocky Mountain
Letters.
- Catlin, George. Letters and Notes
on
the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of North American
Indians.
- Clyman, James. A Short Detail of
Life and Incidents of my trip in & through the Rockey
Mountains.
- Dudgeon, Anthony. Ramsey Crooks' letter
regarding Who Discovered South Pass?
- Fayel, William. A Narrative
of Colonel Robert Campbell's Experiences in the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade
from 1825 to 1835.
- Ferris, Warren Angus. Life in
the Rocky Mountains.
- Franchère, Gabriel.
Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America.
- Hunt, Wilson Price. Account
of the Journey of the Overland Party.
- Irving, Washington.
Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky
Mountains.
- Irving, Washington. The Adventures of Captain
Bonneville.
- James, Thomas. Three Years
Among the Indians and the Mexicans.
- Larocque, Francois Antoine. Journal of a Voyage to the Rocky Mountains 1805.
- Larpenteur, Charles.
Forty Years a Fur Trader.
- Leonard, Zenas. Narrative of the
Adventures of Zenas Leonard, fur trader and trapper,
1831-1835.
- Luttig, John C.
Journal of a fur-trading expedition on the Upper
Missouri, 1812-1813.
- Meek, Stephen Hall. The Autobiography of
Stephen Hall Meek.
- Menard, Pierre. Reports of
Missouri Fur Co. activities at Three Forks of the Missouri, 1810.
- Newell, Robert. Travels in the
Teritory of Missourie.
- Ogden, Peter Skene. Snake Country
Journals.
- Pattie, James O. The
Personal Narrative of James O. Pattie, of Kentucky.
- Potts, Daniel T. Rocky Mountain
Letters.
- Rogers, Harrison G. Journals of Harrison G. Rogers, member of the company of J. S. Smith.
- Ross, Alexander. Journal of Snake
Country Expedition, 1824.
- Ross, Alexander. Adventures
of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River.
- Russell, Osborne. Journal of a
Trapper.
- Ruxton, George Frederick. Wild Life in
the Rocky Mountains.
- Sage, Rufus. Rocky Mountain Life.
- Spalding, Eliza.
Diary, June 15 - July 6, 1836
- Spalding, Henry H.
Letter From The Rocky Mountains, 1836.
- Smith, Jedediah S.Journals
of California Expeditions
- Stuart, Robert. Voyage from the mouth of the Columbia to Saint Louis, on the Mississipi
- Thomas, William H. Journal of
a Voyage from St. Louis, LA. to the Mandan Village
- Townsend, John Kirk. Across the
Rockies to the Columbia.
- Victor, Frances Fuller. The
River of the West: Joe Meek's Years in the Rocky Mountains.
- Whitman, Narcissa Prentiss. 1836
Letters and Journal.
- Wislizenus, F. A., A Journey to
the Rocky Mountains in 1839
- Work, John. Journals while in the service of
Hudson's Bay Co.
- Workman, W. Letter dated Feb. 13,
1826
- Wyeth, John B. Oregon, or a Short
History of a Long Journey.
- Wyeth, Nathaniel. The Journals of
Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth's Expeditions to the Oregon Country and
Selected Letters.
Related On-line Books Elsewhere on the Web
Several other web sites have on-line historical sources related to
the mountain men in the
early 19th
century west:
-
Gregg, Josiah. Commerce of the Prairies. (link
to Kansas Collection, U Kansas)
-
Lewis, Clark, Floyd, Gass, Ordway, and Whitehouse. Excerpts
from the Journals of the Corps of Discovery (link to
PBS)
- Lewis and Clark
Journals (link to UNL)
-
Marcy, Randoph Barnes. The Prairie Traveler: A Hand-book for Overland
Expeditions (link to Kansas Collection, U Kansas)
-
Parkman, Francis Jr. The Oregon Trail (Link to
U Va )
-
Lewis, M. and Clark, W. Journals of Lewis and Clark (link to U
Va).
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