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| | The mountain men |  | Author: George Laycock
Publisher: Distributed to the trade by Stackpole Books
Category: Book
Buy New: $29.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Pages: 308
ASIN: B0006EPUZK
Publication Date: 1989
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New Softcover edition + 2 FREE bonus gifts included!!
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Book Description
To know how the West was really won, start with the exploits of these unsung buckskin heroes.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Survey of the Mountain Men November 9, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is an excellent book to choose for a survey of the mountain man era. It covers all of the famous individuals, most with their own chapter. It also has some excellent presentations on various tools of the trade including their manufacture and use. In summary, a hard book to beat for a survey of that era and the individuals who made the era what is was.
 Be warned, this is a teaser. July 22, 2006
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
If you're interested in the lore of mountain men, then this book is for you. However, be warned that it contains just enough material to tease you and then, you'll want to continue your research with other books. This is the book that hooked me (well this and the movie Jeremiah Johnson). Laycock's book begins with a brief introduction on the history of St. Louis and the people that forged the youthful fur industry. Then, in the following chapters, you'll be introduced to a mountain man and his exploits per chapter. You'll read about Old Bill Williams, Jim Bridger, Jed Smith, Oz Russell, and more. Just to entice you further, Laycock includes these mini-chapters on how the mountain men survived such as: how he built boats, how he cached supplies, how he worked leather, started fires, built shelters, etc. Once I read this, my next books were on the lives of Osbourne Russell and Jed Smith. This is an interesting and tragic period in American History and one well worth researching.
Excellent Introduction to Mountain Men and their Lifestyle January 23, 2006
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Great introduction to the life of Mountain Men in a mere 240 pages. The book starts with several introductory chapters of how Mountain Men got started virtually with Lewis and Clark and then with various fur companies with such men as Manuel Lisa. The author then discusses their lifestyle, the mountains, what trapping was like, how they trapped beaver and their relationships with the Indians. The bulk of the rest of the book contains numerous short chapters on the most famous of the mountain men such as John Colter (perhaps the greatest), Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger, Tom Fiztpatrick, Kit Carson, James Beckworth, the Sublette brothers and several more. What makes the book unique are numerous intervening short sections discussing in detail, with pictures, the equipment or materials the trappers used. Everything from Bull boats, the various types of rifles including the famous Hawken (flint versus percussion), traps, leather clothes, tools and how their leather covers were made as well mocassins. The only negative is that some of the tall tales, which the Mountain Men wre famous for, are not always discriminated. An example is James Beckworth's claim that he ran 95 miles in a single day to escape a band of Indians, and another claimed they covered 150 miles in two days. Stonewall Jackson's corps was famous for covering 30 - 35 miles on relatively good roads, thus it is impossible to accept these numbers by the trappers who were in broken country. But overall, an excellent introduction to Mountain Men, each of which seemed to have several stories about running into a grizzly bear.
Real Men October 28, 2003
27 out of 27 found this review helpful
If you love stories of the old West, this book is a must read!George Laycock does a nice job of giving us a good overview of this time period in our Western History. The book tells much about those days of trapping and exploring when the West was an unknown and unmapped area. In addition to telling the stories of several individual characters like John Colter, Jim Bridger, Hugh Glass, Jeidiah Smith and others, the author takes time to explain the fur trapping business. There are several sections in the book explaining weapons, traps, boats, clothing, tools, etc. The result is that the reader gets a good insight into what these men did and how they did it. The one drawback might be that some of the character studies are a bit short, often leaving the reader wanting more information. However, for a general overview of an important time in our early history, this is a wonderful book. I'd like to see this as required reading in our schools.
A Great Mountain Man Book For Your Library January 29, 2002
37 out of 37 found this review helpful
I purchased a hard back copy of this book in the early 1980's. It was then, and still is one of my favorite books on the life of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trappers of the early 19th century. Mr. Laycock did a great job of covering the life of these adventurous trappers. It would take volumes to cover it all but this book is a great condensed version. If I were going to recommend a single book to someone who had no knowledge of the Mountain Men, and wanted to learn of their lifestyles, this would be the book. It is an easy read, lots of great photos and illustrations, and it offers a high rate of accuracy. Also included are some brief biographies of some of the famous mountain men such as Jim Bridger and John Colter, and others. This book tells how they applied their trade and the hardships they faced doing it. This is a great book. I assume the paperback version offered will have the same photographs and illustrations. However, my hard back copy has great color in it and I don't know if the paper back will contain color photographs. Anyway, it is my opinion that this is a great book.
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