Floating on the Missouri

by James Willard Schultz

tan hc, 142 pages, map inside front and back cover of route

142 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1979

About the author

James Willard Schultz, or Apikuni, (born August 26, 1859, died June 11, 1947) was a noted author, explorer, Glacier National Park guide, fur trader and historian of the Blackfoot Indians.

James Willard Schultz (J.W. Schultz) started writing at the age of 21, publishing articles and stories in Forest and Stream for 15 years. He did not write his first book until 1907 at age 48. The memoir: ''My Life as an Indian tells the story of his first year living with the Pikuni tribe of Blackfeet Indians East of Glacier. In 1911, he associated himself with publishers Houghton Mifflin who published Schultz's subsequent books for the next 30 years. In all, Schultz wrote and published 37 fiction and non-fiction books dealing with the Blackfoot, Kootenai, and Flathead Indians. His works received critical literary acclaim from the general media as well as academia for his story telling and contributions to ethnology. Sometime after 1902, while living in Southern California, Schultz worked for a while as the literary editor of the Los Angeles Times.

Reviews

[Robert Cimrhakl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lived on this section of the river and this is well detailed,,very real,

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a simply told, short first person account recalling a trip Schultz made in his middle-age with his Piegan Blackfoot wife floating a segment of the Missouri River through north central Montana in a small flat bottom wooden boat at the turn of the 20th century. It gives a glimpse into a time and place that was short-lived; travel in the American West after the extermination of the great bison herds and annihilation of Native Americans but before the age of large scale agricultural development and dam building that wrung the last vestiges of the untamed West out of existence.

Schultz describes the trip like a journal interspersed with stories, Indian mythology and folktales, recollections of the past and longing for what had been lost in their lifetimes. Like the transitional time in which he lived, Schultz adapted the knowledge he gained in his early ventures in the West as an explorer and fur trader into his writing later in life, telling about the Old West of his youth. When he took this trip he was still holding on to some of the old ways, living off the land along the river but the game were not abundant as it had been.

[Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed floating along the river with Schultz and his wife.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesing book, especially if you've spent anytime on the Missouri River between
Fort Benton and James Kipp park.

Good tales.

[Joe Rodeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, not great. I'd recommend this for younger, say middle school, readers with a taste for geography, wildlife, and hunting. It's a journal, very basic and easy going.