Gloomy Terrors and Hidden Fires: The Mystery of John Colter and Yellowstone

by Ronald M. Anglin, Larry E. Morris

From 1810, when a newspaper published the first account of “Colter’s Run,” to 2012, when one hundred and fourscore participants in Montana’s annual John Colter Run charged up and down rugged trails—even across the waist-deep Gallatin River—interest in Colter, the alleged discoverer of Yellowstone Park, has never waned. Drawing on this endless fascination with an individual often called the first American mountain man, this book offers an innovative, comprehensive study of a unique figure in American history. Despite his prominent role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the early exploration of the West, Colter is distinctly different from Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Kit Carson, and the other legends of the era because they all left documents behind that allow access to the men themselves. Colter, by contrast, left nothing, not a single letter, diary, or reminiscence, so that second-, third-, or fourth-hand accounts of his adventures are all we have. Guiding readers through this labyrinth of hearsay, rumor, and myth, this is the first book to tell the whole story of Colter and his legend, examining everything that is known—or supposedly known—about Colter and showing how historians and history buffs alike have tried in vain to get back to Colter the man, know what he said and feel what he felt, but have ended up never seeing him clearly, finding instead an enigma they cannot unravel.

422 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 10, 2014

Reviews

[Esther Steiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read about John Colter and his adventures.

[Randall O. Watkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

After having heard of the legends of John Colter out West in Wyoming and having read the excellent work by Stephen Ambrose, Undaunted Courage, about the Lewis and Clark expedition, I was interested in learning more about John Colter and his early adventures in Yellowstone before anyone else knew about this amazing and mysterious place. The title of this new book led me to believe that this was just the book I was looking for. Looked really interesting. While I believe the book was fairly well-written and somewhat interesting from a historical perspective, it was not as the title advertised. It would have been more aptly titled "Another History Book of John Colter: The Man We Know Almost Nothing About". I don't mean any disrespect to the author since he didn't have much to work with to begin with. However, it didn't seem that this book brought any new historical information to the table. It was simply any analysis/compilation of all the other historical works on John Colter before it. This was disappointing. Not the adventure I expected.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

For fans of the Lewis and Clark expedition, this story of John Colter is interesting if you know the area around Yellowstone.