After Lewis and Clark: Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific

by Robert M. Utley

In 1807, a year after Lewis and Clark returned from the shores of the Pacific, groups of trappers and hunters began to drift West to tap the rich stocks of beaver and to trade with the Native nations. Colorful and eccentric, bold and adventurous, mountain men such as John Colter, George Drouillard, Hugh Glass, Andrew Henry, and Kit Carson found individual freedom and financial reward in pursuit of pelts. Their knowledge of the country and its inhabitants served the first mapmakers, the army, and the streams of emigrants moving West in ever-greater numbers. The mountain men laid the foundations for their own displacement, as they led the nation on a westward course that ultimately spread the American lands from sea to sea.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction

426 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

About the author

A specialist in Native American history and the history of the American West, Robert Marshall Utley was a former chief historian of the National Park Service. He earned a Bachelor of Science in history from Purdue University in 1951, and an Master of Arts in history from Indiana University in 1952. Utley served as Regional Historian of the Southwest Region of the NPS in Santa Fe from 1957 to 1964, and as Chief Historian in Washington, D.C. from 1964 until his retirement in 1980.

Reviews

[John E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the exploration of the American West centered on the role of the "Mountain Men" in discovering the Western landscape. While it did not seem to have much original research in it, Utley has read and understood mountains of secondary material. Well worth the read.