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The Perilous West: Seven Amazing Explorers and the Founding of the Oregon Trail
Although a host of adventurers stormed west in 1806 after Lewis and Clark’s safe return, seven of them left unique legacies because of their monumental journeys, their lionhearted spirit in the face of hardship, and the way their paths intertwined time and again. The Perilous West tells this riveting story in depth for the first time, focusing on each of the seven explorers in turn – Ramsay Crooks, Robert McClellan, John Hoback, Jacob Reznor, Edward Robinson, Pierre Dorion, and Marie Dorion. These seven counted the Tetons, Hells Canyon, and South Pass among their discoveries. More importantly, they forged the Oregon Trail–a path destined to link the Atlantic coast with the Pacific, spurring national expansion as it carried trappers, soldiers, pioneers, missionaries, and gold-seekers westward. The PerilousWest begins in 1806, when Crooks and McClellan meet Lewis and Clark, and the vast expanse from the Dakotas to the Pacific coast appears a commercial paradise. The story ends in 1814, when a band of French Canadian trappers rescue Marie Dorion, and even John Jacob Astor’s well-financed enterprise has ended in violence and chaos, placing the protagonists squarely in the context of Thomas Jefferson’s monumental opening of the West, which stalled with the War of 1812.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
270 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 15, 2015
The Mountain Men were my childhood heroes. While other girls dreamed of princes and castles and unicorns or horses, I dreamed of living in the forest, trapping beaver, evading unfriendly Indians (though I was sure I'd be welcome by all). While my friends took riding lessons, I roamed the woods. I dreamed of being John Colter, Hugh Glass, or Sacagawea (at that time, I had no idea Marie Dorion even existed).
Now that I've reached an age where wandering the woods, and living in childhood dreams, are not practical, I do my dreaming in history books. Because I grew up in Portland, Oregon, and spent a great deal of time in the Oregon Historical Society Museum, it is only natural that I have an affinity toward books about the opening of The Oregon Country.
The Perilous West: Seven Amazing Explorers and the Founding of the Oregon Trail by Larry E. Morris tells the stories of Ramsay Crooks, Robert McClellan, John Hoback, Jacob Reszner, Edward Robinson, Pierre Dorion, and Marie Dorion. Although the book focuses on these seven people, it is also about the journey of the Wilson Price Hunt expedition or as they were known, the Astorians as they traveled from St. Louis, Missouri to Astoria, Oregon.
The narrative does not stop with the arrival at Astoria, but continues on until the stories of the seven are told, with many other stories woven into the fabric of their lives to bring life and color to those seven. Those people were a hardy lot. And their stories are of courage beyond imagining.
While this book was, I am fairly certain, written for the academic, it is also easily accessible to the casual reader, or history buff. It offers an excellent opportunity to read about the opening of the West after the time of Lewis and Clark, the perils these people faced, and overcame. Usually overcame.
I would have liked to have maps scattered throughout the book. I am fairly conversant in the geography of the areas he wrote about, but maps would have been helpful. Just simple line drawings. And I would have loved to have found footnotes instead of endnotes. Put the bibliography in endnotes, but the interesting facts in footnotes.
I have not read any of his other books. Fortunately, that situation is easily corrected. I highly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in the Oregon Country. If his other books are as well researched as this one, and as well written, and I see no reason to think otherwise, they will be well worth my time and money.
Now that I've reached an age where wandering the woods, and living in childhood dreams, are not practical, I do my dreaming in history books. Because I grew up in Portland, Oregon, and spent a great deal of time in the Oregon Historical Society Museum, it is only natural that I have an affinity toward books about the opening of The Oregon Country.
The Perilous West: Seven Amazing Explorers and the Founding of the Oregon Trail by Larry E. Morris tells the stories of Ramsay Crooks, Robert McClellan, John Hoback, Jacob Reszner, Edward Robinson, Pierre Dorion, and Marie Dorion. Although the book focuses on these seven people, it is also about the journey of the Wilson Price Hunt expedition or as they were known, the Astorians as they traveled from St. Louis, Missouri to Astoria, Oregon.
The narrative does not stop with the arrival at Astoria, but continues on until the stories of the seven are told, with many other stories woven into the fabric of their lives to bring life and color to those seven. Those people were a hardy lot. And their stories are of courage beyond imagining.
While this book was, I am fairly certain, written for the academic, it is also easily accessible to the casual reader, or history buff. It offers an excellent opportunity to read about the opening of the West after the time of Lewis and Clark, the perils these people faced, and overcame. Usually overcame.
I would have liked to have maps scattered throughout the book. I am fairly conversant in the geography of the areas he wrote about, but maps would have been helpful. Just simple line drawings. And I would have loved to have found footnotes instead of endnotes. Put the bibliography in endnotes, but the interesting facts in footnotes.
I have not read any of his other books. Fortunately, that situation is easily corrected. I highly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in the Oregon Country. If his other books are as well researched as this one, and as well written, and I see no reason to think otherwise, they will be well worth my time and money.
September 2, 2018
This summer I needed a little more adventure. So on a whim, I flew to Porland Oregon, and among other wonderful adventures, I drove to Fort Clatsup just outside of Astoria, Tthe 1805-1806 winter fort of Lewis and Clark on the Pacific Ocean. You must know that I grew up in Montana and the tales of Lewis and Clark have been a constant companion since I can remember. I have so admired Sacagewea and wondered at Little Pomp. I am in awe of Lewis and Clark who conducted such a magnificant exploration with its only loss of life being early on the Missouri due to an apendecitis.
Upon seeing the reproduction of this fort, so very small, I sat down and cried.
It turns out that expeditions west that followed Lewis and Clark were mostly disasters in greed, ego, mismanagement, lack of planning and falure of following known predisessors, not to mention perilous encounters with the Indians who by this time had figured out that white men were not to be trusted.
At least 4 men from the Corps of Discovery are featured in the Perilous West: Colter, Pryer, Potts and Drulliard. The book's point is two fold: although Lewis and Clark is famous for its East-West journey, thier actual route was unfollowable. Routes much farther south discovered by the random fur trappers that followed became the Oregon Trail. It is these men, many who did not survive their adventures, that actually opened up the west to wagon trains. The second point is of Sacagewea's fame, but of Marie Dorian's obscurity. She also crisscrossed the rocky mountains with two young sons, as wife of a French Fur Trapper. It is probable that these two woman met in winter encapments.
Although much of this story is grim, the energetic robustnes of these men inspires awe. So often a man and his buddies would have their beaver firs in hand and be ready to return to wives, sons, daughers, and homes but would encounter another energetic well financed group of fur trappers heading west, and the eastward bound men, would forego home once again to return to thier lives in the wildness. Many of them never saw home.
This is a scholarly text whose strength lies in the original writings. Still the authors obvious enjoyment of these stories of these lives gives the story a optimism that otherwize could have been very grim.
Upon seeing the reproduction of this fort, so very small, I sat down and cried.
It turns out that expeditions west that followed Lewis and Clark were mostly disasters in greed, ego, mismanagement, lack of planning and falure of following known predisessors, not to mention perilous encounters with the Indians who by this time had figured out that white men were not to be trusted.
At least 4 men from the Corps of Discovery are featured in the Perilous West: Colter, Pryer, Potts and Drulliard. The book's point is two fold: although Lewis and Clark is famous for its East-West journey, thier actual route was unfollowable. Routes much farther south discovered by the random fur trappers that followed became the Oregon Trail. It is these men, many who did not survive their adventures, that actually opened up the west to wagon trains. The second point is of Sacagewea's fame, but of Marie Dorian's obscurity. She also crisscrossed the rocky mountains with two young sons, as wife of a French Fur Trapper. It is probable that these two woman met in winter encapments.
Although much of this story is grim, the energetic robustnes of these men inspires awe. So often a man and his buddies would have their beaver firs in hand and be ready to return to wives, sons, daughers, and homes but would encounter another energetic well financed group of fur trappers heading west, and the eastward bound men, would forego home once again to return to thier lives in the wildness. Many of them never saw home.
This is a scholarly text whose strength lies in the original writings. Still the authors obvious enjoyment of these stories of these lives gives the story a optimism that otherwize could have been very grim.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2013
By reading this book I learned a lot about the exploration of the west. Although the story of Lewis and Clark is well-known the tales of those who went west in the next few years is less famous. This book deals with the various expeditions right after Lewis Clark. People wanted to go to the remote areas in search of beaver hides and some of the participants were veterans of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
December 28, 2014
The facts were very in-depth the author did not leave you wondering if something more happened he led you the entire way. I learned so much that is never included in history books! Also one of the best things about this book is that it includes Marie Dorion, I read everything I can about this amazing woman!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews